Isaac N. Seymour SwStr - History

Isaac N. Seymour SwStr

Isaac N. Seymour

(SwStr t. 133, 1. 100'- b. 19'8", dr. 6'0"; s. 11 k.; cpl.
30; a. 1 30-pdr. P.r., 1 20-pdr. P.r.)

Isaac N. Seymour (also called Seymour, I_N. Scvmour. and J. N. Seyn~our) was built at Keyport, N.J., in 1860 and was purchased by the Navy at New York from NIr. Schultz 26 October 1861. She was assigned to the North ltlantic Blockading Squadron 20 Novelllber and 3 days later was stationed in Hampton Roads. While there she joined three other ships in engaging Confederate steamer Patrick Henry and drove her back up stream.

A month later Flag Offlcer Goldsborough ordered Isaac N. Seymour to Hatteras Inlet for impending operations in the sounds of North Carolina. She participated in the combined operations which took Roanoke Island 8 February, and at the end of the action she was commended for being "con.spicuously in the foreground throughout the bombardment." One of her powdermen`-as killed and her chief engineer was seriously wounded in the fight.

The next day Isaac N. Seymour steamed up Piankatank River to Elizabeth City, N.C., with Comdr. Rowan's expedition to destroy enemy gunboats and to break up communications between Albemarle Sound and Norfolk, Va. She continued mop-up operations in the sounds until she struck an abandoned anchor in Hatteras Inlet 20 February and sank before she could be run aground.

She was raised, repaired, and returned to service in May. She resumed her former duty and continued to give a good account of herself in the sounds until 24 August when she struck a bank and sank in the Neuse River some 3 miles above New Bern while steaming upstream to cover a landing of troops. A month later she .~was reported raised and on the ways being readied for service.

Back in fighting trim 23 October, she was ordered to tow schooner Minnehaha to Plymouth, N.C., to deliver provisions. Five days later she made the return passage towing damaged steamer Whitchead to New Bern for repairs. Similar duty maintaining communications and lines of supply between Navy units in the sounds continued until 12 December when Isaac N. Aseymour ascended the Neuse River with four other ships to support an Army expedition to destroy railroad bridges and track near Goldsboro N.C., but the mission wa aborted by low wtaer which prevented their advancing more than 15 miles beyond Bern

Confederate troops attacked the Union garrison at Washington NC, 31 March 1863 establishing a seige wich threatened to starve the Northern troops into surrender. Isaac N. Seymour departed Plymouth 2 April to play an active role in the naval operations which despite well served batteries ashore, brought the beleugured soldiers food and ammunition. The Southern troops were finally forced to lift the blockade 16 April. Once again the daring and versatile Navy had been decisive in holding a hard pressed position for the North.

lsaac A~ Seymour was a part of the task force which started up the James River 11 July to demonstrate against Richmond. The high point of the expedition came 14 July when Rear Admiral S. P. Leet flying his flag in lsaac A~ Seymour occupied Fort Powatan, the last Confederate defense on the river below Chaffln's and Drewry's Bluff.

Isaac V. Seymour coninued to serve in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron—maintaining Union control of North Carolina's inland waters and supporting Army operations from the James and York Rivers as General Grant supplied and supported by water, relentlessly pressed toward Richmond and victory.

Isaac V. Seymour was detached in March 1865 and decommissioned at Washington 16 May. She was transferred to the light House Board 20 June which she served as Tulip until sold and redocumented Magnolia 7 June 1882. Magnolia was sold to a foreign owner in 1888

Isaac N. Seymour SwStr - History

V ermilion County, I llinois
Genealogy and History

These folks are listed in the " Elder Sons and Daughters of Vermilion County" article in the 1911 History:

Asa Ankrum
Diadama (Bloomfield) Atwood
Ira Babb
John W. Bandy
Martin J. Barger
James Barnett
Samuel W. Baum
Priscilla (McCarty) Black
Samuel Blair
Thomas W. Blakeney
John Brady
Daniel Brewer
John Brewer
John D. Campbell
George Canaday
Henry F. Canady
George S. Cole
Francis Asbury Collison
Mr. Collison
Amos Cook
William Cossairt
W. T. Cunningham
William Cunningham
James A. Current
William Current
Henry Davis
William J. Davis
Amanda J. (Shepperd) Dickson
James A. Dickson
Silas Dickson
George Dillon
John P. Donovan
Thomas W. Douglas
Dorman B. Douglass
E. J. Draper
Francis M. Fairchild
Harrison Fairchild
Nathaniel R. Fairchild
Seth Fairchild
John W. Fisher
Michael Fisher
Elisha C. Fithian
Henry Fletcher
Uriah Folger
Perry Frazier
John W. Giddings
Francis M. Gundy
Gundy Family
Elizabeth Catherine (McDonald) Harmon
Mrs. Julia (Payton) Harper
Beriah Haworth
Mrs. Rhoda (Mills) Hester
William Hester
George W. Hoskins
James Juvinall
Jonathan Larrance
Almond N. LeNeve
Samuel P. LeNeve
Jotham Lyons
Minerva Martin
Milton A. McDonald
Mrs. Emma (Porter) McDowell
David Meade
William H. Mills
William H. Newlin
John W. Newlon
F. M. Olehy
William Jasper Olehy
James O'Neal
Perry O'Neal
E. H. Palmer
Asa Partlow
John J. Partlow
Golden Patterson
Mrs. Mary (Cox) Patterson
George Prather
Jonathan Pratt
Isaac Rees
Jacob K. Robertson
Josiah Sandusky
James S. Sconce
Mrs. Sconce
Robert A. Short
Mr. J. L. Smith
R. Bruce Smith
Charles Snider
Abner Snow
John Spouls
James Stevens
Nancy Stevens
John P. Swank
Mrs. Mary C. (Acree) Taylor
Joseph Col Vance
Thomas Watson
William White
Amos Smith Williams

Remembering the Assemblies of God’s Black Heritage

It is well-known that the interracial Azusa Street Revival (1906-1909), a focal point of the emerging Pentecostal movement, was led by an African-American pastor, William J. Seymour. However, the African-American heritage of the Assemblies of God has often been overlooked.

Most of the approximately 300 ministers who organized the Assemblies of God in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in April 1914 were white. (At least two were Native American.) However, African-Americans played important roles in the early decades of the Assemblies of God – at the first few general council meetings and as pastors, evangelists, and missionaries. They overcame racism (including from fellow believers), they led consecrated lives, and they helped to lay the foundation for the Fellowship. Their stories are our stories. The following vignettes offer a glimpse into the lives and ministries of these sometimes unsung heroes.

William J. Seymour, a mild-mannered African-American Holiness preacher, is remembered as one of the most important figures in twentieth century American religious history. Just 111 years ago, he founded the Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street in Los Angeles, which became home to the famed Azusa Street Revival. Hundreds of millions of Pentecostals around the world, including those in the Assemblies of God, view Seymour as a spiritual father. He would probably be surprised by the attention, as during his lifetime he was often marginalized, even within Pentecostal circles. But his persistent encouragements toward holiness, humility, racial reconciliation, and evangelism continue to shine as founding ideals of the Pentecostal movement.

Few early Pentecostals were as widely respected and admired as Charles H. Mason, founder of the Church of God in Christ. While the Church of God in Christ was a largely African-American Pentecostal denomination, Mason also credentialed numerous white ministers, some of whom ended up joining the Assemblies of God. Mason spoke at and blessed the founding general council of the Assemblies of God, and he also brought his black gospel choir from Lexington, Mississippi. E. N. Bell, the founding chairman of the Assemblies of God, called Mason “a real prophet of God.”

G.T. Haywood was the African-American pastor of the largest Pentecostal congregation in Indianapolis in the early decades of the twentieth century. He was also a noted theologian, author, songwriter, cartoonist, and inventor. His influence stretched far, and his congregation was racially mixed. The first issue of the Christian Evangel (later Pentecostal Evangel) included three articles by or about Haywood. He was invited to speak on the 1915 general council floor to represent the Oneness position, even though he never held Assemblies of God credentials. Haywood went on to serve as presiding bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, a racially mixed Oneness Pentecostal denomination.

Ellsworth S. Thomas holds the distinction of being the first African-American to hold Assemblies of God ministerial credentials. His name was just a footnote in the history books until recently, when new information came to light. His parents, a Civil War veteran and a laundress, were part of a free black community in Binghamton, New York, that pre-existed the Civil War. By 1900, Ellsworth had become an itinerant evangelist, he was ordained in 1913 by a Pentecostal church in Buffalo, New York, and he transferred his ordination to the Assemblies of God in 1915. He remained a faithful Assemblies of God minister until his death at age 70.

Isaac and Martha Neeley were married late in life (in 1905) and became the first African-Americans to serve as Assemblies of God missionaries. They went to Liberia in 1913 under the auspices of Howard A. Goss’s largely-white Pentecostal fellowship, the Church of God in Christ (which was distinct from Charles H. Mason’s group by the same name). They transferred their credentials to the Assemblies of God in 1920 when they were home on furlough and received missionary appointment to Liberia in 1923. Isaac died just before they were set to leave, and Martha proceeded alone to Cape Palmas, where she was in charge of Bethel Home.

Cornelia Jones Robertson, an African American participant at the Azusa Street Revival, was ordained in 1909 and became a popular evangelist and preached at churches across the nation. She transferred her credentials to the Assemblies of God in 1923 and settled in San Francisco, where she became a church planter and evangelist. She ran the Barbary Coast Mission for 14 years and is credited for helping 100,000 people in need. She was one of few African Americans listed in the predecessor to the San Francisco Social Register.

Early Pentecostals loved gospel music, and Thoro Harris was one of their favorite song writers. He published countless songbooks and composed over 500 songs, including “Jesus Loves the Little Children” (1921), “All That Thrills My Soul is Jesus” (1931), and “He’s Coming Soon” (1944). Harris, an African-American, moved seamlessly in both white and black circles, as well as in both Holiness and Pentecostal churches. He made a substantial impact on Assemblies of God hymnody in its early decades.

Lillian Kraeger, a young single white woman, felt called to Africa as a missionary. She never made it to Africa, but instead became an unlikely Assemblies of God missionary to African-Americans in Harlem. Lillian was heartbroken when her Assemblies of God church in New York City rejected the membership applications of two young African American girls on account of their skin color. She did not want the girls to fall away from the Lord, so in 1916 she began traveling to Harlem to hold Bible studies. The studied blossomed and grew into Bethel Gospel Assembly, which is now the largest congregation in the United Pentecostal Council of the Assemblies of God, the African-American denomination which formed a cooperative alliance with the Assemblies of God in 2014.

Eddie Washington and his twin brother, Billie, were raised in a cruel orphanage in Rhode Island. They hoped for a reprieve when they went to a foster home at age 14. But when they accepted Christ at a Pentecostal church, their occultist foster mother beat them until their heads bled and forbade them to attend church again. They disobeyed, went back to church, and were filled with the Holy Spirit. Their foster mother, now afraid of them because she could tell that they had spiritual power, left them alone. The twins prepared for the ministry at Zion Bible Institute and entered the evangelistic ministry. Eddie and his wife, Ruth, joined the Assemblies of God and became well known African-American evangelists and missionaries.

When Bob Harrison felt a call to the ministry, he naturally turned to the Assemblies of God. His godmother, Cornelia Jones Robertson, was a pioneer African-American Assemblies of God minister. He graduated from an Assemblies of God Bible college in 1951, but he was denied credentials on account of his race, ironically, by the same district that ordained his godmother. Harrison quickly rose in prominence in evangelical circles. He joined the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1960 and traveled the world as an evangelist. In 1962, he became the catalyst for overturning a policy, instituted in 1939, that forbade the ordination of African-Americans at the national level. Harrison, in his new role as an ordained Assemblies of God minister, became a visible proponent of working across the racial divides.

These and countless other African-American Pentecostals have made a significant impact on the Assemblies of God. In 2015, almost ten percent of Assemblies of God USA members – 308,520 people – were black. As a whole, ethnic minorities accounted for 43 percent of Assemblies of God adherents in the United States. The Assemblies of God, an heir of the Azusa Street Revival, consists of people from varied racial backgrounds who have come together in the power of the Holy Spirit to glorify Christ and to further His Kingdom.

Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.

--> Seymour, Isaac Gurden, 1804-1862

Isaac Gurdon Seymour was born in Savannah, Ga., in 1804, to a family with roots in Connecticut. Graduating from Yale with the class of 1825, Seymour moved to Macon, Ga., and opened a law office, but soon found himself drawn into publishing, and in 1832, he became an editor for the Georgia Messenger . Seymour's life in Georgia was marked by personal and financial accomplishment. A committed Whig, he took a deep interest in local politics, serving on the city council and as first mayor of Macon, and when the occasion arose, he also distinguished himself militarily, serving under Winfield Scott in both the Seminole and the Mexican Wars. Scott thought so highly of Seymour that he appointed him military governor of the Castle of Perote, Santa Anna's home, and allowed him to escort the defeated general to exile in Jamaica. The only real reversals of fortune to beset Seymour came in his family life. He and his wife, Caroline E. Whitlock, whom he married in 1829, lost three children in infancy and a fourth, their daughter Caroline, at the age of 19. Only one of their five children, William Johnson Seymour (b. May 12, 1832) survived into adulthood.

After returning from his service in the Mexican War, Seymour moved to New Orleans and became an editor and partner in the New Orleans Commercial Bulletin, the most important financial paper in the city. By the outbreak of the Civil War, Seymour was an established and well respected citizen of the community and was quick to offer his military skills in the defense of his adopted state. After turning over responsibility for the Commercial Bulletin to his son, Seymour enlisted in the mostly Irish 6th Louisiana Infantry, and was elected Colonel on May 21st, 1861. To Seymour's chagrin, the 6th Regiment and its officers soon earned a reputation as a hard brawling, hard drinking set of reprobates, but to his credit, they soon, too, proved their mettle as soldiers.

The 6th Louisiana Infantry was attached to the Army of Northern Virginia and sent to Centreville, Va. Having missed the Battle of Bull Run while assigned to guard baggage trains in the rear, the regiment spent an uneventful winter on the Peninsula, but with the Spring campaigns of 1862, they were soon drawn into action. In April, the regiment was withdrawn and sent to the Shenandoah Valley under the command of Richard Stoddert Ewell, a man whom Seymour found personally repulsive and incompetent. But it was in the Shenandoah Campaign that the Irishmen of the 6th proved their worth as soldiers, playing important parts in the Battles of Front Royal, Winchester, Cross Keys and Port Republic. After returning to the Peninsula in June to help counter McClellan's advance, the 6th Louisiana was devastated at the Battle of Gaines Mills, emerging with fewer than 50 effectives. Col. Seymour was killed in the battle, leading his Tigers into Boatswain's Swamp and was buried on the battlefield.

Col. Seymour's son, William, appears to have had more than a little of his father's spirit. Having accepted the editorship of the Commercial Bulletin only reluctantly, William obeyed his father's wishes and refrained from joining in the war only until the spring of 1862, when he received an appointment as aide to Brig. Gen. Johnson Kelly Duncan, and went into the unsuccessful defences of Forts Jackson and St. Philip. On April 28th, having endured the heavy shelling of Union gunboats and the mutiny of their own men, Seymour and his fellow officers surrendered Fort Jackson to David D. Porter, and were granted release on parole, only to return to New Orleans just before it, too, capitulated.

Seymour remained in New Orleans through the fall, witness to what he considered the brutal and immoral administration of Ben Butler. Having been informed by Butler that if closed, the Commerical Bulletin would be reopened as a Union newspaper, Seymour stubbornly kept it going, however Butler seized the paper anyway after a laudatory obituary to Col. Seymour appeared, and placed William in confinement at Fort Jackson. William was released from Fort Jackson in October and married Elizabeth Berthoud Grimshaw. Butler allowed the young couple to leave New Orleans in December.

After leaving his new wife in Macon, Seymour reentered the service, this time as aide de camp under the new commander of the 1st Louisiana Brigade, Harry T. Hays (Ewell's Division, Stonewall Jackson's 2nd Corps, A.N.V.). William arrived just as the spring offensive of 1863 was beginning, and survived Chancellorsville, 2nd Winchester and Gettysburg (Cemetery Hill), and later in the fall, Bristoe Station and Mine Run. Despite suffering heavily in these engagements, the Louisiana Brigade continued in their effective service through the campaigns of 1864, and the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Campaign (the Bloody Angle), North Anna River and, for a second time, the Shenandoah Valley. Exhausted and ill, Seymour was ordered to report to the Brigade Surgeon on June 4th, 1864, who placed his on disability for 50 days, later extended to 70.

When Seymour returned to duty, the tide of the war had clearly changed, and while he still considered the southerner troops to be superior to the northern, it was clear to Seymour that they were now badly outnumbered and outgunned. At Winchester, Seymour witnessed the loss of yet another Confederate general, Robert Emmet Rodes, and was present at Fisher's Hill and ensuing engagements as Confederate resistance buckled under the pressure of Sheridan's forces. In the middle of October Seymour's health failed, and he was placed on sick leave for at least five months. While convalescing, he appears to have attempted to secure a transfer to a post in the deep south, but with what success is hard to judge. After the war, Seymour returned to his publishing business in New Orleans, but was troubled with ill health for much of the remainder of his life. He died of heart failure in 1886, leaving his wife and five surviving children.

From the guide to the William and Isaac Seymour collection, Seymour, William and Isaac, 1825-1869, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)

Isaac N. Seymour SwStr - History

History of Wolcott, New York
FROM LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY
EDITED BY: HON, GEORGE C. COWLES
ASSISTED BY H. P. SMITH AND OTHERS
PUBLISHED BY D. MASON & CO. PUBLISHERS, SYRACUSE, NY 1895

CHAPTER XIX.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF WOLCOTT.

THE old town of Wolcott, comprising the present towns of Butler, Wolcott, Huron, and Rose, was set off from the north end of Junius, Seneca county, on the 24th of March, 1807, but a legal organization was not effected until April, 1810. June 11, 1814, a special town meeting was convened to consider the question of uniting with the town of Galen (then including Savannah), Sterling, Cato, Hannibal, and Lysander in the formation of a new county to be known as Peru, but the delegates appointed were instructed to vote against the proposition. The subject was revived in 1815, but was soon abandoned. About 1823 it was once more agitated, and this time effectively, but not without considerable difficulty in the adjustment of boundary lines. Among the committeemen appointed for the purpose were Amos Snyder, Norman Sheldon, Thomas Armstrong, and Elisha Plank. Huron and Butler both wanted to include Wolcott village, while the settlers in the vicinity of Red Creek were willing to accommodate either town so as to make their village the principal point in the new township. The matter was finally settled and the three towns were set off, as at present constituted, in 1826, viz.: Rose on February 5 Huron on February 25 and Butler on February 26, leaving Wolcott with its present assessed area of 20,828½ acres.

The town liesin the northeast corner of Wayne county, and is bounded on the north by Lake Ontario, on the east by Cayuga county, on the south by Butler, and on the west by Huron and the lake. The surface is undulating with a general inclination toward Lake Ontario. The soil is a sandy and gravelly loam and susceptible of easy cultivation. Port Bay, in the northeast corner of the town, extends inland several miles and receives the waters of Wolcott Creek, which flows from Butler through Wolcott village, where it affords valuable mill sites. In the northeast corner is Blind Sodus Bay, so named from the sand-bar which stretches across its mouth from the west shore. Between these are two smaller bays, the east one of which recieves the waters of Big and Little Red Creeks, the former flowing through the village of Red Creek. These and two or three other small streams, all flowing to wards Lake Ontario, afford excellent drainage and several good mill privileges.

Agriculture forms the chief industry of the inhabitants. The soil is well adapted to all kinds of farming and fruit raising. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, raspberries, etc., are grown with profit, and of late years the cultivation of tobacco has received more or less attention. Originally the town was covered with a heavy growth of timber indigenous to this latitude, which furnished employment to a number of saw mills, all of which, with the exception perhaps of a few portable concerns, have long since gone down.

North of Wolcott village and along Big Red Creek are several beds of iron ore. The bed near the village of Red Creek has been worked in past years with considerable profit. In various parts of the town evidence of salt water have been discovered. In 1887 the Wolcott Gas and Mining Company, of which Jefferson W. Hoag was president, sunk a well inside the limits of Wolcott village to a depth of 2,700 feet. Brine and natural gas were found, the latter in considerabla quantities, but neither was ever utilized.

The town was settled with a class of hardy, resolute men and women, who were endowed 'with sterling traits of character and remarkable powers of endurance, and whose keen perception, habits of thrift, and personal characteristics are inherited by their descendants and permeate the communities in which they lived. The pioneers, with very few exceptions, have passed away, but the fruits of their labors are visible on every hand. The fertile fields, the beautiful orchards, the pleasant and commodious homes, the thriving villages-all are living monuments to their hardships and privations, while the numerous schools and churches attest the standard of their ideas of civilization.

The town derived its name from Oliver Wolcott, governor of Connecticut, from which State and Massachusetts many of the first settlers originally came. It lies wholly within the old Military Tract. The original town extended south to Galen and Savannah and west to the new pre-emption line, and when the latter boundary was established all of the present town of Huron, nearly all of Rose, and the western parts of Wolcott and Butler were made over to the Puitney estate as compensation. From that estate Capt. Charles Williamson, the founder of Sodus Point, received title to the entire tract in payment for money advanced in the purchase of previous patents. It thus became known as Williamson's patent.

During the earlier settlement of Wolcott the chief means of transportation was by way of Sloop Landing, an important port on the east side of Great Sodus Bay, between the present sites of Port Glasgow and Bonn icastle. Thither all produce was drawn, whence it was shipped to Canada or down the St. Lawrence. It promised a brilliant future and maintained a wide prestige for many years. But the Erie Canal drew nearly all the commerce southward, and Sloop Landing gradually fell into decay. The New York Central Railroad, through the south- em part of the county, had a marked influence upon the settlement and development of this section, but its most important acquisition was the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad (now the R., W. & O.), which was commenced in 1871 and completed through the town, with stations at Wolcott and Red Creek, in 1874. At Red Creek the old settlers, on August 23, 1871, made the occasion memorable by formally breaking ground for the line with appropriate ceremonies. To aid in the construction of this railroad the town was bonded at seven per cent., the bonds being exchanged February 1, 1882, for five per cent. bonds, amounting to $139,000, of which about $95,000 remain unpaid. The railroad commissioner is Wesley Hall.

The first highway in Wolcott was the "old Galen road," running from the salt works in Savannah to Capt. Helms's place at "Floating Bridge" (now Port Glasgow) this thoroughfare was opened by the Galen Salt Company prior to 1808. The first regular road was surveyed and established November 2, 1810, by Osgood Church Jacob Shook and Peres Bardwell, highway commissioners this is now called the New Hartford road leading south from Wolcott village. Mr. Church surveyed nearly all of the early highways, and Messrs. Shook and Bardwell were long the road commissioners. In 1810 the old town was divided into- nine road districts, the commissioners filing their report March 19, 1811. The present town contains sixty-three.

The first town meeting was held at the grist mill of Jonathan Melvin, Sr., in Wolcott village on April 3, 1810, a little more than three years after the old town had been set off from Junius. The first officers were as follows

Osgood Church, supervisor Adonijah Church, town clerk Obadiah Adams, Osgood Church, John N. Murray, assessors Ezra Knapp and Jesse Mathews, overseers of the poor Isaac Shook, Peres Bardwell, Noah Starr, highway commissioners Levi Wheeler and John Grandy, town viewers Glazier Wheeler, William P. Newell, James Alexander, Roger Sheldon, overseers of highways.

It is believed that those who participated at this town meeting, and who, of course, were residents of the old town of Wolcott, were:

For the first few years, or until 1826, the town meetings were held alternately at the houses of Obadiah Adams in Wolcott village, and Lott Stewart at Stewart's Corners. It is impossible to give a complete list of the supervisors owing to the records prior to 1867 being burned. Osgood Church held the office for four years (1810-13), and was succeeded by Adonijah Church (1814-17). Jesse Mathews, Arad Talcott, Norman Sheldon, and perhaps others down to 1826, when the town was divided. The first supervisor of the present township, in that year, was Dr. David Arne. March 5, 1867, the following town officers were elected: Edwin H. Draper, supervisor Ezekiel K. Teachout, town clerk Isaac Vought, John J. Van Aistine, George E. Due, Daniel C. Washburn, justices of the peace William W. Phillips, assessor Ashley Milliman and H. W. Burchard, overseers of the poor Isaac Rice, highway commissioner Harmon V. Becker, collector. The supervisors since then have been:

The town officers for 1894 are: George R. Miles, supervisor Herbert Perkins, town clerk E. H. Kellogg, E. H. Horton, O. J. Frost, Mills Douglass, justices of the peace William H. Milliman, Nathaniel J. Field, George Johnson, assessors Burgess Jenkins, highway commissioner Hiram Snyder, collector Rolla Stewart and Henry Schuyler, overseers of the poor.

Settlement in the present town of Wolcott commenced at Wolcott village as early as 1807. About 1806 Jonathan Melvin, Sr., who in 1795 had located on 500 or 600 acres of land on Melvin hill in Phelps, Ontario county, purchased lot 50, containing 500 acres, now included within the corporate limits. He began improvements in 1807 or 1808, but did not settle his family here until 1811. His tract was on Williamson's patent, which included the old towia of Wolcott. The actual sale of lands on this patent continued from June 16, 1808, to October 15, 1813, during which period 117 contracts, covering about 10,000 acres, were made, the prices ranging from $2.40 to $5 per acre. The first contract was taken by Abram Bunce for 144 acres, now the Van Vleet farm in Butler. - The sub-agents for Williamson's patent were Osgood Church and Frederick Wolcott. The latter did not live here, and the work devolved upon Mr. Church, who made the sales and accounted for the proceeds.

Adonijah Church, the first town clerk and a brother to Osgood, came to Wolcott with his family in 1807 and settled on lot 48. He was one of the early commissioners of common schools, supervisor from 1814 to 1817 inclusive, and died in 1842, aged forty-two. Osgood Church located on lot 49 in 1808. He was born in Berkshire county, Mass., in 1780, and being a surveyor he laid out all of the earlier roads in this town. He was a prominent citizen, an influential man, the first and for four years supervisor, and died March 15, 1815. October 27, 1809, he had deeded to him 855 acres of land here at $2.40 per acre.

Jonathan Melvin, Sr., and Osgood Church were closely associated with the business development of not only Wolcott village, but the old town as well, and for many years carried on a number of important industries. Melvin began improvements about 1808 and the following year had a grist mill in operation on the present Rumsey site. He also, and doubtless before this, built a saw mill, and about 1812 he sold both establishments to Obadiah Adams for $10,000. He donated a site for a school house or a church which would include the present Baptist church lot and public square in Wolcott village. He sold a lot below the saw mill to Daniel Mellin. who erected a fulling, cloth-dressing, and carding mill. He sold about three acres, then known as the swamp lot, to Dr. David Arne this included the site of the new Presbyterian church. He built an ashery on the north side of Main street and a distillery on the west side of the road leading to the Beach grist mill. In 1811 he moved his family here and about 1813 he erected a dwelling house which he painted jet black. Mr. Melvin was a peculiar man. Upon being asked why he chose such an unusual color for his residence he replied: "I like to see things correspond if my character is black, I paint the house so." He always wore a buckskin apron, one for work and another on Sundays to church. His farm and residence were widely known as the "Black House."

Extensive business interests like Melvin's required more capital than he could command, and so the banks at Utica and Geneva were called upon to furnish funds, for which - notes and mortgages were given as collateral. This involved Osgood Church, who became Melvin's endorser, and when their paper fell due they unfortunately found themselves without the necessary money. The banks were obdurate, and the sheriff levied upon everything the two men owned, including about 450 acres within the present limits of Wolcott village. The property was bid in by the Geneva Bank, or at least passed into the control of that institution, by which it was subsequently parceled out to individual purchasers, as noted further on. Melvin was a pensioner of the Revolutionary war, and after his failure here he returned to Phelps, where he died abput 1845.

Obadiah Adams, a brother-in-law of Osgood Church, came here in 1810 and purchased forty acres on the east side, of New Hartford street in Wolcott village. He was a colonel in the State militia, and from about 1812 to 1824 was the chief business man in the town. Upon the site of the Wolcott HoUse he built a story and a half frame dwelling, which he opened as a tavern, and a year or two later he erected an addition, in which he kept a store, being the first merchant and tavern keeper in the town of Wolcott. He also built the first distillery and an ashery, and had a kiln in which he dried corn meal for shipment to Canada. He bought wheat and had a warehouse at Sloop Landing, where he speculated in land, laid out village lots, and erected several very good buildings. He owned a sailing vessel, which plied the waters of Lake Ontario, and he built the first frame barn in town, opposite his hotel. His tavern, being on the Oswego-Buffalo stage line, was a favorite and important stopping place. He erected a blast furnace a little east of the Beach mill and was about to start operations in the manufacture of plow castings when he failed (about 1824). The law then imprisoned for debt and Mr. Adams was taken by the sheriff to the jail limits at Lyons. He was soon liberated, however, and 1826 he moved to Rochester, where he opened a hotel, but died 'soon afterward, a poor man. The last town meeting of the old town of Wolcott was held at his house in April, 1825.

Dr. David Arne was a practicing physician and the first postmaster of the town. He purchased of the Geneva Bank the old Black House farm of 250 acres at $17 per acre. He was a conspicuous man, as was also Obadiah Adams, and the two were inveterate political opponents. Dr. Arne was justice of the peace, and on one occasion swore out and personally wrote several summonses against Adams for swearing on the street, securing of course the usual judgments, which the latter was obliged to pay. Mr. Adams retaliated by suing the doctor for false arrest and secured a verdict of about $50.

The war of 1812 checked immigration somewhat the following were residents of the old town of Wolcott just prior to that conflict:

Dr. Denas Hyde came here in 1807, and November 5, 1811, he took a contract for eight and one-half acres of lot 26. He was the father of Harlow Hyde, who is now the oldest living supervisor of the town. The latter was for twenty years a justice of the peace and a member of Assembly in 1856-60. His son, James H., was lieutenant of Company A, 138th N. Y. Infantry.

Zenas Wheeler came to Wolcott about the same time and was a member of the General Assembly in 1837. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and died in Phelps in March, 1879.

Lambert Woodruff bought and settled on about 500 acres'adioining the Black House farm, on the north, in 1808. He had five sons, John, Jesse, Charles, Luther and Andrew. His homestead subsequently became the, residence of Enos Reed.

Elisha Plank removed to this town in the spring of 1813, and on May 21 purchased 467 acres on lots 381, 383 and 385, for which he paid $4.25 per acre. He built a saw mill and grist mill on Mill Creek, about one mile north of the village both establishments were carried away by a freshet November 1, 1814, carrying him and a son with them. The latter was drowned, but the father escaped with slight injuries. The following spring his house was burned. He erected another grist mill on the same site, and died September 25, 1852. His son, born in 1796, came here with the family in 1813, and died December 27, 1886. He taught school in early life and held several town offices.

Abijah Moore was the pioneer settler on New Hartford street. He came in 1809 and brought his family hither in 1810, and led the first dance held in the town. Stephen and Sylvanus Joiner, on March 1, 1811, purchased 1,050 acres for $4.00 an acre of Fellows & McNab this was on lot 344, and upon it they built two frame barns.

Hiram Church was a son of Osgood Church, previously mentioned, and was born in Marlboro, Mass., April 8, 1806. Coming here with father in 1808 he lived to see the old town transformed from a wilderness into beautiful homes and thrifty villages, and a few years before his death be published in the Lake Shore News a number of articles pertaining to the early history of this locality. He had two daughters and a son (William O.), and died here October 13, 1889.

Giles Fitch contracted for ninety-six acres of lot 352 July 20, 1811, and the same day Thaddeus Fitch purchased a like amount of the same lot. The former was the first mail contractor from Wolcott to Auburn, carrying the mail on horseback once a week each way.

Eliab Abbott was a settler of 1808. On September 30 of that year he contracted for fifty-nine and a half acres of lot 376. Among other pioneers and prominent settlers in the old town of Wolcott were Lott Stewart, inn-keeper at Stewart's Corners Jarvis and Gardner Mudge Ransom Ward, Joseph Foster, father of Asahel Jedediah Wilson, on lot 66 Linus Hthbard, a blacksmith Jonathan Runyon, a Revolutionary soldier, who drew a bounty of 600 acres Levi Smith Samuel J. Otis, on lot 352, an old Mason Stephen D. Fowler, son of John P. Ephraim P. Bigelow Isaac Otis, on lot 267 Daniel Dutcher, on lot 75 Benjamin Brown, on lot 320, who died in June, 1871 John Mack, father of Harrison, on lot 31 Luke Brinkerhoff, on lot 62 John Ford, a soldier of the war of 1812 Daniel Patterson, also a veteran of 1812, and the father of John William Sax, Roger Olmsted, George I. and Garrett Van Fleet,' James M. Hall, Rev. Ira H. Hogan, William W. Phillips, father of John M. and Robert McArthur, another soldier in the war of 1812, and the father of John. June 24, 1812, Thomas Hale contracted for 200 acres of lots 304 and 312 and August 26, 1813, he purchased twenty-five acres more of lot 304. Charles Sweeet bought fifty acres of lot 344 October 15, 1813.

Elias V. Munson, born in New Jersey in July, 1793, removed to Auburn, where he helped to lay the walls of the State Prison, and came thence to Wolcott in 1820 as a clerk for Obadiah Adams. Upon the failure of the latter he went to Waterloo, but soon returned to Wolcott as agent in the store of Reuben Swift & Co., whom he soon bought out. About 1829 he purchased of the Geneva Bank the old tavern stand and farm of Adams's. The hotel was burned in the winter of 1836-7 and in 1837 he built the Northern Exchange Hotel, which was the first brick building in Wolcott. He subsequently bought a farm two miles south of the village, but two years later returned and engaged in merchandising, a business he followed until shortly before his death, June 23, 186L He was the second postmaster of Wolcott, and for several years was a justice of the peace. He had three children.

Rev. Amos P. Draper was born in Dover, N. Y., in 1791, and by trade was a carpenter and joiner. He "went from the bench to the pulpit" of the Baptist Church and began his ministerial labors in Wolcott, subsequently officiating in Phelps and Red Creek. He was the father of Dr. Edwin H. Draper, a practicing physician in Wolcott village he also had four children.

Thomas Snyder, born in Owasco, N. Y., in 1796. came with the family in 1813 to Red Creek, where his father purchased 1,000 acres of land. The latter built the first saw mill and grist mill in that village, and during his life was a prominent citizen of the place.

John O. Wadsworth, from Vermont, settled in Butler with his father, Elisha W., in 1819. In 1832 he removed to Wolcott, and was sheriff of Wayne county four years. He was the father of Henry Wadsworth.

Capt. Horace L. Dudley, born in Guilford, Conn., February 25, 1803, came to Wolcott in 1824, and in 1826 married Melinda Hendrick. He was a progressive agriculturist, held Leveral town offices, and was commissioned captain in the State militia August 22, 1829. He had nine children, and died March 25, 1880.

Jedediah Wilder was born in Bristol, N. Y., in 1792, and came to Wolcott village in 1816. He purchased of Samuel Millen the fulling and cloth-dressing mill, which he conducted until 1826, when he sold it to Roswell Benedict and bought a farm of Zenas Wheeler. He was one of the earliest agents of the American Bible Society, for twenty years a magistrate of the town, for ten years president of the Wayne Sunday School Union, and a soldier in the State militia under Col. Swift during the attack on Sodus Point by the British. He died August 8, 1867.

William Olney Wood, son of Noah, was born in Otsego county, N. V., in August, 1809. He finally removed to Butler, and learning the trade of a tanner came to Wolcott village. In 1831 he purchased a small tannery in Red Creek and became one of the wealthiest and most influential men in the town. He built Wood's Hotel and opened a private banking office, and for several years was supervisor of Wolcott. He had ten children, and died in March, 1879.

Hon. Isaac Leavenworth, a native of Watertown, Conn., born June 17, 1781, became a resident of Wolcott village about 1838, and during the remainder of his life was one of the town's most prominent citizens. He founded the Leavenworth Institute, and in 1849 was elected to the Legislature. He was energetic, public spirited, enterprising, and generous, and died February 26, 1860.

Anson Drury, born in Vermont in 1799, came to Huron with his parents Caleb and Jane in 1816, and removed to a farm in Wolcott in 1855, where he died in January, 1881. Jesse W. Williams was born in Burlington, Vt., October 30, 1797, served as a teamster, with his father, in the war of 1812, and came to this town in 1834, where he died in August, 1876. M. P. Foote, born in Newtown, Conn., in 1805, came here in 1840, was first a merchant and then a farmer, arid died September 25, 1889. Capt. Thomas W. Johnson removed to Wolcott when a boy, served in the Civil War and was brevetted major, and died in November, 1886. Jesse Mathews was supervisor of the old town in 1817 and for several years was a justice of the peace his daughter Amanda suc ceeded him on the homestead.

Prominent among other settlers and residents are George W. Brinkerhoff, born in Wolcott in 1838, served in the 9th Heavy Artillery, brevetted major, elected to the Assembly in 1891 George Doolittle, supervisor, deceased Joseph Ward, father of Reuben, died in 1882 R. W. Younglove, of North Wolcott Jesse Olmstead, the last of nine children, died September 26, 1884 Deacon Cyrus Brockway, died in October, 18Th John Turner, father of M. B., died in 1890 Isaac Rice, father of Ammon, died in 1893 JoIth. Dow, who purchased 300 acres pf land at North Wolcott for $5 per acre and. died in 1884 Alanson Frost, from Connecticut, father of Oscar J. Hamilton Hibbard, who died April 29, 1894. Many others are noticed in Part II of this volume.

In 1858 the town had 12,995 acres improved land real estate assessed at $549,749 personal property, $55,300 1,535 male and 1,478 female inhabitants 593 dwellings, 609 families, and 484 freeholders 15 school districts attended by 1,223 children 673 horses, 1,327 oxen and calves, 882 cows, 4,296 sheep, 1,692 swine. There were produced that year 9,103 bushels winter and 112,751 bushels spring wheat, 1,714 tons hay, 10,854 bushels potatoes, 17,456 bushels apples, 79,186 pounds butter, 2,452 pounds cheese, and 840 yards domestic cloths.

In 1890 the town had a population of 3,216, or 515 less than in 1880. In 1893 the assessed valuation of land was $629, 375 (equalized $644,831) village and mill property, $351,035 (equalized $344,149) railroads and telegraphs, $102, 638 personal property, $23,150. Schedule of taxes for 1893: Contingent fund, $2, 984.62 town poor, $200 roads and bridges, $634.42 special town tax, $5,800 school tax, $1,019.91 county tax, $2,440.25 State tax, $1,344.71 State insane tax, $346.91 dogtax, $72.50. Total tax levy, $15.185.44 rate per cent. .01372759.

There are four election districts and in 1893 the town polled about 690 votes.

In the war of the Rebellion the town of Wolcott sent to the front a large number of her brave and heroic citizens, who did valiant service in the suppression of that sanguinary conflict. Some of them rose to the ranks of commissioned officers many gave up their life blood on Southern battlefields or in rebel prisons. The survivors are few, and with the dead they share the tender remembrances of a grateful people upon each Memorial Day.

The first birth in Wolcott was that of Isaac Hopper, and the first death in the old town was that of Sarah Mills, who died December 25, 1809, and was buried on the Viele farm. The two principal cemeteries in the present town are those at Red Creek and Wolcott villages. The oldest portion of the latter is known as Leavenworth cemetery, while the annex, or new part, is called Glen side the receiving vault was built in April, 1887.

The first school house in town was a log structure built in 1810, in Wolcott village, on the site of Dr. E. H. Draper's present residence. Another log school building was erected two or three years later by Jonathan Melvin, sr., near the Knapp foundry. This was the first district in the town, and was organized as No. 1 about 1812, the first trustees being Osgood Church, Lambert Woodruff, and Eliakim Tupper. One acre, covering the site of the Baptist church, was donated by Mr. Melvin, and soon a frame school house was built thereon this building was subsequently purchased by Obadiah Adams, who moved it across the street and added it to his hotel. A new structure was erected on the lot and known as the old red school house until 1843, when it was removed and a two-story building put up in its place. This employed two teachers, and was burned in 1865. Among the earlier teachers in these buildings were Mary Lambert (daughter of Lambert Woodruff), John Melvin (son of Jonathan), Daniel Butrick, Huldah Seymour (daughter of Dea. Noah Seymour and afterward Mrs. John Roe), Prudence Wells (afterward Mrs. Jedediah Wilder), William Plank (son of Elisha), Loren Doolittle, Austin Roe, Harlow Hyde, Levi Hendrick, Barabus Knapp, Willis Roe, and Samuel Colboth.

In 1859 Leavenworth Institute was incorporated and a brick building erected on New Hartford street in Wolcott village, through the munificence of Hon. Isaac Leavenworth, who contributed one-half of the funds, the balance being raised by subscription. It is two stories high above a stone basement, and for several years contained the only public hail in town. The first principal was M. J. Slee, and the first president of the Board of Trustees was Dr. James M. Wilson, who was succeeded by E. N. Plank. Upon the destruction by fire of the public school building a project was inaugurated to consolidate the two, which was effected November 1, 1865, under the name of Leavenworth Institute and Union Free School, the former becoming the academic department, and the district being reorganized as Union Free School district, No. 1, towns of Wolcott, Huron and Butler. November 4 the following Board of Education was elected: Dr. James M. Wilson, Jedediah Wilder, E. N. Plank, J. Talcott, B. F. Peck, William H. Thacker, W. W. Paddock, T. W. Collins, C. P. Smith, R. Sours, J. S. Roe, L. Millington and R. Matthews E. N. Plank was president W. W. Paddock, treasurer Chester Dutton, secretary and librarian. The new organization paid a debt of $250 against the institute and refunded $260 to the Leavenworth heirs. The first term opened December 12, 1865, with John Teller as principal, and Miss Tappan as preceptress. Among the successive principals have been Amos H. Thompson, Professor Hutton, M. T. Brown, C. T. R. Smith, Jefferson W. Hoag, Professor Baldwin, John P. Cothran, W. R. Vosburgh, Edward Hayward, E. B. Nichols, John W. Robinson and E. D. Niles. The preceptress is Miss Agnes Ford.

The first school house at Red Creek was a frame structure, twenty feet square, on Canada street, and one of its first teachers was Abigail Bunce. In 1837 the wooden building of the present academy was erected, and the first teacher therein was Norman F. Wright. March 27, 1839, the Red Creek Union Academy was incorporated, and among the first trustees were William O. Wood, Amos Snyder, Abel Lyon and Francis Nichols. The first principal was N. F. Wright, A. M. second, John W. Armstrong, A. M. third, Professor Hendrickson, associated with Rev. E. C. Bruce, who remained until 1854. About this time the first brick building, fifty by seventy feet, three stories high, was erected, and Rev. William C. Mason was appointed agent he alone contributed $500. The fourth principal was Rev. John B. Van Patten. In 1858 or 1859 the brick building burned, and the citizens subscribed for another. The contract was let to Jonathan P. Jones for $4,000, who put up the present structure with a judgment against it of $1,500. The property was sold, being bid off by William P. Jones, who took a sheriff's deed, and who disposed of the whole in 1865 to a stock company for $10,000, divided into shares of $25.00 each. The institution. was reorganized, a new charter was obtained, and the name was changed to the Red Creek Union Seminary, which it has since born the trustees named in this charter were William P. Jones, president J. B. Decker, secretary Jonathan P. Jones, Lewis Jones, Riley Z. Patrick, Parson Cooper, Amasa Quivey and George Coplin. Mr. Decker has served continuously as trustee and secretary since 1865. The old charter building is still standing, and occupied by the principal as a residence. The Board of Education for 1894-5 consists of Parson Cooper, president J. B. Decker, secretary Riley Z. Patrick, treasurer George M. Coplin, Abram Harris, Jay D. Frost, Amasa Quivey, Lewis Jones and William T. Clark. The principal is Albert D. Whitney, A. M., assisted by three teachers. The school is in a very flourishing condition.

The first school house in the vicinity of North Wolcott was a log structure erected about 1835 by John Dow. Prior to this a school had been kept in "the shanty" near Little Red Creek by Margaret Shaft, afterward Mrs. Elijah Edwards. A frame school house was built in district No. 2 in 1840.

The town now has fifteen school districts with buildings, in which twenty-six teachers are employed, and which are attended by about 920 scholars. Value of school buildings and sites in 1893, $20,220 assessed valuation of districts, $1,370,525 money received from the State, $3,582.12 raised by local tax, $5,146.11.

WOLCOTT VILLAGE.- This is one of the pleasantest villages in Wayne county. It lies in the extreme west corner of this town and partly in the town of B.u.tler, and on the south side of the R., W. & 0. Railroad. Containing valuable mill privileges on Wolcott Creek, it was the site of the first settlement and the first business interests within the present town, and much of its earlier history has already been recorded in previous pages of this chapter. Intimately connected with its growth and development from a dense forest to a thrifty village are associated the names of Jonathan Melvin, Sr., Obadiah Adams, Osgood Church, Dr. David Arne, Elias Y. Munson, and others heretofore mentioned. The first improvements were inaugurated by Melvin, and the first tavern and distillery were conducted by Adams. The latter also had a cornmeal kiln, and his huge hogsheads, filled with meal for shipment, early give the place the name of "Puncheonville." Dr. Arne was the. first postmaster. About 1811 Jacob Butterfield, a tanner and shoemaker, purchased of Mr. Church three acres on which he built a tan. nery and conducted business many years. William M. Nurss and Merritt Candy from Oneida county, came here in 1823 and erected a distillery and ashery on the east side of the creek they purchased Elisha Plank's grist mill, and also established a store. Mr. Candy died in 1828 and Nurss closed out their business, being succeeded by Alanson Melvin, whom his father, Jonathan, Sr., had left here to wind up his affairs. E. Y. Munson, as previously noted, succeeded to the Adams tavern and all the land on lot 50 which Adams had purchased of Melvin. He sold to Stephen P. and Chester A. Keyes all that tract across Main street from the Wilder lot to the gulf and moved the old barn and sheds over to his tavern stand. The Messrs. Keyes occupied Munson's old store. Nathan Pierce, son-ifl-law of Levi Smith, built a hotel opposite his stone building and kept it several years it was later known as the old White Hotel. A Dr. Tripp, from Montgomery county, purchased from the Geneva Bank the Melvin mill property and repaired and conducted it some time. The present Wolcott House, standing on the site of Adams's pioneer tavern, which was burned and replaced by the Northern Exchange, was rebuilt by Julius Whiting in 1880 and passed from him to the present proprietor, S. A. Williams, on February 1, 1887 the latter has also made additions. Abram Cuyler settled here in 1833 his son, John H., was the first producer of barrel staves in the village.

Wolcott village was incorporated February 24, 1852, and re-incorporated in February, 1873. March 18, 1873, the following officers were chosen: Asa D. Kellogg, president B. Franklin Knapp, Horace L. Dudley, Nelson Moore, trustees Henry A. Graves, treasurer Hiram Silliman, collector William 0. Church, clerk. The presidents since then have been:

The village officers for 1894 are: G. H. Northrup, president J. E. Lawrence, B. J. Worden, H. A. Loveless, trustees Joel Fanning, clerk F. A. Prevost, treasurer William Borden street commissioner E. H. Kellogg, police justice the trustees, assessors N. W. Merrill, collector.

The village has been visited by a number of conflagrations, important among which are the following: In 1874, destroying a large amount of property July 20, 1875, eight business houses from the Wolcott House to the "Arcade" building, loss about $12,000 August 28, 1876, six business places on the east side of Mill street November 11, 1879, the old landmark, the "Arcade," which was owned by. the Presbyterian church and leased for stores February 10, 1884, eight business blocks including the Lake Shore News office, rendering homeless twenty-three business concerns and fourteen families, less about $150,000 and February 19, 1887, Campbell's block.

In April, 1884, it was decided to raise by tax $2, 500 for the purchase of a fire engine and suitable equipment, and in the fall of 1885 the present frame engine house and village hail was erected. In November, 1886, a new hook and ladder truck for Independent Company No. 1 was purchased. The fire department is now constituted as follows: Chief, Henry A. Graves first assistant, Rolla Stewart second assistant, J. G. Cook. Independent Hook and Ladder Company No 1, Cyrus E. Fitch, foreman. Wolcott Fire Company No 1, B. J. Worden, foreman Wolcott Hose Company No 1, William Olmsted, foreman.

The first banking business in Wolcott village was instituted in a small way by James V. D. Westfali. Roe & Ellis's private bank was started by Roe, Ellis and Pomeroy in 1875, in the present bank building, which was erected for the purpose. rn the sprirg of. 1884 Mr. Pomeroy sold his interest to the present firm, consisting of Willis S. Roe and A. D. Ellis.

Wolcott village now contains four dry goods stores, three groceries, four drug stores, two hardware stores, three clothing stores, two furniture and undertaking establishments, a boot and shoe store, four jewelry stores, three milliners, a newspaper and printing office, a bank, three hotels, three liveries, two meat markets, a bakery, two harness shops, a music store, four churches, five pyhsicians, seven lawyers, two dentists, two insurance offices, a variety store, two grist mills, two foundry and machine shops, two lumber and three coal yards, a box factory. a fruit warehouse, one grain elevator, a laundry, marble and monumental works, a photograph gallery, two public halls, two wagon and. four blacksmith shops, and about 950 inhabitants. The present postmaster is C. F. Van Valkenburg.

RED CREEK- This village is situated in the east part of the town, on the stream of the same name, and on the .R., W. & 0. Railroad, and in an early day was called Jacksonville in honor of Gen. Andrew Jackson. A post-office was established, the name of which as well as that of the village was changed to its present designation in 1836. The first settler, tradition says, was a hunter and fisherman named Beman, who built a rude hut on the banks of Red Creek, some forty rods east of the Presbyterian Church. The second corner was a Mr. Babbitt. Neither of these remained more than a few years. In 1811. Noadiah Childs came in, built a log house, and made other improvements. Then followed Jacob Snyder with his ten children: John, Peter, Thomas, Amos, Noah, Betsey, Polly, Catharine, Nancy and Jacob, jr. He built a log house and later a frame one on the site of the dwelling of the Plate W. O. Wood. This was the first frame house in the village. Mr. Snyder was a Methodist preacher and often officiated at local meetings. The next settler was Isaac Easton, with eleven children, of whom the sons were William. John, Mahion, Chiflion, David, Abram and Walter. This was in 1816, and soon afterward Isaac Hoppin, Philip Bien, Abraham Teachout and James S. Brinkerhoff came in.

The first store was opened about 1832 by Stephen P. and Chester A. Keyes, who came hither from Wolcott village. Lyon & Hawley started another the same year. Isaac Easton was the first blacksmith, and following him were Messrs. Bunce and Gage. Noah Sffyder opened the first tavern about 1829 it was twice burned and rebuilt. The first brick buildings were the academy and the store of Underhill & Lyon, the latter being built in 1854. - The first physician was a Dr. White. The first lawyer was John W. Carey, who practiced here for six years prior to 1849, when he removed to Wisconsin, where he was State senator two terms he is now in Chicago. and has been general attorney for the C., St. P. & M. Railroad for over twenty-five years. J. B. Decker was town superintendent of common schools for four years. He-was admitted to the bar of this State in 1850, has been district attorney three years, and a notary public ever since that office was created in the town. He was a student in the Red Creek Academy the first year it started, is a graduate of Union College, receiving the degrees of A. B. .and A. M., and for several years was admitted to the United States Courts.

R. C. Hoff, the father of Hubbard Hoff, became a merchant here in 1834. The first saw mill on Red Creek was erected by Jacob Snyder in 1814 this was carried away in a freshet March 17, 1820. another was built in 1826, and has given place to the present one, owned by William Camp. Mr. Snyder erected the first grist mill on the same stream in 1816, which was subsequently occupied by G. M. Wood. A tannery was built here about 1820 by a Mr. Hale. M. and W. G. Wood also operated a tannery for many years their old building is now used for a fruit evaporator. The present owners of the two grist mills are Wallace Benedict and Homer Campbell.

In 1852 the village was incorporated with an area of one square mile. In the spring of 1874 the records were burned, and the earliest officers obtainable are those elected in 1876, when William 0. Wood became president and A. T. Delling clerk. The presidents since then are:

The officers for 1894 are: Charles Longyear, president George Longyear, Daniel McMullen, Jacob D. Covert, George W. Flint, trustees John S. Smith, clerk George Robertson, Parson Cooper, George D. Barber, assessors Amasa Quivey, collector Patrick Malone, treasurer Daniel D. Becker, police justice Amasa Q. Milliman, police constable James Hedges, street commissioner.

William 0. Wood established the first banking business in Red Creek and continued it about four years, being succeeded by his son, G. W. He soon gave way to a younger brother and A. M. Green as Wood & Green, who finally discontinued the business. In the fall of 1884 Becker & Hall purchased Wood & Green's safe, etc., and started a private banking establishment, which they still carry on in connection with a large general store.

In the spring of 1874 the business portion of the village was almost entirely devastated by fire. In September, 1878, the stave, saw, and heading mill of James Van Voorhees & Co. was burned, with a loss of $7,000. February 28, 1884, the post-office building and stores were consumed, causing a loss of some $16,000. In March, 1894, fire destroyed the brick block on the site on which H. C. Van Aistine is now (August, 1894) building a handsome structure.

Red Creek village now contains three general stores, two drug stores, a meat market, two hotels, three liveries, a newspaper and printing office, one furniture and undertaking establishment, one jeweler, five blacksmith and two wagon shops, two milliners, a photograph gallery, one grocery, two lawyers, three physicians, a veterinary surgeon, two warehouses, one lumber and two coal yards, a harness shop, a flour and feed store, two grist mills, a cooperage, a hardware store, saw mill, several fruit evaporators, four churches, the Union Seminary, district school, and about 500 inhabitants. The postmaster is William M. Milliman.

North Wolcott is a small hamlet on the east side of Little Red Creek in the northern part of the town. Minott Mitchell purchased for speculation 3,000 acres, including lots 20, 21, 39, and 40, and in 1836 he built a saw mill on the creek on lot 39. About 1841 Winslow Dodge erected another, and in 1842 John Dow put up a third, which subsequently became known as the Casterline mill. The first steam saw mill was built by Fowler & Conner in 1864. In 1844 Hiram Blanchard opened a blacksmith shop and about 1865 George Delemater built a store. In 1873 the post-office was established with Nathaniel J. Field as postmaster, who held the office for nineteen years, being succeeded by the present incumbent, D. J. Kyle. Mr. Field became a merchant here about 1873. The first frame house in the locality was built by a Mr. Hill in 1837.

FURNACE VILLAGE , one mile north of Wolcott, contains a saw mill, bed-spring manufactory, and a few houses. A blast furnace was built here about 1823 by Andrew Chapin and conducted under the firm name of Chapin & Parks. They soon abandoned the iron ore bed near by and secured ore from the Red Creek ore bed north of that village. The business was continued until Chapin's death, when the property passed to their-former employees, Hendrick & Seymour, who were succeeded by Hendrick & Leavenworth. The furnace has long since been discontinued.

The First Presbyterian church of Wolcott was founded July 18, 1813, by Revs. Charles Mosier and Henry Axtell, with twenty-three members, and September 7 the society was legally organized "at the school house near Obadiah Adams" by the election of these trustees: Lambert Woodruff, Josiah Upsoh, Jarvis Mudge, Noah Seymour, Jonathan Melvin, and John Wade. Adonijah Church was the first clerk, and the corporation certificate was filed before Judge Jesse Southwick, of Seneca county, January 18, 1814. The first pastor was Rev. Daniel S. Buttrick he received an annual salary of $200 and remained about two years. The second pastor was Rev. William Clark. For twelve years meetings were held alternately at the Adams and Cobble Hill school houses. An attempt was made to build a church by subscription, but without avail, and the result was the erection of one at South Huron and another in the village of Wolcott. The latter was built where Dr. E. H. Draper's residence now stands in 1826, but remained unfinished inside until 1832. The first trustees of this church were Alanson Melvin, Abijah Moore, Elisha Plank, John Woodruff, Andrew Chapin, and Merritt Candy the first pastor was Rev. Nathaniel Merrill. The society had twelve members. In 1852 during the pastorate of Rev. Thomas Wright, a new edifice was built on the site of Newberry & Burton's store Rev. Mr. Wright preached the last sermon February 11, 1883. The corner stone of the third and present brick structure was laid by the pastor, Rev. William A. Rice, July 6, 1882. It was dedicated free from debt February 15, 1883, and cost complete $16,814. The present pastor, Rev. H. B. Stevenson, assumed charge in October, 1889. The society has about 275 members.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Wolcott.-Preaching by circuit riders commenced in this section at a Yery early date. It was known as the Sodus circuit, and the first quarterly meeting was held at the barn of Daniel Roe on October 9, 1813. The first class in Wolcott was formed- in 1833 with these members: L. Millington, leader, Lovina Millington, Nathan and Jerusha Pierce, and a Mrs. Southwick. In 1838 a church was built. This was replaced by the present edifice, the corner stone of which was laid June 29, 1872. It is of brick, was dedicated in 1873, and cost about $12,000. The society has about 290 members under the pastoral care of Rev. J. C. B. Moyer. The first preacher located on the original circuit was Rev. Truman Gillett.

The First Baptist church of Wolcott was incorporated June 2, 1835, with twenty-four constitutent members. The first pastor was Rev. Isaac Bucklin, and among his successors have been: Revs. Hiller, D. D. Chittendon, H. P. Stillwell, Barrel, Wadhams, C. A. Skinner, Peter Irving, Garret, Smith, 0. P. Meeks, A. H. Stearns, A. R. Babcock, J. J. Hammer, Wm. Furgeson, C. E. Christian, and Abner Morrill, the present pastor. The first church was a wood structure which stood on the site of the present handsome edifice. The latter was built in 1880 and dedicated March 4, 1881, by Rev. R. E. Burton. It is of brick and cost complete $6,282. The society has about eighty members.

The Methodist Protestant Church of Wolcott was organized by Rev. Ira Hogan, the first pastor, in 1855, with seven members: Alanson Millington (leader), Henry S. Cornwell (steward), Mrs. H. S. Cornwell, Henry S. Nichols, John and Aurelia Cook, and Walter Paddock. Services were held in a stone church that had been erected by a defunct Universalist society until 1863, when their present edifice was built at a cost of $3, 300 it was consecrated by Rev. James Smith. The present membership is about thirty-five, and the pastor is Rev. Mr. McChesney.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Red Creek.- Of this society the record is as follows: "Red Creek, formerly the eastern part of Rose circuit, was constituted by the appointment of the Rev. Royal Houghton, of the Black River annual conference, preacher in charge, at their session held in Syracuse, commencing the 19th day of July, 1843. The society of the station was organized at a meeting of official members held at the church at Red Creek on Saturday, August 12, 1843, and ts as follows, viz.: Royal Houghton, preacher in charge Abiram Skeei and Abel Lyon, local preachers Aurelius Dykeman, exhorter Amos Snyder, Harvey Douglass, William G. Brown, John W. Miller, and Anthony Prior, stewards William G. Brown, recording secretary." Eleven classes were formed, with a membership of ninety-eight. The class leaders were Amos Snyder, Benjamin Jenkins, John Quereau, James Cosgrove, Harvey Douglass, Henry Madan, John Ford, John McArthur, William G. Brown, Silas Nichols, and Jesse Viele. Among the pastors succeeding Rev. Mr. Houghton were Revs. John W. Coope, P. S. Bennett, M. H. Gaylord, D. W. Roney, E. Wheeler, H. Kinsley, John Slee, R. N. Barber, Isaac Turney, B. Alden, George C. Wood, S. B. Crosier, R. Redhead, and C. N. Damen. The society has a neat edifice and also owns a parsonage. They have a membership of about 150. Rev. D. B. Kellogg is pastor.

The Presbyterian Church of Red Creek was regularly organized May 13, 1818, by Rev. William Clark with these members: George B. and Luke T. Brinkerhoff, William Wood, Ebenezer Nale, Samuel Van Fleet, Martin and Saffarine Courtright, John Turner, Jane and Netty Brinkerhoff, Catharine Wood, Hannah Courtright, and Richard Van Fleet. The first officers were: G. B. Brinkerhoff, Luke T. Brinkerhoff, and William Wood, elders Ebenezer Nale, deacon. The first session was held September 12, at the house of George B. Brinkerhoff and Daniel B. Wheeler was received as a member and baptized thirteen persons also joined by letter. The first church edifice was erected in 1838, and the first meeting in it was held February 2, 1839. The society owns a parsonage, which they built, and has a membership of sixty-five. The present pastor is Rev. A. Nelson.

The Baptist Church of Red Creek was organized in 1841, with about thirty members. The first trustees were William 0. Wood, Abram Teachout, and Daniel Dutcher, and meetings were held in the school house several years. About 1847 a church edifice, thirty-two by fiftysix feet, was erected, and subsequently a parsonage was secured. Among the earlier pastors were Revs. J. S. Everingham, Kinney, Arnasa Curtis, Ira Bennett, and Ira Dudley. The society has about forty-five members under the pastoral charge of Rev. J. M. Shotwell, whose wife is superintendents of the Sunday school.

St. Thomas's Roman Catholic Church of Red Creek was built in 1875 at a cost of $3,000, the corner stone being laid by Rt. Rev. Bishop McQuaid on October 26, of that year. It is a frame structure and stands on Main street near the depot. The first pastor was Rev. Father King the present one in chargeS is Father Ruby, who resides in Cato, Cayuga county. The parish has about sixty families.

81st Infantry Regiment

The following is taken from New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. Frederick Phisterer. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 1912.
This regiment was organized at Albany February 18, 1862, by the consolidation of the Mohawk Rangers, or Guards of Liberty and Union, Col. O. B. Pierce, of which the Remington Guards formed part, with the Oswego Regiment, Col. Edwin Rose. August 25, 1861, authority was granted for the organization of the Oswego Regiment October 11, 1861, it consisted of ten companies of minimum strength in December Company I was consolidated with the other companies, and, a number of men discharged for various reasons in January, 1862, it was ordered to Albany, and February 6th, the men of Company C were transferred to Companies D, G and K, and those of Company E to Companies A, F and H, leaving but seven companies. The Mohawk Rangers were organized at Rome ordered to Albany in February, 1862, and on the 17th, consolidated with the Oswego Regiment, forming its three vacant companies, C, E and I. The new organization received the numerical designation given to the Oswego Regiment December 10, 1861, and Edwin Rose was appointed its Colonel. At the expiration of its term of service, the men entitled thereto were discharged, and the regiment continued in service.
The men were recruited principally in the counties of Oswego and Oneida, and mustered in the service of the United States for three years, between December 20, 1861, and February 20, 1862.
The regiment left the State March 5, 1862 served at Kalorama Heights, D. C., from March 7, 1862 in Palmer's, 3d, Brigade, Casey's, 1st, Division, 4th Corps, Army of Potomac, from March 13, 1862 in 1st Brigade, 2d Division, same corps, from June, 1862 at Yorktown, Va., from August, 1862 in 1st, Naglee's, Brigade, Peck's Division, 4th Corps, in North Carolina, from December, 1862 in 1st, Heckman's, Brigade, 2d, Naglee's, Division, 18th Corps, in South Carolina, from January 11, 1863 in the District of Beaufort, N. C., 18th Corps, from May, 1863 at Newport News, Va., from October, 1863 at Portsmouth, Va., from December, 1863 in the District of Currituck, Va., from February, 1864 in the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 18th Corps, Army of the James, from April 18, 1864 in New York harbor in November, 1864 in the 1st Brigade, 3d Division, 24th Corps, from December, 1864 and it was honorably discharged and mustered out, under Lieut-Col. Lucius V. S. Mattison, August 31, 1865, at Fort Monroe, Va.
During its, service the regiment lost by death, killed in action, 8 officers, 88 enlisted men of wounds received in action, 4 officers, 44 enlisted men of disease and other causes, 2 officers, 97 enlisted men total, 14 officers, 229 enlisted men aggregate, 243 of whom 3 enlisted men died in the hands of the enemy.

The following is taken from The Union army: a history of military affairs in the loyal states, 1861-65 -- records of the regiments in the Union army -- cyclopedia of battles -- memoirs of commanders and soldiers. Madison, WI: Federal Pub. Co., 1908. volume II.
Eighty-first Infantry.&mdashCols., Edwin Rose, Jacob J. DeForest, John B. Raulston, David B. White Lieut.-Cols., Jacob J. DeForest, William C. Raulston, John B. Raulston, David B. White, Lucius V. S. Mattison Majs., Byron B. Morris, John McAmbly, William C. Raulston, David B. White, Edward A. Stimson, Lucius V. S. Mattison. The 81st, the 2nd Oswego regiment, was raised mainly in Oneida and Oswego counties and was mustered into the U. S. service at Oswego and Albany from Dec., 1861, to Feb. 20, 1862,. for three years. It left the state for Washington on March 5, 1862, was quartered for a short time at Kalorama heights and assigned to Palmer's brigade, Casey's division, 4th corps, with which it embarked for the Peninsula with the general advance of McClellan's army. It was present during the siege of Yorktown in the battles of Williamsburg and Savage Station was closely engaged at Fair Oaks, with the loss of 137 killed, wounded and missing, among whom Maj. McAmbly was killed and Lieut.-Col. DeForest wounded. During the Seven Days' battles the regiment was employed in guard-ing trains, and after the evacuation of the Peninsula was stationed at Yorktown until December, from which point it undertook a number of expeditions into the surrounding country. Assigned to the 1st brigade, Peck's division, 4th corps, the 81st embarked for North Carolina in Dec., 1862, and was stationed at Beaufort, and More-head, N. C., in the 1st brigade, 2nd division, 18th corps. In Oct., 1863, the regiment returned to Newport News and performed outpost duty along the Dismal Swamp canal. In December a sufficient number reenlisted to secure the continuance of the 81st as a veteran regiment, and upon their return from veteran furlough the regiment was assigned to the 1st brigade, 1st division, 18th corps, with which it fought at Swift creek, Drewry's bluff and Cold Harbor. In the two assaults on Cold Harbor the regiment took a prominent part and suffered the heaviest loss in its history, 212 killed or wounded and 3 missing, half of the number engaged. It continued in service before Petersburg was sent to New York harbor in November was attached to the 24th corps in December was active in the assault on Fort Harrison, and was mustered out of the service at Fortress Monroe Aug. 31, 1865. It earned a well-deserved reputation for gallantry and courage for which it paid the penalty of loss during service of 107 by death from wounds and 99 from other causes.

The fight over the will

After Capt. Ross died in 1836, his grandson Isaac Ross Wade contested the will.

“I look back on that and analyze (the grandson’s) thinking,” Solis-Champion says. “And the only conclusion I can come up with is pure greed.”

The slaves were furious, and a few of them set fire to the original house. Wade escaped, but a young girl died and several others were injured. As many as a dozen slaves believed to have been responsible for the fire were lynched. The girl who died is buried on the property, near Capt. Ross.

In 1845, the grandson lost his court fight.

Faculty

Russia after 1800 and Soviet Union Russian and comparative legal history Russian serfdom global history of capitalism and credit crime & criminal justice secret political police elites & power

Comparative empires history of international law Atlantic history global and international history British and Iberian empires

Enlightenment cultural history of technology in the early modern world, cultures of collecting and display artisanal knowledge, the early modern body, scientific travel, material culture

Native American history & Native American law

Civil War & Reconstruction era African American history American cultural & intellectual history

Russia to 1800 Russian foreign policy, Orthodoxy, and empire

History of the modern physical and environmental sciences Central European intellectual and cultural history

Modern South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), Global Legal History, Law and Society, Law and Colonialism, British Empire, Nationalism and Decolonization in Asia and Africa, Comparative Constitutionalism

Cultural and intellectual history of modern Europe history of gender and sexuality genocide studies and the Holocaust of European Jewry

Japanese history Demographic history around the world

History of social sciences, gender and nationalism political theory and state formation Spanish empire and Atlantic world Revolutionary Age, race and ethnicity slavery and abolition twentieth-century Latin American social thought

6.
George H Boyd / head / M / 24 / Whitesmith / Darlington, Dur
Margaret Boyd / wife / M / 25 / Darlington, Dur
Isaac Boyd / son / S / 2 / Lofthouse, Yks
Esther Boyd / daug / S / 2 months / Lofthouse, Yks

5.
John Harland / head / M / 62 / Iron moulder / Newton, Yks
Sarah Harland / wife / M / 65 / Derbyshire

4.
Robert J Addison / head / M / 36 / Co-op Manager (grocer) / Newcastle upon Tyne
Elizabeth Addison / wife / M / Sherburn Hill, Dur
Elizabeth Addison / daug / S / 12 / Northumberland
Dorothy Addison / daug / S / 9 / Middlesex
Sarah H Addison / daug / S / 5 / Durham
John Addison / son / S / 3 / Lofthouse, Yks
Edward J Addison / son / S / 1 / Lofthouse, Yks

3.
Thomas Burden / head / M / 69 / Checkweighman at IM / Hertfordshire
Charlotte Burden / wife / M / 64 / Middlesex
Arthur Burden / son / S / 39 / Draper’s assistant / Berkshire
Jane Burden / daug / S / 26 / Teacher of Music / Aske, Yks

2.
Isaac Robinson / head / M / 48 / Ironmonger / Lofthouse, Yks
Elizabeth Robinson / wife / M / 48 / Lofthouse, Yks
Ada Robinson / daug / S / 26 / Lofthouse, Yks
Isaac Robinson / son / S / 10 / Lofthouse, Yks
Ellen Harrison / serv / S / 16 / Domestic Servant / Whitby, Yks

1.
Charles A Booth / head / M / 38 / Wesleyan Minister / Somerset
Eliza C Booth / wife / M / 38 / Buckinghamshire
Elsie Booth / daug / S / 9 / Dorset
Florence M Booth / daug / S / 8 / Scotland
Jessie F Booth / daug / S / 4 / Scotland
Frederick Booth / son / S / 2 / Scotland
William S Booth / son / S / 10 months / Lofthouse, Yks
Jane Wallace / serv / S / 20 / Domestic servant / Scotland

Seymour family papers

The Seymour Family Papers is a collection of unusual quality which spans the years 1711 to 1969, with the greatest concentration occurring from 1870 to 1945. The papers represent six generations of an intellectually and socially prominent family which included two Yale presidents as well as teachers, lawyers, prep school head masters, a Civil War general, a newspaper editor, and a sculptor.

The papers are rich in detail concerning social life and customs in New Haven, Hartford, and nineteenth century Ohio. Family members traveled extensively both professionally and for pleasure, and the papers contain interesting views of American travelers, both in the U.S. and abroad. Because these are family papers there is much in them dealing with daily family life, childbearing, and the role of women in the family, and because so many family members were teachers the papers will prove to be a fertile source for those interested in the history of education, particularly the histories of Yale University, Case Western Reserve University (at the time Western Reserve College), and Choate School.

The papers came to Manuscripts and Archives through numerous donations from family members, the most recent gift being from Mrs. Charles Seymour, Jr. in 1979. The papers now include correspondence and other material of Charles Law Watkins, formerly MSS Group 657.

The papers are divided into eighteen series with separate series for major family groups and individuals. All material pertaining to a married woman is filed under her married name, even if the material was generated prior to her marriage. The series are arranged as follows:

1. I. SEYMOUR FAMILY: GENERAL
2. II. NATHAN PERKINS SEYMOUR
3. III. ELIZABETH DAY SEYMOUR
4. IV. DAY FAMILY
5. V. CHARLES SEYMOUR (1843-1913)
6. VI. PARSONS-DEAN FAMILIES
7. VII. THOMAS DAY SEYMOUR
8. VIII. SARAH HITCHCOCK SEYMOUR
9. IX. ELIZABETH DAY SEYMOUR ANGEL
10. X. ST. JOHN FAMILY
11. XI. CHARLES SEYMOUR (1885-1963)
12. XII. GLADYS WATKINS SEYMOUR
13. XIII. WATKINS-LAW FAMILIES
14. XIV. CHARLES SEYMOUR, JR.
15. XV. ELIZABETH ATWATER SEYMOUR
16. XVI. HOWARD FAMILY
17. XVII. LEGGETT-SEYMOUR-DOOLITTLE FAMILIES
18. XVIII. PHOTOGRAPHS

Each series contains a wide variety of material which may include correspondence, writings, legal and financial documents, printed material, and memorabilia. Only photographs have been segregated into a separate series.

In all cases letters between family members are filed in the series of their recipient. Thus, the researcher will have to refer to two series to follow the correspondence between any two individuals. Whenever a letter is addressed to more than one person, it is placed with the series of the eldest addressee.

At the beginning of each series is a description of the arrangement of that series. In most cases there is also a brief biographical sketch which will provide some insight into the interests of the particular family member and some suggestions as to the wide range of subjects that could be covered in the series. For additional biographical information see The Family of the Rev. Jeremiah Day of New Preston and George Dudley Seymour's A History of the Seymour Family . Familycharts, which follow this description, will help identify the relationships between family members.

Initials and Nicknames

1. Elizabeth Day Seymour Angel --- EDSA --- Beth
2. Katharine Seymour Parsons Dean --- --- Katie
3. Lee Maltbie Dean --- --- Sebastian
4. Clara M. Hitchcock --- ---- Kittie
5. James Merriam Howard, Jr. --- --- Jim
6. James Merriam Howard, III --- --- Jerry
7. Sarah Seymour Howard --- SSH --- Sally
8. Harriet Day Parsons --- HDP --- Hallie
9. William Cheney Parsons --- --- Will
10. George St. John --- --- Clargo
11. George St. John, Jr. --- --- Jim
12. Charles Seymour (1885-1963) --- CS --- Charlie
13. Elizabeth Atwater Seymour --- EAS --- Betsey
14. Gladys Watkins Seymour --- GWS ---
15. Sarah Hitchcock Seymour --- SSH --- Sadie
16. Thomas Day Seymour --- TDS --- Tom
17. Charles Law Watkins --- --- Law

The Seymour Family Papers Add. 1981, housed in ten boxes and spanning the years from 1843 to 1933, was donated to Yale University in 1981 by Seymour St. John.

The original collection is divided into eighteen series and this addition is arranged in the same manner as the larger collection. All correspondence, therefore, is filed in the series of the recipient of the letters. Letters written to Thomas Day Seymour, for example, are found in Series VII, while those written by him to other family members are located in the appropriate series. Please refer to the introductions to each series in the register to the Seymour Family Papers for additional information. The add. 1981 contains material for ten series, but the bulk of the correspondence and other papers are found in THOMAS DAY SEYMOUR, SARAH (HITCHCOCK) SEYMOUR, and ST. JOHN FAMILY.

The add. 1981 fills several important gaps in the Seymour Family Papers. These papers focus on the family of Thomas Day Seymour. The chief correspondents and recipients of letters are Thomas Day Seymour, Sarah (Hitchcock) Seymour, and their three children, Elizabeth Day (Seymour) Angel, Clara Hitchcock (Seymour) St. John, and Charles Seymour (1885-1963).

The single most important correspondent is Clara Hitchcock (Seymour) St. John. Clara's college years at Bryn Mawr are well documented. Letters written by Clara from college to her family fill folders 37-58 of Series VII. The correspondence covers her freshman, junior, and senior years at college. (Letters from her parents, sister Elizabeth, and brother Charles to her are found in Series X.) After graduation Clara and her sister travelled to Europe in the company of their uncle Charles Seymour (1843-1913). Sixty letters written by the two young women between June and September 1900 describe this exciting journey. See Series VII folders 11-12, 58-61. The same series also contains several letters written by Clara and her mother from Italy in 1903.

Clara married George St. John in June 1906 and correspondence in Series VII folders 64-68, and Series VIII, folder 115, describes their honeymoon in pastoral New Hampshire and George's experiences teaching at the Adirondack-Florida School. In a letter to her parents written September 6, 1909 from Windsor, Vermont, Clara describes a visit to the home of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and recounts his problems designing a new $20 gold piece. The Adirondack-Florida School was located at Rainbow Lake in Franklin County, New York and Coconut Grove, Florida. The bride who was accustomed to the amenities of life had to adjust to living in a primitive cabin in the Adirondack woods. Moreover, when the headmaster became ill in early October, Clara took over his teaching assignments.

In one particularly significant group of letters in Series VIII, folders 116-119, Clara St. John relates the difficulties endured by her first child, Elizabeth Seymour St. John, "Betty," in her first year. Although she weighed a healthy eight pounds at birth on August 3, 1908, Clara was unable to nurse the child and the infant suffered from severe adverse reactions to cow's milk, formula, medicines, and baby food. The baby weighed only 71/4 pounds at three months and her ordeal culminated with a bout of diphtheria in April 1909. (See Series IX, folder 148, and Series XI, folders 245-246 for additional material on this subject.)

In addition to the extensive Clara Hitchcock (Seymour) St. John correspondence in Series VII, the same series contains two other important groups of letters. The Seymours' elder daughter, Elizabeth Day (Seymour) Angel, taught Greek from 1901 to 1903 at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio. Letters in folders 13-17 cover her activities for much of the 1902-1903 academic year. (Series VIII, folder 91, and Series X, folder 156, contain further Lake Erie College correspondence.) In letters written betwen 1892 and 1894 Thomas Day Seymour's colorful brother Charles discusses his financial activities, national politics, and his brother's children. Charles Seymour (1843-1903) held strong Republican views. In several letters he blasts the Democratic party for its mismanagement of the economy. "I stood the panic of '73," he asserts on November 14, 1892, "the broken leg, the grip[pe], and the nerve exhaustion that followed it last Spring, but the election news fairly knocks me out. I never dreamed that the liars and robbers would be able to deceive the entire body of the people." Bachelor Charles Seymour in a letter written on October 18, 1893 says that a college education for women was useless. He was also deeply pessimistic about the nation's future. He mourned the decline of "the Puritan stock" and advised his brother on February 7, 1894 to keep his namesake Charles Seymour (1885-1963) "out of doors." Due to Puritan decadence, "only those will survive who abolish intellectual stuffing" and follow the "manly sports."

Series VIII SARAH (HITCHCOCK) SEYMOUR contains correspondence addressed to Thomas Day Seymour's wife, twelve folders of Hitchcock Family Papers, and a small amount of other papers. It has several interesting letters written by Charles Seymour (1885-1963) from Athens, Constantinople, and Munich in the summer of 1909. One ten page letter dated August 18 describes his journey from Constantinople to Munich. This series also includes a substantial group of letters of Sarah (Hitchcock) Seymour's parents, brothers, and sister. Two brothers, John Ford and Henry Valentine Hitchcock, served in the Union armies. John Ford Hitchcock enlisted in September 1861 and served in the 18th U.S. Infantry of the Army of the Ohio. He was killed in battle, probably at Stones River on December 31, 1862. Several of his letters contain interesting commentaries on the military and political situations. Henry Valentine Hitchcock, John's older brother, enlisted in 1863 and became a chaplain. In one letter dated May 12, 1865, he discusses the reaction in North Carolina to President Lincoln's assassination. See folders 109-110 and 135-137. Several other Hitchcock letters, written by Sarah's parents, describe their trip to Europe in 1867-1868. The series also contains several folders of correspondence of school friends of Sarah (Hitchcock) Seymour.

Series X ST. JOHN FAMILY contains a large number of letters written to Clara (Seymour) St. John by her family and friends, folders 155-200, and a large group of letters addressed to Seymour St. John in 1928-1929 when he was attending the Insitut Carnal in Gstaad, Switzerland. The largest volume of correspondence in Series X covers Clara's Bryn Mawr years. The letters are personal and discuss normal mother and daughter, brother and sister, and school friend subjects. Clara's mother, for example, wrote about clothes, her social activities in New Haven, family doings, and news of friends and relatives. During her senior year at Bryn Mawr, Clara was "Chairman" of the De Rebus Club, which provided a forum for visiting speakers. She corresponded with potential speakers, including Jacob A. Riis and William Dean Howells, both of whom declined her invitation.

Folders 201-220 contain letters written to Seymour St. John in 1928-1929 from family and friends. The most interesting are those from his mother and older brother George St. John, Jr. Clara (Seymour) St. John in a letter written December 12, 1928, for example, describes a dinner she and her husband attended at the home of Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon in Washington, D. C. The affair was also attended by President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge. Due to a social error, the St. Johns rode up on the elevator with the President and his wife, thus when the receiving line was formed, "Cal skipped us, with a laconic 'I believe I met you downstairs.'" The 1928 presidential election is alluded to in several letters, folders 204, 206, and 216.

George St. John, Jr., called Jimmy, was at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge at the same time his younger brother was in Switzerland. George's letters give a good view of his activities at the English university, for his correspondence is filled with discussions of concerts, rowing, skating, bicycling, hockey, the food, and the weather. Indeed, the letters of all the boys show a preoccupation with sports, especially baseball and football.

Henry Lawrence Hitchcock, Thomas Day Seymour, George St. John, and Charles Seymour (1885-1963) were all leaders in the field of education, yet little in this collection concerns their professional careers. The Seymour Family Papers Add. 1981 provides a good deal of documentation on the family of Thomas Day Seymour, in particular for Sarah (Hitchcock) Seymour and Clara (Seymour) St. John, although there is also useful information on the Hitchcock family, Elizabeth Day (Seymour) Angel's teaching career, and the youth and early adulthood of Charles Seymour (1885-1963). The addition also contains letters written by a large number of Day and Hitchcock relatives. The correspondence is personal in character and should be of use primarily to researchers interested in family history or biography.

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