Sylvanus Seely's Family

1. Sylvanus¹ Seely, son of Christopher Seely and Mary Ball, was born in Chester, Orange Co, NY 30 Dec 1743. Sylvanus died 22 Apr 1821 in Seely's Mills, Wayne Co, PA, at 77 years of age. His brothers and sisters were: Joshua B. Seely, m Tabitha (Bethia) Camp; Samuel Charles Seely, m Patience Morrell; Jonathan Seely, unmarried; David Seely, m unnamed; Christopher Seely, unmarried; Mary Seely, unmarried; Pamelia Seely, m Rev. Samuel Wigton; and Deborah Seely, m David Little.

He married Jane Williamson 26 Mar 1769 in Douglasville, Berks Co, PA. She was the daughter of John Williamson. Jane was born ca 1752 in Berks Co and died 18 Jul 1826 in Seely's Mills, Wayne Co, PA, at 74 years of age.

2. John Williamson² Seely was born in Chatham, Morris Co, NJ 27 Jun 1772. He died 7 Aug 1840 at 68 years of age. He married Elizabeth Williams 5 Nov 1793. Born 4 Oct 1775, Elizabeth was the daughter of Uriah Williams and Jemima Laviday. John obtained an MD and settled in Greene Co, PA, near the Monongahela River, where in 1797 he was appointed Sheriff. About 1810 he moved to Howland (outside Warren) in Trumbell Co, OH. He organized a regiment for service in the War of 1812 and became a Major General of Militia, but his regiment was not called.

9 i. Sylvanus³ Seely was born 5 Jan 1795 in Green Co, PA and d 1849. He married Mary Jackson

b. 13 Aug 1796, pr. Clarksburg, Harrison Co., (W)V, d/ George and Elizabeth Brake Jackson; d. 27 Mar 1878, age 81, nr. Warren, Trumbull Co., OH. They were married 20 Feb 1817 at Zanesville, Muskingum, OH (marriage bond on record in Harrison Co., WV BK5:59, Wm Williams listed as guardian) Mary and Sylvanus Seely are buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Warren, OH.

"Sylvanus, the son of Dr. John W. Seely, born in Pennsylvania in 1795, read medicine with his father. In the war of 1812 he entered the service and worked with Dr. John B. Harmon, being present with him at the attack of Fort Mackinaw. Having married a Virginia woman he went there to practice for a while, but returned to Warren and lived here the rest of his life. His widow Mary (Mary Jackson Seely, d/o of George Jackson) lived for over fifty years in the house next to the present fire department, opposite the former brick schoolhouse on Park avenue. It is still standing and is one of the oldest Warren residences. He died in 1849, having established a good reputation and practice. He was the father of Mrs. Cyrus Van Gorder and the grandfather of Mrs. John Kinsman." (History of Trumbull County, by Harriet Taylor Uptown p. 320)

"The Seely family, Dr. John W. and Sylvanus, were Howland people, and most of their lives were spent in that township. Sylvanus finally moved to town, and with his children, George and Jane Seeley Van Gorder (the mother of Mrs. John Kinsman), lived at one time in the house now standing on South Park avenue, just south of the fire department." (History of Trumbull County, by Harriet Taylor Uptown p. 494)

Stone inscription reads: (conflicting data on Sylvanus)

Mary J. Seely, wife of Sylvanus, d. 27 Mar, 1878, age 81

Sylvanus Seely, M. D., d. 4 April, 1849, age 51

Sylvanus had two stones, the second reading "Sylvanus Seely, M. D. b. 1794, d. 4 April, 1847, age 51, son of John W. and Elizabeth Seely

"Mary Jackson, wife of Dr. Sylvanus Seely, was born in Clarksburg. W. Va., August 13, 1796. She was married at her father’s home in 1817, and moved to Zanesville, O. Her family and friends parted with her in sorrow and tears, thinking they would never see her again, for although the distance to Zanesville was only sixty miles, it was across the Ohio River, and to them beyond the Ohio meant only an unbroken wilderness, peopled with hostile and treacherous Indians.

Her wedding dress was a pink crape, a peach blossom pink. It was very short-waisted, with full sleeves, and the skirt, which was slightly gored, measured just two yards in width around the bottom; a three-cornered lace handkerchief was worn about the neck.

Her father supplied her with ample goods and furniture for housekeeping. A high-posted walnut bedstead, a bureau of four drawers, with drop handles, some chairs and a table, a featherbed, bed clothing, table linen, towels, and dishes. After two years’ residence in Zanesville they came to Howland on horseback with their baby Catharine. Their household goods were sent by wagon. Two years afterwards they came to Warren, living in a four-roomed, weather-boarded, log house on the west side of Park avenue, where Rentfle’s shoe store is. As Mrs. Seely’s father was a slave-holder, she knew very little about housekeeping when she was married. She soon learned and became a good cook and housekeeper. Mrs. Seely had a family of six children, four girls and two boys. She made a wedding dress for each of her daughters—Catharine, who married Lieutenant (Jonathon) Ingersoll in 1828; Jane, who married Cyrus Van Gorder in 1840, and Helen, who married Judge James M. Jackson of Parkersburg, W. Va. This was an afternoon wedding, so the young couple could take the stage for Pittsburg, and was a brilliant social event, Mrs. Seely taking great interest in it because her daughter’s husband was to be a man from her own native State, Virginia. Mrs. Van Gorder is now the only daughter living, and resides on Pine street, and recalls with pleasure these earlier times.

In 1836 Mrs. Seeley’s sister, from Clarksburg, VA., visited her and expressed a desire to see Lake Erie. A party was made up and they rode on horseback to Painesville to view the lake.

In 1841 the family moved into a two story frame house further down on Park avenue, on the opposite side of the street, which was their home afterwards. Mrs. Seely was fond of reading, particularly the periodicals and newspapers. She enjoyed the society of young people, and the last years of her life were rendered pleasant by the kindly ministrations of her two great-granddaughters, whom she had taken to her home some years before, in their motherless childhood. She passed to her reward in 1875.”

--Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve, published monthly under the auspices of the Woman’s Department of the Cleveland Centennial Commission, edited by. Gertrude Wickham, July 1896, Vol. 1, pp. 34-35.

The above material and details below on this family are from Dan Hyde, http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~hyde/jackson/J.XMaryXWebsterXJacksonX-website.html

10 ii. Richard Lewis Seely was born 23 Dec 1796. Richard died 8 Dec 1863 in Honesdale, Wayne Co, PA, at 66 years of age. He married Maria Torrey, daughter of Jason Torrey, 17 Aug 1828. Richard was a Lt. Col., Quarter Master of the Ohio Militia regiment raised by his father. In 1825 he returned from Trumball Co to Seely's Mills with his father for a visit. Due to his grandfather's financial difficulties the entire estate had been sold, but John W. Seely bought the property, 336 acres for $900. Next year Richard returned to stay and got the mills going again. He started many new businesses over the years and was prominent in business, charitable and religious enterprises. He was President of the Honesdale Bank from its founding, through its becoming Honesdale National Bank, to his death.

11 iii. Minerva Seely was born 19 Dec 1798 and died 2 Jun 1843. She married Eben Blachly, 28 Mar 1822 in Niles, Trumball Co, OH, son of Miller Blachley and Phoebe Bell. He was b 28 Apr 1800 in Mercer Co, PA and d 18 Oct 1877 in Quindaro, Wyandotte Co, KS.. Their children were: Lewis Seely Blachly, b 13 May 1826 in Niles, Trumball Co, OH; Oscar Eben Blachley (1828-1838) and Charles Perkins Blachly, b 6 May 1841 in Niles, d 25 Apr 1915 in Manhattan, Riley Co, KS.

12 iv. Clisby Seely was born 12 May 1802 and died 16 Aug 1805 at 3 years of age.

13 v. Warren Seely was born 5 Sep 1804 and died 13 Jul 1840 at 35 years of age.

14 vi. Jane Williamson Seely was born 20 Nov 1806 and died 17 Aug 1815 at 8 years of age.

15 vii. John Williamson Seely was born 10 Jun 1817 and died 7 Aug 1840 at 23 years of age.

3. Eleanor (Nelley)² Seely was born 3 Jul 1774. She died 2 Mar 1855 at age 80.

She married Capt John Howell, 7 Dec 1793 in Chatham, Morris Co, NJ. John, son of J. Howell, was born in Morristown in 1756. He served in the Revolutionary War and was member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Capt. Howell obtained land in Ohio Co, KY in 1795. He spent a lot of time away from Nelley and finally left her and moved to Hartford, Ohio Co, KY by 1810. A marriage of John Howell to Winifred Bates is recorded on 30 May 1813. John died 26 Sep 1830 in Hartford and was buried in the State Cemetery in Frankfort, Franklin Co, KY. Nelly married Dr David Bruen, son of Elias Bruen and Elizabeth Burnet, 2 Apr 1810. Sylvanus at first opposed her marriage to David Bruen but came to accept it. Nelley and David lived in Chatham until about 1818, then moved up to Seely's Mills, locating next to Sylvanus on land he gave them. Eventually they returned to Chatham and are buried there.

17 ii. Francis Barber Howell was born 6 Jun 1796. He married Clarissa Bell 6 Mar 1821 in Seely's Mills, Wayne Co, PA. She was the stepdaughter of his uncle, Thomas Jonas Seely. The marriage, conducted by the Rev. G. Williams, was celebrated in Thomas’ house, at Seely's Mills. The Howells later moved to Warren Co, Ohio, near Cincinnati, where they had many children: Amelia, Adelia Ann, Bell Ellen, Alfred Belle, Elwood F., Rothwell G., Laura A., and Alice J. In 1888, when Francis was 89, there was a reunion of his descendants in Lebanon, OH. Attending it was Jane, youngest daughter of Thos Seely, born in his house in 1816. Francis died in 1888.

18 iii. Susan D. Howell, was b in NJ 12 Jun 1801, d 26 Sep 1866, and is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati. She m Luther Bruen (relationship to David unknown). Luther was an Underground Railroad operator and in 1839 became President of the newly-formed Abolition Society in Dayton. After his death, she married, in 1850, James D. Conrey, a Methodist Episcopal Minister who owned The Spread Eagle, a stagecoach inn on the Lebanon Pike between Cincinnati and Lebanon, one of the stops on the Underground Railroad with hidden chambers to shield escaped slaves.

19 iv. Seely Jessup Howell was born Sep 1801 and died in 1855. He m2 in 1841, Margaret Dunn (1823-1902). They were living in Cincinnati in 1850. They had a son, Isaac Howell, b 13 Sep 1861 in Newton Township, Sussex Co, NJ.

20 v. Elizabeth Seely Bruen was born in Chatham, Morris Co, NJ 20 Dec 1810 and died 14 Jan 1844 in Bethany, Wayne Co, PA, at 33 years of age. She married Charles Torrey, son of Jason Torrey and Lois Welch, 30 Apr 1834 in Chatham. They lived in Bethany. Children: William Bruen Torrey (30 Mar 1835-21 Mar 1848), Ellen Ludlow Torrey (3 Sep 1836-20 Oct 1906, not married), Francis Seely Torrey (b and d 1838), Henry Fuller Torrey (1839-1841), and Elizabeth Jane Torrey (b 4 Nov 1841, married Frederick Halsey Harris, a lawyer and Col. in the Civil War) and David Preston Torrey, b 13 Mar 1843, killed in the War, 6 May 1864.

4. Sophia² Seely was born 27 Sep 1776. Sophia died Nov 1851 at 75 years of age.

She married James Ward. James was the son of Enos Ward and Mehitable Bennett. They lived in Chatham and eventually were divorced or separated. Sophia then moved to Bethany, Wayne Co, PA to live with her sister Susan Moore and family.

5. Elizabeth (Betsy)² Seely was born in Chatham, Morris Co, NJ 11 Jan 1779 and died 19 Sep 1808 in Chatham, Morris Co, NJ, at 29 years of age.

In 1799 she married Eliphalet Miller son of Ephraim Miller from Smalley's Bridge, Somerset Co, NJ. After their marriage the Millers resided in Chatham, on the south side of East Main Street, west of the home of Jacob Morrell. After Betsy’s death, on 27 May 1811 Eliphalet married Mary, dau of Isaac Beach of Troy, NJ.

7. Susan² Seely was born 25 APR 1784 and died 6 NOV 1828 at 44 years of age.

She married Solomon Moore 1 Mar 1812 in Bethany, Wayne Co, PA. Solomon originally from Orange Co, NY, kept the first store in Bethany in partnership with Jason Torrey and was the first postmaster. He was elected sheriff in 1820 and afterwards was appointed clerk of the several courts of the county. He was a very competent man and sorted and numbered the papers from the several courts, bringing order out of chaos.

29 ii. Susan Seely Moore. She married Edward W. Weston 4 Jun 1852. He was the son of Elijah Weston and Minerva Torrey.

8. Dr Thomas Jonas² Seely was born 24 AUG 1786 and died 4 SEP 1865 in Evansville, Vanderburgh Co, IN, at 79 years of age.

Thomas was a boy of fourteen when his father settled in Wayne Co. He began the study of medicine in 1804 with his brother John, then practicing in Greene Co, PA. He attended lectures in Philadelphia in 1807, then located at Yarrington, not far from his brother, and later settled at Greensburg, Westmoreland Co, PA. In 1810 he married Hannah Bell, widow of Dr. John Bell. He served both as surgeon and as Captain of Infantry in the War of 1812 and was present at the Battle of Thames. In 1815 he returned with his family to Seely's Mills and he combined the practice of medicine with work for his father and farming. Some years later he suffered a head injury in a fall from a horse, causing some mental disturbance. He spent many of his later years at the home of his sister, Eleanor Bruen in Chatham, and afterwards lived with his daughter at Evansville, IN where he died.

30 i. Cynthia Dutton³ Seely. Cynthia died 1860. She married Dr William M Chartres of Savannah, GA

Genealogy--Sylvanus Seely’s Family