E. H. Owen Seeley — Biography

 
 

E.H. Owen Seeley

 
E. H. OWEN SEELEYis one of the oldest settlers of Schuyler county and resides in Rushville. He was born at Thetford, Orange county, Vermont, December 15, 1811. Hisfather, Luke Seeley, was born in the same town October 15, 1792. The grandfather,Sheldon Seeley, was a native of New England and it is supposed was bornin Vermont, at least he was one of the pioneers of Thetford where he followedagricultural pursuits. At a very early day he went to Ohio, prospecting,but was taken sick while there and died near Sandusky. His wife was DeborahBowker, a native of New England, who died at Thetford at the age of aboutninety years.

Luke Seeley was rearedand married in his native State. Upon reaching manhood he engaged in mercantilepursuits, which he continued in Vermont until 1818, when he removed toFranklin county, New York, and there lived on a farm for about one year.He then moved to Malone, New York, and engaged in merchandising, conductingat the same time a cabinet shop and employing a foreman to carry it on. In 1828 he came to Illinois to look at his piece of land in the militarytract, but then went back to New York in September, 1830, and returnedto Illinois with his family.  He started on the 12th of September,and journeyed with a two-horse team to Buffalo, thence by lake to Cleveland,thence by team to Columbus, Ohio, where he remained until the 27th of October,and then with a company of fourteen families made the overland journeyby team to Schuyler county, and after forty days on the road arrived atRushville.  He located on land just north of Rushville, but one yearlater moved to the village and started the first nursery in Schuyler county,which he conducted successfully until his death October 15, 1856. His wife, and the mother of our subject, was formerly Miss Electa Owen,a native of Milton, Vermont, and the daughter of Elijah Owen. She diedin Rushville, May 10, 1834.  Both parents were substantial citizens,good neighbors, and enjoyed the high esteem of all who knew them.

Our subject, E. H.Owen Seeley, was educated at Malone Academy.  One of the friends ofthe family, Dr. Waterhouse, had lost his only son and he expressed hisdesire to have our subject go to Burlington, Vermont, and study medicine,and to this the father assented.  It was considered necessary thathe should have a Latin education and accordingly he secured a Latin grammar,Cicero’s Orations, Ainsworth’s Latin and English Dictionary, the Iliadof Homer and the Bucolics of Virgil in two volumes; but at this juncture,on the eve of his departure, and after his father had procured him a suitof sheep’s-gray clothing, his mother objected to his going, and insteadthereof he entered a shop to learn the cabinet trade, but he still hadhis books that he had purchased, and in 1830, when he came West, he tradedhis books for a rifle, as it was evident that he would have much more usefor that instrument of death in the wilds of Illinois than for his classic,Latin works.  Soon after his arrival here, he bought the lot on thecorner east of the court house, and in 1831 began undertaking.  Thefirst person he buried was the fourth body consigned to the cemetery atthis place.  When the cholera swept the town in 1834, taking off thirtypersons or more, himself and one other person conducted all the burials. For many years he was the only furniture dealer and undertaker in the city. He continued an active business until 1878, but since then has been mainlyretired.

On the 26th of September,1839, he married Catherine A. Haskell, a native of Troy, New York, whosefather was Joseph Haskell of New Hampshire. Joseph Haskell was left anorphan at an early age, and upon arriving at adult years, went to YorkState, where he followed blacksmithing. In 1831, accompanied by his wifeand family, be came by team to Wheeling, West Virginia, and then by theOhio, Mississippi and Illinois rivers to Beardstown. He did not settleon the land he had previously bought in Schnyler county, but establishedhimself in Rushville, then a little hamlet. He bought the land now occupiedby the courthouse and erected thereon a frame dwelling, in which the motherof Mrs. Seeley taught the first school in the village.  Mr. Haskellfollowed the trade of a mason and resided here until his death, October2, 1864. The maiden name of his wife was Clarissa Pier.  She was bornin Poultney, Vermont, March 5, 1792, and died August 10, 1879 in Rushville.

Mr. Seeley has alwaysbeen a Democrat, and in 1847 and 1848 was Assessor and Treasurer of thiscounty.  He visited every house in the county and made his returnsin ninety days.  From 1857 to 1861 he served as Postmaster. To himselfand wife were born six children: Charles, Albert, Frank, Dora, WilliamL. and Ella. Dora died at the age of five years. Mrs. Seeley joined theMethodist Church at the age of ten years and has been a consistent memberever since. She has in her possession the manuscript of a history of Rushviilewritten by her mother several years ago.
 

Biographical Reviewof Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois, Biographical ReviewPublishing Co., Chicago, 1892, pages 184-185.

Copyright1999 Robin L. W. Petersen; all rights reserved. For personal use only.Commercial use of the information contained in these pages is strictlyprohibited without prior permission. If copied, this copyright must appearwith the information.

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