Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/508

478 he was easy, agreeable, and powerful, plausible and candid in ordinary argument, and yet rising often into true eloquence. He made many speeches on other than political occasions ; he loved farm- ing, and often delivered addresses at agricultural fitherings ; he was a member of the Protestant piscopal church, and frequently took part in its conventions as a lay delegate : he was a member of the commission for the state survey, and was in an especial way the champion of the canal sys- tem. It may be said broadly that he was master of everything connected with the history, topog- raphy, and institutions of New York. Mr. Sey- mour married. 31 May, 1835, Mary Bleecker, of Albany, who survived him only twenty days. They had no children.

SEYMOUR, Moses, soldier, b. in Hartford, Conn., 23 July. 1742 : d. in Litchfield, Conn., 17 Sept., 1826. He was fifth in descent from Richard, the ancestor of all of his name in the United States, who settled in Hartford in 1635. Richard is supposed to be the son of Chaplain Richard of Popham's expedition, who was the first to preach the gospel to the Indians in this country. Moses removed to Litchfield in early life, became cap- tain of a troop of horse in the 17th Connecticut militia regiment, and in 1776 was given the same rank in the 5th cavalry, with which he served in re- pelling Tryon's invasion in 1777, and at the sunvn- der of Burgoyne. He also did good service as c< >m- missary of supplies at Litchfield, which was then a depot for military stores. In 1783 he retired with the rank of major. Maj. Seymour held the office of town-clerk for thirty-seven years consecutively from 1789 till his death, was fleeted annually to the legislature from 1795 till 1811. and was active in the affairs of the Protestant Episcopal church. Hr was greatly instrumental in securing the pro- ceeds of the sale of the Western Reserve for the promotion of common-school education, and is said to have originated the plan. He is one of the fig- ures in Col. Trumbull's painting of the surrender of Burgoyne. Moses's son, Horatio, senator, b. in Litchfield, Conn., 31 May, 1778; d. in Middlebury, Vt., 21 Nov., 1857, was graduated at Yale in 1797, studied law at Litchfield law-school, and removed in October, 1799. to Middlebury, Vt., where he con- tinued his studies with Daniel Chipman, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1800. He was a member of the state council from 1809 till 1817, and in October, 1820, was elected to the L T. S. senate as a Clay Demo- crat, serving two terms, from 1821 till 1833. While in the senate he was chairman of the committee on agriculture. At the expiration of his second term he resumed the practice of his profession. He was the Whig candidate for governor of the state in 1836. but was defeated by Silas H. Jennison. In October, 1847, he was appointed by the legislature judge of probate for the district of Addison. Mr. Seymour had acquired a competency, but lost it, chiefly through becoming surety for others. Yale gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1847. Another son, Henry, merchant, b. in Litchfield, Conn.. 30 May, 1780 ; d. in Utica, N. Y., 26 Aug., 1837, settled as a merchant in Pompey, Onondaga co., N. Y T ., accumulated a fortune, and afterward removed to Utica. He served in both branches of the New Y'ork legislature, and was mayor of Utica, canal commissioner, and president of the Farmers' loan and trust company. Henry's son. Horatio, gov- ernor of New York, is noticed elsewhere. M grandson, Oritren Storrs. jurist, b. in Litch- field, Conn., 9 Feb., 1804; d. there, 12 Aug.. 1881, was the son of Ozias Seymour, who was for many years sheriff of Litchfield county. He was placed in a mercantile house in New York at the age of fourteen, but illness forced him to return home, and he then entered Yale. An affection of the eyes compelled him to learn his lessons by hear- ing them read to him, and the training that this gave to his memory had much influence on his subsequent career. He was graduated in 1824, read law, was admitted to the bar in 1826, and en- gaged in active practice. He was county clerk in 1836-'44, served in the legislature in 1842, 1849, and 1850, and in the last year was speaker of the house. In the same year he was chosen to congress as a Democrat, serving two terms. He was one of the small number of anti - Nebraska Democrats whose opposition nearly defeated the Kansas-Ne- braska bill, but in the contest that followed he adhered to the Democratic party. In 1855 he be- came a judge of the state superior court, but in 1863 the Republican legislature refused I o re-elect him and his Democratic colleague, through fear that they might interfere with the National draft by writs of habeas corpus, though they had been War Democrats. In 1864 he was an unsuccessful candidate for governor, and in 1870 a legislature whose majority was Republican chose him to the bench of the state supreme court. In 1873 he succeeded to the chief justiceship, and in 1874, by constitutional limitation of age, he retired. After that he was employed chiefly as committee and arbitrator in the trial of causes. In one county the majority of the cases on the superior court docket were referred to him by agreement for de- cision. In 1876 he was chairman of the commis- sion that settled the long-standing boundary dis- pute between Connecticut and New York, and in 1878 he was at the head of the one that prepared the new state practice act. From 1876 till his death he delivered an annual course of lectures at Yale law -school. He was elected to office for the last time in 1881, when he was again a member of the legislature. Judge Seymour was an active member of the Protestant Episcopal church and a delegate to every general convention from 1868 till his death. Trinity gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1866, and Yale in 1873. A memorial of him was printed privately (Hartford. IN.VJ,. Origen Storrs's son. Edward Woodruff, b. in Litchfield, Conn., 30 Aug., 1832; d. there, 16 Oct., 1892, was graduated at Yale in 1853, studied law, and attained reputation at the bar. He served in the lower house of the Connecticut legislature four times, was in the senate in 1876. and in 1882 was chosen to congress, serving two terms, and later was supreme court judge. Origen Storrs's daughter-in-law. Mary Harrison, author, b. in Oxford, Conn.. 7 Sept., 1835, is the wife of Rev. Storrs O. Seymour, of Hartford, Conn. She was educated in Brooklyn, N. Y.. and Baltimore, Md., and, besides many contributions to periodicals, chiefly for children, has published Mo] lie's Christmas Stocking " (New York, 1865) ; " Sun- shine and Starlight " (Boston, 1868 : London, 1879); "Posy Vinton's Picnic" (Boston, l^i'i,; "Ned, Nellie', and Amy" (1870); "Recompense" (New York, 1877) ; " Every Day " (1877 : repub- lished as "A Year of Promise, Praise, and Prayer." London, 1879) ; and " Through the Darkness " (New York. 1884).

SEYMOUR, Thomas Hart, governor of Connecticut, b. in Hartford, Conn., in IsOS ; d. there, 3 Sept.. 18I>8. His early education was obtained in the schools of his native city, and he was graduated at Capt. Alden Partridge's military institute at Middletown. Conn., in 18-'.i. He was. for some time after his return to Hartford, the command-