JOSEPH SEELY

The subject of this memoir was born in Walton, Delaware Co., N.Y., Feb. 1, 1, 1804. He was the eighth of a family of nine children of Sylvanus Seely and Mary Hoyt, both natives of Connecticut. His father was a privateer in the navy of the United States during the Revolutionary war, was taken prisoner after three months’ service, and released after three months more, at the close of the war. He was a farmer by occupation, and died September, 1819, aged fifty-five years, in Delaware Co., N.Y. His mother’s father was a colonel in the English army during the war between the English and French, which was terminated by the battle of Quebec, 1759; was a farmer, and died at upwards of eighty years of age. His mother died in Delaware county, at the advanced age of eight-nine years.

Joseph worked on the farm at home during his minority, having a very limited opportunity for obtaining an education, but his subsequent life clearly shows that one’s education is not all derived from books.

At the age of twenty-three, in the year 1826, Oct. 24, he married Miss Julia, daughter of Isaac Jackson and Jane Purvis, of Tompkins, Delaware county. Her father was of Woodbury, Conn., and her mother a native of England. His wife was born March 7, 1808.

Two years after their marriage they removed to Virgil, Cortland, N.Y., where they remained for some nine years, and in the year 1838, May, he removed with his family and settled in the township of Rome, Bradford Co., Pa., purchasing one hundred acres of woodland, to which he had added since some sixty acres. Most of this land he has, with the assistance of his sons, cleared of its forest, and, in place of the rude log cabin, erected a commodious residence, and surrounded it with fruit-growing and ornamental trees, a view of which, with the portraits of himself and his wife, will be found on another page of this work, showing the result of nearly a half-century’s labor and toil.

He has been active in politics during his day, first voting with the Whig party, and ardently supporting the platform of the Republican party after its formation. He has always taken a deep interest in school matters, and any other interests looking to the building up of good society and the education of the rising generation, not placing such a pecuniary value upon the time of his children as was customary in his early days. He and his wife are both members of the Presbyterian church of Rome, having in early life taken a deep interest in religious work.

To Mr. and Mrs. Seely have been born eleven children: George Newton, Silas Edson, William Henry, Warren Erasmus, Jane Adeline, Charles Edwin, Mary Rebecca, Joseph Sylvester, Julia Celestia, Elissa Iszilla, and Isaac Jackson. All are living except George Newton (supposed to be dead); Warren Erasmus, died April 12, 1850; Julia Celestia, June 27, 1853; Elissa Eszilla, Feb. 18, 1859.

Pages 355-356 of “1770- 1878 History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some Of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers,” Published by L H Everts & Co., 714-16 Filbert Street, Philadelphia,

Thank you to Martha Graham for the scans of this biography.

[Joseph is SGS# 1891 – Joseph; Sylvanus; Sylvanus; Eliphalet; Jonas; Obadiah]