John Beardsley Seeley
Personal
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: January 3, 1786
Birth Place: Balston, Saratoga County
John Beardsley Seeley was born at Balston, Saratoga Co. on January 3, 1786, the son of John and Eleanor Pease Seeley, and at the age of six emigrated to the Town of Ovid with his parents. On February 2, 1809 he married to Miss Nancy Harger, the daughter of Edward and Susanna Dickerson Harger, who was born on September 11, 1789 and died on July 23, 1862. The couple had eleven children, viz: John Edward Seeley born on August 1, 1810 and died on March 30, 1875; Sally A. Seeley born on April 26, 1813; Susanna A. Seeley born on October 15, 1815, married Cornelius VanHorn, and died on January 18, 1860; Alanson D. Seeley born on January 27, 1817 and married Miss Gertrude S. Brokaw on February 1, 1835; Elizabeth E. Seeley born on April 11, 1819 and died on March 31, 1823; William P. Seeley born on July 23, 1821 and died on July 3, 1886; Eleanor E. Seeley born on January 11, 1824 and died on January 11, 1848; Elijah D. Seeley born on August 23, 1825 and died on August 24, 1826; Nancy A. Seeley born on January 24, 1828 and died on April 1, 1835; Martha E. Seeley born on July 10, 1830 and died on March 11, 1835; and Mary E. Seeley born on July 10, 1830 and died on September 26, 1832. Upon the death of John Seeley in 1809, the farm upon which he resided was willed to John B. Seeley who lived upon it for the balance of his own life which closed on January 4, 1854. His own hands cleared the lands and subdued them to the purpose of agriculture. He lived long enough to see the wilderness which existed here in his youth give place to those forms and features of beauty, which the energies of advancing civilization ever give to the uncultivated wilds and savage haunts. Here a thriving village arose, and there he filled the last years of his life as a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church of Ovid Village; which he had helped to sustain through the erection of two edifices. In the fall of 1850 the work was completed on a fine rural residence for himself and his family at the eastern edge of the village, the bricks for which were made upon his own land. The family burial ground is located upon a rise of ground in a stand of large trees near this house.
Page 298, “History of Ovid Seneca Co. N.Y. An Early History,” compiled by Wayne E. Morrison, Sr.
[SGS # 1961 – John Beardsley (#1961); John (#611); Hezekiah; Nathaniel; Nathaniel; Nathaniel; Nathaniel; Robert]
