Richard S. SEELEY, M.D., of Midway, Ky., was born in Versailles, Ky., March 9, 1843. He is the eldest son of Rev. Lyman W. Seeley, D.D., and Sarah (Shipp) Seeley. Dr. Lyman W. Seeley was long recognized in Kentucky as one of the most profound and accomplished scholars in the Baptist ministry. For many years he taught the classics to young men preparing for college, and many of the most eminent men of the State have been his pupils. He had gathered one of the best selected libraries in the State, and was thoroughly familiar not only with classical literature, both ancient and modern, but was a most accomplished scholar in many of the ancient and modern languages of the world. For many years he was tutor in Transylvania University at Lexington, and in the Baptist college at Georgetown. He was pastor of the Second Street Baptist Church at Richmond, Va., at the breaking out of the civil war, and help pastorates at Baltimore and other points. After returning to Kentucky he was pastor of the Baptist Church at Frankfort, and during the administration of Gov. P. H. Leslie acted as his private secretary. Soon after this, his eyesight failing, he retired to private life and spent the remainder of his days with relatives in Woodford County, and with his only daughter at Vicksburg, Miss. He died in 1882, leaving three children: Richard S., William D. and Mary J. (Folkes). He was the son of Hinman and Mary (Merriman) Seeley, natives of Pennsylvania and Connecticut, who, on coming to Kentucky, first settled in Scott County, and then removed to Lexington, where Dr. Lyman W. Seeley was born in 1810.

The father had been a soldier of the war of 1812, and was a farmer. He had two sons: Lyman W. and B.W.D. Seeley. Dr. Richard S. Seeley was educated by his father, received a classical course, and was a student in Richmond College in 1859-61. Early in the war between the States he volunteered in the Confederate States Army, and was a member of Crenshaw’s battery of Richmond, Va., and participated in many of the battles of that war. At the battle of Spottsylvania [sic] C.H. he was struck in the right eye with a piece of shell and lost that member. He was again wounded at the battle of Fredricksburg. After the close of the war he came to Kentucky, and entered upon the study of medicine with the Dr. Phythian of Frankfort, in 1870. In 1871 he became a student of medicine in the Louisville (Ky.) Medical College, from which he graduated in the class of 1873. He was appointed resident physician at the Louisville City Hospital after graduation, receiving the appointment by competitive examination. He also holds a diploma from the Kentucky School of Medicine. After one year spent in hospital practice, in 1874 he took a contract as surgeon to a camp of convicts employed in constructing the Cincinnati Southern Railroad. His route lay between the southern border of the State of Kentucky and New River in Tennessee. In 1875, he settled in Midway in the practice of his profession, and has remained there ever since. He is a member of the Chirurgical Society of Louisville.

Benjamin W.D. Seeley was born in Lexington, Ky., in September, 1824, and was the second son of Hinman and Mary (Merriman) Seeley. He was named for the great Kentucky surgeon, Dr. Benjamin W. Dudley. He entered the Transylvania University at seventeen years of age and remained until he was twenty, having reached the senior class. He then went to Versailles, Ky., and engaged in teaching school, as an assistant to his brother, Dr. Lyman W. Seeley. He was thus employed for two years. Afterward he engaged in teaching in Woodford County, which he continued until the beginning of the civil war. He was married, in 1856, to Miss Dollie Hagar, of Woodford County, daughter of Jonathan and Sallie (Springle) Hagar, residents of Woodford County, but natives of Maryland. Hagerstown, in that State, takes its name from his wife’s family, who resided there. Her parents had removed to Lexington, Ky., where she was born. She died in 1866. Mr. Seeley has been secretary of the State Baptist Association for nine years, and also secretary of the Elkhorn Association, of which he has been a member for fourteen years; he is also secretary of the Elkhorn Sunday-school Association. The Elkhorn Association of the Baptists is the oldest in the State, and recently celebrated its centennial anniversary. Mr. Seeley has no children.

Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 5th ed., 1887, Woodford Co.