Nathaniel Seely, Sr.

Nathaniel Seely b. 11 Oct 1732 New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut son of Ebenezer Seely and Mercy Dean, m. Jemima Collins. Nathaniel and Jemima resided at Cornwall, Orange County, New York. In Apr 1765 Nathaniel and Bazaleel Seeley were overseers of roads. The Will of Adam Collins of Blooming Grove, Orange County dated 1 May 1770 names sister Jemima Seeley, brother in law, Nathaniel Seeley and nephew Samuel Seeley. In 1775 the Revolutinary Pledge was signed by Samuel Seely, Josiah Seely, Nathaniel Seely, John Seely, Jonas Seely, Israel Seely, Thaddeus Seely, Bazaliel Seely, and Nathaniel Seely, Jr., all of Cornwall. Nathaniel and Jemima removed to Hardyston, Sussex County, New Jersey where Nathaniel appears on assessment lists of Hardyston Township. There is an assessment list before May 1780 for Hardyston of September 1774 and no Seeleys appear on that assessment list.

May 1780 Nathaniel Seele 170 improved acres 10 unimproved acres 1 house 5 horned cattle 1 hog 2 slaves

Aug 1780 Nathaniel Seley 170 improved acres 10 unimproved acres 1 framed house 5 horned cattle 1 hog 2 slaves

Jan 1781 Nathaniel Seley 90 improved acres 100 unimproved acres 3 horses 4 horned cattle 10 hogs 1 tavern 3 slaves

Taverns were not assessed prior to the Jan 1781 assessment. These are the only known assessments for Hardyston Township for that time period. It is known the above assessments refer to the Nathaniel of this sketch as son, Israel was assessed in May 1780, Aug 1780, and Jan 1781 in Hardyston and some of Israel’s children are known to have been born in Sussex County. Nathaniel and Jemima’s son, James Seeley in his pension deposition stated his (James) family lived in Sussex County after the Revolutionary War. Nathaniel and Jemima’s daughter Jemima Seeley married Richard Edsall and resided in Hardyston.

Nathaniel and Jemima did not remain in Sussex County, but returned to Orange County. On 4 May 1784 Nathaniel Seeley and Jemima his wife leased property at Cornwell, Orange County for a period of ten years the property consisting of a barn, orchard, garden, 100 acres of land, 100 acres of meadow, 100 acres of pasture, 100 acres of wood, and 100 acres of land covered with water. Nathaniel and Jemima removed with some of their children to what became the Town of Southport, Chemung County, New York, first a part of Montgomery County and then Tioga County before it became Chemung County. On 3 Nov 1788, lot 100 of 2,553 acres was surveyed to Nathaniel Seeley, Jr., James Seeley, Adam Seeley, Abner Hetfield, and Samuel Edsall in Chemung, Montgomery County, New York, which with further divisions became Newtown and then Elmira, Tioga County, and then finally the Town of Southport, Chemung County. They also acquired lot 143 of 1,426 acres. Nathaniel Seeley, Jr., James Seeley, and Adam Seeley were brothers and sons of Nathaniel and Jemima. Abner Hatfield had married Nathaniel and Jemima’s daughter, Elizabeth and Samuel Edsall had married Nathaniel and Jemima’s daughter, Sarah. Thus, is apparent the close relationship of these families who left Orange County, New York and Sussex County, New Jersey to settle on lands near the fertile Chemung River Valley. The Chemung River Valley and one of its tributaries, which became known as the Seeley Creek Valley where the Seeley family settled were rich and fertile valleys that saw an influx of settlers beginning in the late 1780’s, a few years after General John Sullivan and his army made their historic trek from Easton, Pennsylvania through the Wyoming Valley and north through the Susquehanna River Valley into the Chemung River Valley and on to the Finger Lakes region of New York, burning villages and destroying crops of the Iroquois in retaliation for the deaths of many settlers at Wyoming, Pennsylvania and to diminish the incursions on the western frontier. Many of the men with Sullivan’s army saw firsthand the vast expanse of valleys and the bountiful fruits and vegetables grown by the Native Americans and vowed to return and settle after the Revolution and the end of hostilities. Nathaniel and Jemima perhaps arrived in 1788 when it is related that daughter Elizabeth Hetfield and family arrived at that date and grandson James Seeley, Jr., born in 1782, related he was six years of age when he came with his parents James Seeley and Ann Westlake. From these records it has been assumed that several members of the Seeley family arrived in 1788. The Seeley party may have included Nathaniel and Jemima with sons Adam and Caleb who were single; son, Samuel Seeley and wife Mercy Bartlett and children (or they arrived a year or two later) son, Nathaniel, Jr., and wife Elizabeth Sayre and children; son, James and wife Ann Westlake and children; daughter, Elizabeth Hetfield and husband Abner Hetfield and children; and daughter, Sarah Edsall and husband Samuel Edsall.

In the Reporter Journal, Towanda, Pennsylvania, June 4, 1885 is given the following account:

“We will give some of Mrs. Sabra Seely’s recollections.Mrs. Seeley (Miss Sabra Ingalls) was born at Cooperstown, Otsego county, N. Y., Sept. 19th, 1876 (misprint and should have read 1796). At the age of six years she moved with her father’s family (James Ingalls) to Homer, N. Y., and there resided until she was twelve years old, when the family moved to South Creek township (Bradford County, Pennsylvania),and lived at or near Fassetts for something over a year. Then moved to Elmira (New York), and lived there until about 1822 or ’23, when her father moved to Wells (Bradford County, Pennsylvania). She married Strong Seely, a resident of the township, who died in August, 1872, at the age of eighty-six years. Mrs. Seely is yet living, a bright interesting old lady. . . Mrs. Seely makes the following interesting comments on the Seely family. Nathaniel Seely came from Orange county, N.Y., and purchased several hundred acres of land on Seely Creek - so named for him - laying between South Port Corners and the Beckwith Farm. When Mr. Seely came in he paid the cash for his land, and the same pocketbook, in which this money was carried, is held by his great great grandson, William Wilson, as an heirloom. Mr. Seely erected the first framed house in Elmira, and when a little girl I remember attending school in one part of it. Israel and James Seely already mentioned in the history of the township (Wells), were his sons.”

Nathaniel Seeley was enumerated in Chemung, Montgomery County (that portion that became Southport, Chemung County), New York in 1790 with one male over age sixteen, one male under age sixteen, and two females in the household. However, it would appear that the family count for his son Nathaniel, Jr., enumerated in the next household, should be attributed to Nathaniel, which included three males over age sixteen and two females in the household, since it is known that Nathaniel, Jr., had a young son (Nathaniel) and a young daughter (Sarah) in the household. The three males over the age of sixteen were presumably Nathaniel and sons Adam and Caleb. One of the two females in the household was presumably Jemima as she is related to have survived Nathaniel. The other female was perhaps an unknown daughter as Jemima would have presumably only been in her late thirties when daughter Sarah was born in 1772. Nathaniel and Jemima’s sons, James, and Samuel and son-in-laws Abner Hatfield and Samuel Edsall were all enumerated in nearby households. Tioga County was erected from Montgomery County on 17 Feb 1791 and the area they resided in remained in Tioga County until 1836 when Chemung County was formed.

Nathaniel and Jemima are related to have built the first framed house in the valley south of the Chemung River in 1792. Nathaniel appears on the 1794 tax list of Newtown. Nathaniel d. 31 Oct 1799 67y 20d (ts) buried in the Fitzsimmons Cemetery, town of Southport, not far from their residence and nearby Seeley Creek. Jemima is related to have lived for many years after Nathaniel’s death keeping a boarding house in the original dwelling they built (History of Chemung County by Towner). Jemima’s date of death is unknown and no known marker exists. Jemima was not enumerated as a head of household in 1800 and none of her six known children living in the Seeley Creek Valley had a female over the age of 45 in their household in 1800.

Nathaniel’s marker of native stone and hand engraving still stands after over 200 years in an excellent state of preservation and reads:

HERE LIES THE BODY OF NATHANIEL SEELY WHO DEPAR- TED THIS LIFE OCt THE 31 A.D. 1799 AGED 67 YEARS AND TWENTY DAYS

There are no markers for several feet on either side of Nathaniel’s marker. In the row directly in front of Nathaniel’s marker is a marker for son, Samuel. In the row directly behind Nathaniel’s marker are markers for Caleb Seely and John Seely, side by side, and directly behind their markers in the next row is a marker for Alfred Seely, all of native hand engraved stone.

Children of Nathaniel Seeley and Jemima Collins:

1.  Samuel Seeley b. 2 Feb 1754 Cornwall, Orange County, New York. 

2.  Nathaniel Seeley, Jr., b. c. 1756. 

3.  Israel Seeley b. 31 July 1758. 

4.  James Seeley b. 9 July 1760 Oxford, Orange County. 

5.  Jemima Seeley b. 28 Jan 1762. 

6. Elizabeth Seeley b. 14 Jan 1764. 

7. Adam Seeley b. c. 1766-8. 

8.  Caleb Seeley b. June 1770. 

9.  Sarah Seeley b. 8 Oct 1772. 

HERE LIES THE BODY OF JOHN SEE- LY DEPARTED THIS LIFE OCT THE 20eth 1798

The identity of John Seely is unknown and there is no age on the marker to assist in identifying him as an adult or a child. He was not the head of household in any census enumerations, does not appear in any deeds, and does not appear on the 1794 and 1798 tax assessment lists. His marker is next to Caleb Seeley in the Fitzsimmons Cemetery and he is presumed to be a grandson of Nathaniel Seeley and Jemima Collins.