Wandering Around The Family Tree

Merritt and Lizzie's Children Isaac Seeley Shortly after Merritt ’s death, his son Isaac established his own family. On 13 October 1886, Issac married Sophia Curtiss van Schaack in St. James Episcopal Church in Great Barrington, the same church where his parents had been married. At the time, Isaac’s occupation was listed as a solicitor from Boston. [103]  A year later, on 12 October 1887, Sophia gave birth to her only child, a son, George Slingerland Seeley in New York City. Isaac was working as an express agent at the time. [104] Figure 10. Isaac Seeley Photograph from Colorado State Penitentiary [105] By mid-1892, Isaac, Sophie and their son George were living in Colorado, when the family fortunes took a dark turn. [106]  On 20 June 1893, while Issac was working as a foreman at Gardens Ranch in El Paso County, he was arrested and charged with forgery and larceny. He was accused of forging checks and using the proceeds to gamble. [107] Isaac was sente...

  Merritt Seeley After Lizzie ’s Death After Lizzie ’s death, Merritt returned to Detroit and his work at the American Express Company. His work kept him quite busy. In November 1879, he sent flags from Detroit to Chicago for a reception for President Grant. [82]  In 1880, shipping around the holidays meant long hours for Merritt. In November, he put in eighteen hour days, and in December, was on duty for a week with only ten hours of sleep. [83]  During these years, he was active in local dramatic societies, and church activities. [84]  He remained in Detroit until late December 1881, when he left to take a job in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. [85]  Before he left, several events were held honoring his time and service in Detroit. [86] Figure 8. 1884 Aerial Map of Great Barrington. Crop showing likely location of Seeley home. [87] While Merritt worked in Detroit, his children remained in Great Barrington with his family. In 188...

Lizzie (Pierce) Seeley (1842-1878) Lizzie Pierce lived with an ever-changing group of family members as she grew up. After her father’s death just a month before her second birthday, she likely moved to Hillsdale and lived with her mother’s extended family. In the early 1850s, her family’s household changed again after her grandfather Uriah died in September 1850, followed in 1852 when first her Aunt Emmeline married a neighbor, William Leonard Johnson, and her Uncle George married Harriet N. Osborn, who likely was Lizzie’s first cousin, the daughter of her father’s sister Betsy.  [67]   And then, her mother married John Farnham Stanford, giving Lizzie five step-siblings, and a half sister, Louisa, born in 1856. After the deaths of her mother, half-sister Louisa, and stepsister Julia, Lizzie continued to live in her stepfather John Sanford’s houshold. In the spring of 1860, John’s household included, John, age forty-eight, his step-daughter Lizzie Pierce, age eighteen, ...

Widowhood and Second Marriage for Eliza Like many other young widows with children, Eliza, and her two-year-old daughter Lizzie, returned to her parents’ home in Hillsdale . [45]  In 1850, four generations of the Sornberger family lived together. The older family members were Eliza ’s parents Uriah, and Betsy, both aged sixty-two, and her eighty-two-year-old grandfather John. Eliza, age thirty-four, her siblings George, age thirty-two and Emmeline, age twenty-nine, and Eliza’s eight-year-old daughter, Lizzie, completed the household.[46]  But the extended family was not together for long. Eliza ’s father, Uriah died on 17 September 1850, presumably in Hillsdale.[47]  Her sister, Emmeline married William Leonard Johnson on 12 September 1852, and their first child Ida was born in 1853 .[48]  Her brother George married Harriet N. Osborn in Washtenaw, Michigan on 19 October 1852, and their first child Mary, was born in about 1853 in Columbia County, New York.[49] ...