David S. Seeley
DAVID S. SEELEY
One of the best known insurance men in Franklin county is David S. Seeley, of Westerville, who was born near Saratoga Springs, New York, May 20, 1839, a son of Rev. John V.K. Seeley, who is living just across the county line in Delaware county, Ohio. John V.K. Seeley was born in Schoharie county, New York, February 13, 1814, a son of David Seeley, who was born near Milford, Connecticut, and was brought to Saratoga county by his parents when twelve years old. Later the family located near Carlisle, in Schoharie county, and there David Seeley lived until his death, which occurred when he was seventy-five years of age. He was an officer in the New York state militia before the war of 1812, but was prevented from taking part in that struggle by ill health. He was a self-made man, and his life was crowned with a high degree of success. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Jesse and Louisa Seeley, his parents, removed to New York at an early day, and both died there, the father at the age of eighty-four years. They were active members of the Baptist church. The father of Jesse Seeley was killed in the Revolutionary war under circumstance of peculiar atrocity. Wounded in the leg by a British bullet, he found in a barn, only to be murdered by Tories. He was a native of Connecticut and of Scotch descent. David Seeley married Ursula Sweetman, a native of Saratoga county, New York, who lived to be about seventy-eight years of age, dying in the faith of the Presbyterian church, in which she was a life-long member. Her twelve children all grew to manhood and womanhood, and all had families. Rev. J.V.K. Seeley was the fourth in order of birth. He remained at home until he was twelve years old, and after that lived with his grandfather until his marriage, in 1835 to Miss Harriet E. Sanders, a native of Saratoga county, New York, and a life-long Baptist. She died in 1869, having borne her husband a family of nine children.
After his marriage, Rev. John V.K. Seeley removed with his wife to Litchfield township, Medina county, Ohio, where he bought fifty acres of wood land, which he improved and lived upon for thirty years. He took up preaching when well advanced in life, and was duly ordained at the age of fifty-one years. He afterward preached at Clyde, Sandusky county, for five years. In 1885, he bought thirteen acres of land where he now lives, on which he erected a house and otherwise improved his land. Now, in his eighty-sixth year, he is still active and able to attend to his business interests, which comprise the management of his farm and the handling of his modest capital, some of which he loans on approved securities. He became a Republican on the organization of the party, and voted with that party for many years, but he also gave much time to delivering lectures on temperance, his temperance work gradually leading him into the ranks of the Prohibition party. He united with the Baptist church when he was about twenty years of age, and now, sixty-sic years later, he goes every pleasant Sunday to meetings at Central College. According to the traditions of his family, his grandfather, Elizur Averill, served four years in the Revolutionary war.
John V.K. and Harriet E. (Sanders) Seeley had nine children, four of whom died young. On the 2nd of January 1871, Mr. Seeley married Harriet A. Sheldon, who was born near Rochester, New York, and came into childhood to Medina county, Ohio. The five of Mr. Seeley’s children who are living are: David S., Phoebe L., Chester L., Talmage and Ida R. David S., the first born, was only three or four months old when his parents brought him to Ohio. He was reared to farm labor and received such educational advantages as were available to him in his locality. He had charge of his father’s farm until he was twenty-seven years old and then became interested in insurance. In the fall of 1863 he secured the agency of the Ohio Farmers’ Insurance Company, for central Ohio. He lived near Litchfield, Media county, Ohio, and many times walked in the night thirteen miles to take the train in pursuit of his business. In 1873 he removed to Gahanna, Franklin county, where he lived for three years. He removed to Westerville, in this county, in 1876, to educate his son, and made that town the headquarters of his insurance business, gradually becoming identified with other business interests there. During the first six years of his work as an insurance solicitor he walked from village to village and from farm to farm represented the claims of his company and laid the foundation for a business which in time afforded better facilities for its prosecution. He now maintains an insurance office at Westerville and another at Columbus, and does a very large business. He was one of the organizers and is vice-president of the Bank of Westerville and also owns four farms of between five hundred and six hundred acres, in Medina county, Ohio, which represents his earnings as a business man. He is a member of the Ohio Farmers’ Insurance Company’s Agents’ Association, and has watched the development of agricultural insurance in Ohio closely, being probably as well informed on the subject as any other man. His experiences in the days when he traveled on foot through Franklin, Fairfield, Madison, Perry and Pickaway counties, and “staged it” before there were any railroads in his territory, are interesting.
Mr. Seeley married Miss Augusta L. Leffingwell, a native of Whittlesey, Medina county, Ohio, who at the time of their marriage lived in Litchfield. The have on son, Leland R., who has charge of his father’s insurance office at Columbus. Mr. and Mrs. Seeley are members of the Baptist church, and Mr. Seeley, who is one of the best known men in the county and a leading man at Westerville, is an active Republican. He has been a member of the board of health of Westerville for twenty years and for eighteen years has been a member and for several years president of the board of education. He is a man of influence in all public matters, and the value of his practical judgment in business affairs has been many times recognized by request for advice concerning the business affairs of others. He obtained his knowledge of the value of farm property by methods at once laborious and thorough, and there are few men in Ohio who are better informed concerning county insurance and all the conditions which affect it than is Mr. Seeley. His public spirit is always evident and there is no movement promising the benefits of the community in which he lives to which he does not give his generous support. His interest in public education has been shown in many practical ways and has resulted in the elevation of the standard of education I his township. He is particularly open-handed in his assistance to church and evangelical work.
[Grandson of SGS # 1993 - David Saunders; John Van Kirk; David (#1993); Jesse (# 620); Samuel; Nathaniel; Nathaniel; Nathaniel; Nathaniel; Robert]
Pages 411 – 413, “A Centennial Biographical History of the City of Columbus and Franklin County,” by Lewis Publishing Company, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1901.