Jonas Everett Seely


Utahn, 90, Gives Credit to Contact With Youth

It would be nice to be alive at 90 if one could be a sharp eyed, clear voiced, alert and active as Jonas E. Seely, 540 9th East.

Mr. Seely, who will celebrate his 90th birthday anniversary Saturday, attributes his youthful outlook to the fact that his grandsons and great-grandchildren “keep me young.”

He was born Sept. 10, in Indiana, and recalls, in his early boyhood, watching the Terre Haute and Vandalia Railroad being built across his family’s farm.

When he was nine years old, he recalled Wednesday, his family sold their property and moved to Texas, where they bought farming land. They subsequently realized the land was fit only for grazing, so they sold it and returned to Indiana, only to learn that their undesirable grazing land had made millionaires of the new owners who discovered oil.

Beginning as a teen-ager, Mr. Seely worked at railroading and on the sea, later launching his rail career as a fireman on a work train in Kissimmee, Fla. He later was promoted to passenger engineer with his own run of 75 miles and a train of three coaches.

Learning of the fortunes to be made out west, he applied for a position as engineer on the Denver & Rio Grand Railroad, but, because of the road’s mountainous terrain, the railroad wasn’t hiring engineers from a “level railroad,” so he was hired as a fireman.

A railroad strike in 1894 ended his rail career abruptly.

He later ran hoist engines in mining camps and was a master mechanic in Cripple Creek, Colo., for 12 years, while he conducted his own dance orchestra.

When his working career came to a close several years ago, he was a postal employe in Salt Lake City. He is a 32nd degree Mason and active in Masonic circles.

Mr. Seely’s wife, the former Rosella Jenkins, died in 1949. His son and daughter also are dead. He has two grandchildren.

Published in The Salt Lake Tribune, Thursday September 8, 1960 page 40



Jonas Everett Seely, 93, 540 -9th East, died of natural causes Saturday, 8:30 a.m. in a Salt Lake rest home. Born Sept. 10, 1870, Seelyville, Ind. Married Rosella Jenkins. She died July 4, 1949. Retired postal work, Utah resident 58 years. Member Mt. Moriah Lodge No. 2 F.&A.M., Salt Lake Moose Lodge. Survivors: grandsons, Ralph Seely, Bountiful; Jack Seely, Mountain View, Calif.; 9 great-grandchildren. Funeral Tuesday 11 a.m., 574 E. 1st South, where friends call Monday evening and Tuesday one-half hour prior to services. Burial Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

Published in The Salt Lake Tribune, Sunday July 26, 1964 page C

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