DEATH OF MORGAN SEELY
CLOSE OF AN ACTIVE AND SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS CAREER
Mr. Morgan Seely, one of the best-known business men of the county, died at his home in Osceola at 4 o’clock last Saturday afternoon, in his eighty-third year. For nearly thirty years he had been a banker in the Cowanesque valley, and at the time of his death no man was more identified with the business interests of that part of the county.
His father was Nathanial Seely, who came from Chemung county, N.Y., in 1812 and purchased a tract of land, at Osceola, on which that borough is now built. He married Lucy Kelsey, and thirteen children were born to the couple, Morgan, the third son, first seeing the light on May 15, 1816. The boy was reared in his native village, and was sent to the Academy in this borough to complete his bookish education.
He entered on his business career as a clerk in the general store of the late Joel Parkhurst, at Elkland, and after remaining with him several years, he embarked in the mercantile business at that place in 1845 in partnership with Dr. Leander Smith, who soon moved to Illinois. The next year he formed a partnership with Hunt Pomeroy, the father of the afterward well-known “Brick” Pomeroy, and the firm established a store at Nelson. Mr. Seely remained there about ten years, having various partners during that time.
He returned to Osceola in 1850 and in company with his brother Allen joined in building the large hotel known as the Osceola House. The brothers conducted the hotel until 1855; but the hotel business did not limit Morgan’s activities. He became a dealer in live-stock, in lumber, and a general active speculator. In pursuit of his lumbering operations he made for several years trips down the Susquehanna on his rafts, to market his lumber. These were interspersed with jaunts to the far West and even to Texas to look after his cattle speculations. He bought and sold farms in the northern part of this county and over the State line in Steuben county. About 1853 he acquired a large part of his father’s land at Osceola and entered on the sale of lots and the promotion of the business interests of that village.
In 1869, as a member of the firm of Seely, Coats & Co., he established a bank at Knoxville, which continued in operation eight years. In 1877 he started in the banking business at Osceola under the style of Morgan Seely, banker. This continued two years, until Mr. Seely’s two sons were taken into the business and the name was changed to the Cowanesque Valley Bank. In 1885, as a member of the firm of Tucker & Seely, he joined in the establishment of the Farmers’ and Traders’ Bank at Westfield. He went out of this concern in 1892, being succeeded by his son Frank J. Seely. The robbery of his bank at Osceola on the 13th of February, 1885, afforded the aged banker a notable occasion for the display of his wonted energy and promptitude. He organized and led a vigorous pursuit of the fleeing burglars, and within 24 hours, they were all caught and lodged in jail, their trial and conviction following as promptly as possible.
Mr. Seely’s business interests, varied and extensive as they were, did not absorb all his energies. In 1847 he was elected one of the County Auditors and later in life he was for tens years a Justice of the Peace at Osceola and for several years he was an efficient Supervisor of that township.
In February, 1847, Mr. Seely was married to Harriet Beebe, a daughter of Anson and Lucy Lincoln Beebe of Lawrenceville, and their union was blessed with four children: Stella A., the wife of Dr. C.H. Bosworth, of Knoxville, Ida V., now deceased, the first wife of Dr. Bosworth, Frank J. and Edward M., now well-known business men in the Cowanseque valley. Mrs. Seely survives her aged husband, after a happy and prosperous wedded life of fifty-two years. Mr. Seely had been for years an active and faithful member of the Presbyterian Church at Osceola, and he will long be remembered and missed in that part of the county.
Published in The Wellsboro Agitator, Wednesday, April 5, 1899 page 2
[Morgan is SGS # 3729 – Morgan (#3729); Nathaniel (#1701); Nathaniel; Nathaniel; Ebenezer-, Jonas; Obadiah]
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