Albert O. Seward Biography
The subject of this sketch is a
native of New York and is a descendant of
the historic stock of that state. He is a
son of Sutloff T. and Antha (Steel) Seward, both of whom are natives of
the town of Lebanon, N. Y. The Sewards were from New York and the Steels came from Connecticut to New York State; the former
settling in and around the town of Lebanon,
in Columbia county, and the latter in and around the town of Richmond,
in Ontario county. Our subject's great-grandfather, Isaac Seward, was a lad when his father moved from Connecticut to New York and settled in Columbia county. In that county
the youth of Isaac Seward was passed, and it was the birthplace of Truxton Seward, grandfather of our subject, and of
Sutloff T. Seward, also, his father. In 1818 Isaac Seward moved his family to
Richmond, in Ontario county, where he carried on the business of a currier and
tanner for some years, and where,
after his death, his son, Truxton
Seward, carried on the same business
for a quarter of a century. Isaac Seward, here mentioned, and William H.
Seward, the statesman and diplomat,
were own cousins.
Our subject's maternal
grandfather, Capt. Roderick Steel, was a native of Connecticut.
He settled in Ontario county about the
beginning of this century. He served in
the War of 1812, was long recognized
as one of the solid men of his adopted county, and is mentioned in the
history of Ontario county as one of the first twenty settlers in that county.
The parents of Albert O.
Seward, Sutloff T. Seward and Antha Steel, were married about the year 1830,
in Ontario county, and settled in the vicinity of Richmond, where they passed most
of their married life. The mother died at Livonia
station, Livingston
county, N. Y., in October, 1889, at the age of eighty-three; the father is still
living, being now eighty-seven years old.
He was a strong abolitionist in earlier years and in later life an ardent advocate of temperance. He is a member of the Universalist church as was also his wife.
To Sutloff and
Antha Seward were born seven children, as follows—Dwight, who is now a farmer,
residing at Edgewood, Iowa; Fidelia, now the
wife of Allen Richards, of Edgewood, Iowa; Acantha G., who died at the age of thirty-seven
in Ontario county, N. Y.; Amelia, who
died in infancy; Adolphus S., who died at the age of six; Albert O., our subject, and
Edith C., still single, residing with her father.
Albert O. Seward, with
whom this notice is more especially
concerned, was born in the town of Richmond, Ontario county, N. Y., June 18, 1842. He was reared in his native county and spent
his youth in the common schools of the
locality, where he grew up, and in his father's sawmill, to which he
gave considerable attention while young. He
came West in 1863 and located at Edgewood, on the line of Delaware and Clayton counties,
Iowa, where he remained for three or four years. In 1866 he married and the
following year moved on to the place where
he now resides in Delaware
township, Delaware
county. He owns
eighty acres in section 13 in this township and forty-five acres of timber land in Delaware
and Honey Creek townships. He has been engaged in farming since settling in the
county and he has met with reasonable
success. He has made all the improvements on his place, moving on to it
when it was raw prairie. He built his
present residence in 1877 and his
barn in 1887. He has a thrifty grove of
trees which he set out, and his
farm is in other respects in a neat and prosperous condition. He has filled such offices as he has been called to in connection with the
administration of the civil affairs of
his township, and has generally given satisfaction. He manifests a becoming interest in all public matters whether relating
to his community or not, and he bears his
share of the burdens of every worthy
enterprise or purpose which seeks aid at his hands. He is a republican
in politics and has supported the straight republican
ticket since the organization of the party.
Mr.
Seward married, April
8, 1866, Miss Mary A. Annis, then residing at Edgewood,
in Delaware
county. She was born, however, near Yorkshire,
Cattaraugus county,
N. Y., April 24, 1848. She is a daughter of
Hiram and Mary (Oakley) Annis, both also natives of New York. Her parents came to Iowa in 1855 and settled at Edgewood, where the mother died March 16, 1889, aged seventy-three, and where the father
continues to reside, being now in his seventy-ninth year.
Mr. and Mrs. Seward have
had born to them two children—Meredith A. and Mary A.
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