THE SEATON FAMILY \YITH GENEALOGY AND BIOGRAPHIES. BY OREN ANDREW SEATO:-..I, EDITOR, TOPEKA, KANSAS: CRANE & COMPAl\Y, 1900. COPYRIGHT 1906, BY O, .-\, SE.~TOX. CRA!\,: & CO?>IPAXY. TO ALL THE PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS OF SEA TONS, especially To all of the writer's relatives, THIS GENEALOGY OF THE SEATON FAMILY rs AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, As a matttr of pleasure and duty, with the hope that some one of them will continue the subject as exi.tini: conditions require; that no one of them will ever com­ mit an act that micht cause a blush of shame on the face of any membtr of the family, or that he and they would not will- incly see published with their names by future writers of the family history. ( 5) PREFACE. THE work of preparing this book has been done almost entirely in the idle moments, rainy days, and other odd spells of a busy man's working hours in his grain office, when there was no other regular work unperformed. The typewriter stood on its desk, capable, ready and convenient, and ,ms made use of as opportunity offered; the work being dropped, even in the middle of a word, to wait· upon a present, prospective customer, and not approached again sometimes for days at a time when business was flourishing. This work has been the fad or pastime of the writer, for all ambitious business men must have some relaxation from their regular work arid worry. It has also been a work of love in which this Scripture injunction has been heeded: "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many genera­ tions; ask thy father and he will shew thee; thy elders and they will tell thee."-Deuteronomy xxxii. 7. It might have been pardonable had we spelled the name of each member of the family S-e-a-t-o-n, but in deference to the different writers on the subject and to some members of the differ­ ent branches of the family, their spelling of the name has been retained, except possibly in a moment of. preoccupation, when the name may have been written mechanically, as it were, from force of habit. At the request of friends for information as to where we connect with the great family whose heroic deeds have been set forth in ( 7 ) 8 THE SEATO."!\' FAMILY. Archbishop Robert SC'ton's inimitable work, "An Old Family, The Setons of Seotland and America," the copyright of that book has been purchased and enough material has been gleaned from that magnificent memorial of a pious, learned, and indefatigable man to show the connection. And we take this opportunity to recommend the above genealogy as the best in existence without regard to cost, and as well worth the price asked, to anyone in­ terested in the history of our ancient family. This book is intended as a continuation of "An Old Family" along some lines not brought down to date in the former. There are also some added statements from other authorities, in regard to some persons whose names appear in the earlier work. It is with regret the work must be presented in its present im­ perfect condition, in many instances resembling the bare skeleton of a deciduous tree in springtime before the new-born leaves and lovely blossoms have clothed it with living verdure, making it "a thing of beauty and a joy forever." But, where the necessary facts to make each individual life sketch as complete as desired, could not be ascertained from outside sources, and the subject of the sketch could not, or would not, render the desired assistance, we have been compelled to console ourselves with the old saying which declares that ""What cannot be cured must be endured." It is feared some errors may have crept unnoticed into the state­ ments made herein, but the best possible efforts have been made to prewnt anything of the kind happening, and it is hoped that anyone finding any such slips of the fingers on the typewriter, or misinformation, will kindly advise the writer, so corrections may be made before a revision is attempted. And if any possible mis­ take of the writer's should happen to touch you, dear reader, in a tender place, you will please be generous enough to remember that errors have appeared in very much more pretentious vol- PREFACE. 9 nmes. In this connection be pleased to read "·hat is said in the Bible, the greatest and best of all books, as to the sons of Benjamin: First Chronicles, vii. 6. 7; then in chapter viii. 1, 2; and again in Numbers, xxvi. 38, and in Genesis xlvi. 21; or where the de­ scendants of Bela are given, in First Chronicles, vii. 7, and viii. 3 and 5; and in K umbers xxvi. 40. And still further, kindly remember that the writer was not on the spot when each incident mentioned is reported to have happened, but has been obliged to take some one's word for the fact and the date thereof. Also, that the writer_ of this page makes no pretensions to being the au­ thor of the book, but compares himself, in this connection, to a fisherman who frequently passes his office with a considerable string of fish. After much search the fisher finds the proper place to cast his hook, baits it the best he knows how, and then strings the catch together, just as the several biographies are being strung together here. This genealogy is really a book of quotations, very little herein being original "·ith us. In the words of the poet, "·we haYe gathered posies from other men's flowers, And nothing but the string that binds· tuem is ours." ,Yith kindest regards to every one mentioned in the body of the work, and all their kith and kin, I remain, as ever and forever, your humble sen·ant and well-wisher, OREN ANDREW SEATON. ACKSO\VLEDG~1E~TS. OrR grateful ackno"·ledgments are due to all who have as­ sisted .in gathering material for this work, and their names are many. But especially are we indebted for assistance in tracing the earlier generations, to }Ionsignor Seton's matchless work, "An Old Family, The Setons in Scotland and America"; to Leonard Seaton, Jr., of Henderson, New York; to John Seaton, of Greenup, Kentucky, who in the kindness of his heart has turned over to us the gleanings of his father arid himself, for a period of seventy-five years, in the genealogical field; to "A Biographical Sketch of ·william Winston Seaton," Editor of the 11lational Intelligencer of Washington, D. C., and for ten years :Mayor of that city; and last, but not least, to Samuel T. Seaton, Editor of the Olathe Register, of Olathe, Kansas, a lawyer of ex­ perience, our friend and co-worker, the most enthusiastic and successful searcher of recent years in the field of genealogy. We have found some one or more of the family mentioned in, or assisting with, the following works, or we have made quotations from them. No apology is offered for the length of the list; it is by no means complete, and would have been much longer if more time had been allowed to the search. ff,. Abbott's Life of :\Iary Queen of Scots, mentioned on pages 39, 84, 85. Abilene Chronicle, 340. A Biographical Sketch of William Winston Seaton. 96, 106, lOi, 109, 113, 114 118. Alan of Winton and the Heiress of Seton, 55, 114, 118. Abstracts of Yirginia Land Patents, 103. Academia Ecclesiastic, 99. AdYocates Library of Edinburgh, Scotland, 64. A Group of College Stories, 39. A Jacobite Family, 90. An Old Family, 8, 49, 50, 67, 77, 82, 93, 95, 97, 99, 100, 103, 387. Antiquities of Edinburgh, 64. A Recantation, 37. Bible, 7, 9, 35, 39, 44, 108, 115, 313, 37,5. • ( 10) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 11 Birds of )l:.mitoba, 100. Blue Laws of Connecticut, 116. Bridge's Xorthamptonshire, 390. Brief ?\otices of Families (Arnot's), 390. British Museum, 34, 57, 83. Brown Book, The, 11, 15. Buchamm's Hi<;tory of Scotl:md, 37, 53, 55, 73, 75, 8.'i, 86, 88, 103. Burke's Landed Gentry and Peerage and Baronetage, 45, 387. Caledonian, The, 47. Camden's ,vorks, 11. California. Law Reports, 390. Cedar Rapids Republican, 139. Century Dictionary, 100. Century Magazine, 113. Chambers's Encyclopredia, 71, 76, 151. Chambers's Family of Gordon, 58. Chart of the Descendants of John and Elizabeth Seton, 14. Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, 97, 182. Clan Ferguwn, The, 237. Clark's Heraldry, .30. Continental Encyclopredia, 111. Courier, The, 339. Cram's Atlas, 33. Descendants of Comfort Sands, 14. Descendants of John Ogden, 14. Descendants of l\Iartinus Hoffman, 14. DetectiYe, The, 137. Dictionary of English Literature, 11. Dictionary of National Biography, 36, 387. Dignity of Labor, The, 99. Doomsday Book, 11. Dugdale's ,Yorks, 11, 32. Eminent ~!en of Kansas, 216, 319. Encyclopredia. Britannica, 37, 48, ,50, 113, 389. Family of .$et.on, The, 93. Family of Scyton, The, 37, 38, 71, 72, 76, 77, 78, 80, 82, 390. Farmer's History of Amherst, New Hampshire, 241. Ferguson's Handbook of Architecture, 151. Fitzhugh's Valleys of Virginia, 105. Fordun's History, 55. Freeman's History of the Goths, 42. Freeman's ~orman Conquest, 11. Froissart's Works, 57. Galesburg Free Democrat, 339. Genealogist's Guide, 11. Genealogy by Pierce, 388. Genesis of the United States, 104. Gibson's Works, 42. Gordon's Genealogical History, 58. Gravestones, 255, 322. Gray Days and Gold (Winter's), 70. Gray's Elegy, 243.