Biography of 	SEYMOUR, William H., Warren County, Mississippi, then Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by 	Mike Miller April 1998

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Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions,
and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 392-394.  Edited
by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical
Association.

Seymour, William Henry, successful attorney, notary of long service and
jurist, was born in Warrenton, Warren county, Miss.., Sept. 8, 1840, son of
George and Anna (Cairnes) Seymour, both parents being natives of Ireland,
but married in the United States.  After some years residence at his
birthplace, but while William Henry was yet a small boy, the family,
including a twin sister (Emily Alice, who afterward became the wife of
James A. Gresham of New Orleans), removed to Europe and for 3 or 4 years
resided in Ireland and England.  On returning to America, they located at
Donaldsonville, La., where the children attended the public schools, and
where William Henry acquired proficiency in speaking and writing the French
language, his fluency in French afterward playing an important part in
bringing advancement and ultimate success.  The family home was later
established at New Orleans, and shortly afterward the son secured
employment with the firm of J. & J. C. Davidson, where he continued
uninterruptedly until the beginning of the Civil war.  At the first
opportunity he enlisted in the Confederate army as a member of the Scotch
Rifle Guards, later serving as a sargeant of heavy artillery and taking
part in some of the fiercest engagements of that great conflict.  Receiving
an honorable discharge from the army, Mr. Seymour returned to New Orleans
and resumed the position he had resigned on the occasion of his enlistment,
continuing to fill this place in an eminently satisfactory manner up to the
time of the final dissolution of the firm.  Following this, he was called
to the post of French translating clerk in the Federal court at Thibodaux,
La., but in 1863 he accepted a position with the passenger department of
the Opelousas R. R. and became located at Algiers, La., his present home.
Taking an active interest in the local fire department, he soon became
prominently involved in politics, and in 1864 was elected a member of the
constitutional convention of Louisiana on the Union conservative ticket,
enjoying the distinction of being the youngest delegate among the members
of that assemblage.  In the same year he was elected a justice of the peace
and made president of the parish police jury.  In 1865 he was elected to
the state legislature, acquitting himself with credit and honor to his
constituents, in spite of the many vexatious problems that were pressingly
demanding solution at that particularly trying period in the history of the
state, the South, and the country.  Mr. Seymour continned to serve as
president of the police jury for a number of years prior to the annexation
of Algiers to the city of New Orleans.  On Dec. 28, 1866, having been
examined before the supreme court of Louisiana, he received his commission
as a notary public, and has acted in that capacity continuously since that
date.  Being admitted to the ranks of the legal fraternity May 17, 1881, he
then entered upon what has proved a long and very successful experience as
a practicing attorney.  In 1892 he was called to the elective office of
judge of the third city court, but after having occupied the bench in this
capacity for 4 years he in 1896 resumed his private practice, from which he
has since steadily declined to be drawn away.  Judge Seymour is a member of
the Episcopal church and a member of both the Mississippi and Louisiana
historical societies, in the activities and transactions of which he takes
the keenest interest.  He is the author of "The Story of Algiers,"
published in book form, and of many valuable articles dealing with events
of historical importance in Louisiana and the Southland.  The judge served
on the reception committee on May 2, 1901, at the old Cabildo, in New
Orleans, when the late lamented Pres. William McKinley was entertained as
the guest of the Louisiana historical society.  In 1884 Judge Seymour was
appointed a commissioner of New York, under the administration of Grover
Cleveland, then governor of the Empire state.  This position he resigned in
1900 and was succeeded by his son, Edwin Horatio Seymour, whose commission
was signed by Theodore Roosevelt as governor of New York.  It is notable
that both signers of these commissions shortly afterward became presidents
of the United States.  On Feb. 14,  1864, Judge Seymour was married to
Miss  Jeanie E. Thompson, a charming and cultured lady of New Orleans, and
a native of Savannah, Ga.  Her father, Samuel W. Thompson, served as a
captain in the Confederate army, and among other trying experiences, took
part in the historic operations about Vicksburg, while her uncle, William
Francis Spicer, was a commodore in the Federal navy at the same time and
commanded the North Atlantic blockading squadron.  Five sons have been born
to Judge and Mrs. Seymour, three of whom are living at this time, these
being Edwin Horatio, mentioned elsewhere in this sketch; Warren and George,
all well-known young men.  The family home, on Vallette street is a
beautiful old place, embowered and surrounded by roses and flowering
plants, and was formerly the home from infancy to womanhood of one in whose
memory will shortly be crecetd [sic] (erected) on Tulane avenue, New
Orleans, a $50,000 home for trained nurses, upon the corner stone of which
edifice will appear the simple inscription:  "In the name of Josephine."
She was the beloved wife of the late A. C. Hutchinson, president of
Morgan's Louisiana & Texas R. R.  Judge Seymour's offices have for many
years been located at 612 Iberville street and 252 Vallette street.  It is
interesting to note here that the famous affidavit that eliminated the
ballot of East and West Feliciana parishes from the presidential election
of 1876, and thereby gave the electoral vote of Louisiana to Hayes and
Wheeler, was sworn to before Judge Seymour in his official capacity of
notary public.  It is also especially worthy of mention that the judge is
at this time the only surviving delegate to the constitutional convention
of 1864, and that he still preserves among his treasures the original
document showing his honorable discharge from the Confederate army.  The
above was written prior to Dec. 24, 1913, on which date Judge Seymour
passed to the great beyond.