CONFEDERATE BIOGRAPHY: J. O. SEASTRUNK - Smith County, TX

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Submitted by Mary Love Berryman - marylove@tyler.net
5 October 2001
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson, p. 128.

J. 0. SEASTRUNK.

John Obediah Seastrunk was born in Utica, Hines coun­ty, Miss., 
Sept. 18, 1846. His father was Samuel Seastrunk and his mother Lydia 
Kelley. In 1857 he removed with his father's family to Texas. The 
subject of this sketch settled in Tyler, and it was his home until his 
death, January 13, 1906.  Early in 1864 he joined Co. E, Border's Texas 
Cavalry, and participated in the campaigns of the com­mand until the 
surrender of the Trans Mississippi Army in May, 1865. This regiment 
was composed of men over and under the age of conscription.  Young 
Seastrunk, a mere boy, put on the Confederate gray and rushed to the 
defense of his country. After the war had closed he studied dentistry 
under Dr. Henry J. McBride and became proficient in that profession. 
During his military service he was made second sergeant of his company, 
and at the time of his death was a member of Albert Sidney Johnston 
Camp, No. 44, of Tyler, Texas. Dr. Seastrunk was a Mason and an Odd 
Fel­low. Of the latter he was an enthusiastic member, having been a 
delegate to the Grand Lodge, I.0.0.F., and to the Grand Encampment of 
Texas in 1904, and was also a member of the Patriarch Militant branch
of the order. At the time of his death he was Deputy Grand Master of 
his district.   He was married July 16, 1876, to Miss Nellie Speer, 
the only daughter of James Speer, a prominent planter of Smith county. 
His wife survives him and resides on North Fannie avenue, Tyler, Texas. 
Dr. Seastrunk stood high in his pro­fession, and was a good citizen.