Seymour, William H.

Submitted by Mike Miller

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.

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.