Silas Seymour

Silas Seymour (June 20, 1817 Stillwater, Saratoga County, New York - July 15, 1890 New York City) [ [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/seymour.html Political Graveyard] ] was an American civil engineer and politician from New York.

Life

He was the son of John Seymour (b. 1792) and Sarah (Montgomery) Seymour (1793-1824). He was educated at the Fredonia Academy. In the spring of 1835 he began work as an axman on one of the engineering parties engaged in making the first surveys for the New York and Erie Railroad, soon after was promoted to rodman, and by the end of the year had become an assistant engineer. In 1838, he was made Division Engineer, and later became Chief Engineer of the Dunkirk and State Line Railroad. On December 23, 1840, he married Delia S. French (b. 1821), and they had five children.

About 1851 he became Chief Engineer and was for some time General Superintendent of the Buffalo and New York City Railroad, extending from Hornellsville, New York to Buffalo, New York, and he designed and constructed the bridge across the Genesee River at Portage, New York.

He was New York State Engineer and Surveyor from 1856 to 1857, elected on the American Party ticket. In March 1856, he repudiated the nomination of former President Millard Fillmore as the American Party's candidate for the presidency. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B0DEFD7103DE034BC4D51DFB566838D649FDE Repudiation of Fillmore, New York Times, March 25, 1856] ]

In 1858 he established himself as Consulting Engineer in New York City. He was appointed Chief Engineer of the Washington and Alexandria Railroad, and constructed a bridge across the Potomac.

In 1860, he supported Stephen A. Douglas for President, [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E01E2DF1E3DE53BBC4F52DFB166838B679FDE Letter supporting Douglas, New York Times, July 17, 1860] ] and expressed in a letter to Col. John W. Forney his opinion, that slavery should continue in the South, and that the South and the North should compromise or have separate governments.

In 1863, he became Consulting Engineer, and later Chief Engineer, of the Washington Aqueduct. In the winter of 1863-4, he was Consulting Engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad. He designed the high bridge over Dale Creek Cañon, near the summit of the Black Hills of the Rocky Mountains.

He was New York State Engineer and Surveyor again from 1882 to 1883, this time elected as a Republican, but defeated for re-election by Democrat Elnathan Sweet.

He died at the residence of his son Silas Seymour, Jr. (b. 1860), at 458 West 22nd Street in New York City, and was buried at the Mt. Hermon Cemetery in Sillery, Quebec, Canada.

References

External links

* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9A02E7D7153BE033A25751C0A9679D94609FD7CF The Rep. candidate, in NYT on November 20, 1881]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C03EFD9133BE033A25753C2A96F9C94629FD7CF The Rep. ticket, in NYT on September 20, 1883]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9407E5DB133BE533A25756C2A9619C94619ED7CF Death notice, in NYT on July 25, 1890]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=E3sFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA37 Google Book "The New York Civil List" compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 37f; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)]
* [http://genforum.genealogy.com/seymour/messages/636.html Seymour genealogy, at GenForum]
* [http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/whitford/old1906/vol2/chapter3.htm Engineers' bios, at Rochester history]