Scope and Contents
The Horatio Seymour papers are concerned chiefly with land holdings and business dealings of the Seymour family, and the related Bleecker and Tibbits families. The collection is comprised of financial accounts, legal agreements, and commercial correspondence. This collection is accompanied by a PDF name and subject index.
Early papers relate to the history and disposal of lands, especially in the counties of Albany, Herkimer, and Oneida, acquired during the colonial period by the Bleecker family. These papers include deeds, leases, surveys, and statements of expenses. Early accounts involve financier and land holder Philip Schuyler, as well as the division and settlement of the estate of John R. Bleecker. Also included are papers in connection with draining the Canaseraga Swamp Lands and building a lateral canal. Other papers detail a suit involving the shipment of wheat on the canal in the 1840s, the development of business in the city of Utica, milling in Oriskany, N.Y., banking, iron manufacturing, and the Utica Insurance Company, in which Alexander B. Johnson and Henry Green were involved. Later papers pertain to the building of the Saint Mary's Ship Canal for the purpose of connecting Lake Superior with the lower Great Lakes, an endeavor in which Erastus Corning, Charles T. Harvey, and John F. Seymour were involved. These papers detail the formation of the corporation, legal agreements with Michigan state government, and the later formation of the Saint Mary’s Canal Mineral Company.
Many legal documents and financial records have to do with Bleecker and Seymour family holdings, canal matters, Farmers Loan and Trust Company, the Utica Insurance Company, and Utica Iron Company. Bound volumes include financial and legal records in the forms of account books, ledgers, law registers, and dockets. Much of the information in these volumes primarily pertains to the business affairs Henry, Horatio, and John F. Seymour and their agents.
Dates
- 1741-1920.
Creator
- Seymour, Horatio, 1810-1886. (Person)
Language of Materials
Collection material in English
Conditions Governing Access
Box 3 is currently unavailable while in conservation.
Biographical / Historical
Horatio Seymour was born in Pompey Hill, Onondaga County, New York, on May 31, 1810, to Mary Ledyard Seymour (née Forman) and merchant and politician Henry Seymour. He had at least five siblings, including John Forman Seymour. At age 10, he and his family relocated to Utica, Oneida County, New York, where Seymour attended school and later studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1832 and was named aide-de-camp, and later military secretary, to New York governor William L. Marcy. In 1835, Seymour married Mary Bleecker, daughter of merchant John Rutger Bleecker.
A conservative Democrat, Seymour served one term as mayor of Utica (1842-1843), three terms in the New York State Assembly (1842; 1844; and 1845 as speaker), and two terms as governor of New York (1853-1854 and 1863-1864). During his first term as governor, he was instrumental in obtaining legislative approval for an Erie Canal-improvement bill in 1845. His vetoing of statewide prohibition eventually led to his defeat for re-election in 1854. Between his terms as governor, Seymour publicly criticized the Lincoln administration, challenging the constitutionality of the Emancipation Proclamation and wartime limits on civil liberties. His political positions and actions taken as a Democratic opponent to President Abraham Lincoln brought about several challenges during his second term as governor. Seymour's speech after the New York Draft Riots of July 1863 invited accusations of treason and ultimately led to his defeat for re-election in 1864.
The 1868 Democratic National Convention nominated Seymour as a candidate for the 1868 United States presidential election, which Seymour lost to Republican Ulysses S. Grant. Seymour remained involved in state politics as an elder stateman until his death in Utica on February 12, 1886.
Extent
1.4 cubic feet.
24 volumes.
Abstract
The Horatio Seymour papers are concerned chiefly with land holdings and business dealings of the Seymour family, and the related Bleecker and Tibbits families. The collection is comprised of financial accounts, legal agreements, and commercial correspondence. Topics include the development of business in the city of Utica, milling, banking, and iron manufacturing. Other topics include the Saint Mary's Ship Canal and connecting Lake Superior with the lower Great Lakes.
General
- Contact Information:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections 2B Carl A. Kroch Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3530 Fax: (607) 255-9524 rareref@cornell.edu http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
- Compiled by:
- RMC Staff
- Date completed:
- August 2006
- EAD encoding:
- Dan Sterner
- Account books
- Accounts.
- Actions and defenses.
- Agreements.
- Banks and banking -- New York (State)
- Bleecker family
- Bleecker, John R.
- Business.
- Canals -- Commerce -- New York (State)
- Canals -- Michigan.
- Canals -- New York (State)
- Canaseraga Swamp.
- Commercial correspondence.
- Corning, Erastus.
- Deeds.
- Dockets.
- Financial records.
- Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company
- Green, Henry.
- Harvey, Charles T.
- Indentures.
- Insurance -- New York (State)
- Insurance companies -- New York (State) -- Utica.
- Johnson, Alexander B.
- Land surveys.
- Land use maps.
- Leases.
- Ledgers (account books)
- Legal instruments.
- Legislative acts.
- Lumber trade.
- Manuscript maps.
- Mills and mill-work -- New York (State) -- Utica.
- New York State Canal
- Real property -- Michigan.
- Real property -- New York (State)
- Real property -- Wisconsin.
- Receipts (financial records)
- Saint Mary\'s Canal Mineral Company
- Saint Mary\'s Ship Canal.
- Schuyler, Philip.
- Seymour family.
- Seymour, John F.
- Surveys.
- Tibbits, Benjamin.
- Tibbits, Elizabeth
- Utica (N.Y.) -- Industries.
- Utica Insurance Company (Utica, N.Y.)
- Utica, (N.Y.) -- Commerce.
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Compiled by RMC Staff
- Date
- August 2006
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 12/07/2018: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
- 2007-05-29: converted from EAD 1.0 to EAD 2002
- Box: 1 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 2 (Mixed Materials)
- Box 4: [Barcode: 31924131863726] (Mixed Materials)
- mapcase folder: 1 (Mixed Materials)
- Box 6: [Barcode: 31924065174330] (Mixed Materials)
- Box 7: [Barcode: 31924065174348] (Mixed Materials)
- Box 8: [Barcode: 31924065174355] (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 3 (Mixed Materials)
- Volume 1: [Barcode: 31924065434957] (Mixed Materials)
- Volume 2: [Barcode: 31924065434940] (Mixed Materials)
- Volume 3: [Barcode: 31924065434932] (Mixed Materials)
- Volume 4: [Barcode: 31924065434924] (Mixed Materials)
- Volume 5: [Barcode: 31924065434916] (Mixed Materials)
Repository Details
Part of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Repository
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
607-255-3530
607-255-9524 (Fax)