January 16, 2008

I was wondering when you get the chance if you could list for me Ira & Kate (Heath) Seeley's children. I remember a few names here and there that my grandmother Dorotha Heath mentioned a few times. I know she grew up knowing most of her cousins on the Seeley side. I remember Bill & Georgie's names being mentioned and a cousin Margaret Thompson that she use to write to years ago. My grandmother passed away nearly 4 years ago...I wished I wrote this stuff down when I had the chance. I also noticed two infants buried near Ira & Kate Seeley in Fox Hill. I do not actually know how many children there were all together.

My great grandparents George Heath & Emaline Amidon had 4 children together:

*Frances Heath - born and died in 1914 age 5 months.

*Albert Heath - born in 1916 and died 2004 in Florida. Father of Antoniette (Toni), Sheldon and Theron (Chip). We still keep in touch with Albert's daughter Toni. I do not know Toni's brothers Sheldon and Chip.

*Dorotha Heath - born in 1920 and died in 2004 in CT. She was the mother of Justin Heath, Rodney Briggs (died 2004), Randy Briggs (died 2006), Stephen Briggs, Lynn Briggs, Philip Briggs and Paula Lane.

*Charlotte Heath - born in 1932, married Arthur Sofa, no children. She lives in CT.

I have never meet my uncles Rodney, Stephen or Philip. We are very close to my uncle Justin Heath. He lived for many years in CT near my parents and my grandmother. My Uncle Lynn also lived close by. Every few years we made it back to Potter County to visit my uncle Randy and his family before Randy passed away.

My uncle Justin told me that my great grandparents George & Emaline celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary at my grandparents Barney & Dorotha Lane's house in Ulysses, PA in the summer of 1963. Most of the Seeleys attended. I was wondering if there is anybody on the Seeley side who had pictures from this event. Let me know. My mother and I do plan on visiting Uncle Justin in Potter County sometime this year which means another trek for me at the Historical Society. I will keep in touch.

*************************************************************************************
The land documents are very interesting. My daughter has reviewed them - she said they look as if they are land patents - land owned by the federal government - she said there are actually 2 land transfers - one in Jackson County for 80 acres and one in Ironton County for 80 acres. She is going to look for some old maps on line and try to locate the actual acreage. She believes James may have received the land for his military service or per a homestead act.

I've asked my son to go to my storage unit and pull the box out with my computer disks, notes, etc., on the family.

Ira and Kate's children:

William (Bill) married Georgie Long - Uncle Bill died in 1999 - Aunt Georgie currently lives in Campbell on the Curtis Hollow Road. Uncle Bill and Aunt Georgie had a dairy farm. Their house was actually the old house that Kate and Ira lived in - it was jacked up and moved to their farm. They had 5 children. Uncle Bill was an avid photographer. I'm sure Aunt Georgie may have some pictures of that anniversary party.

Lyndon (my father) married Arietta Wood. My father died in 1982 and my mother in 1996. My Dad worked for and retired from Pollio Dairy. I have 4 brothers and a sister.

Robert (Bobbie) married Marion Allen - both live on the old farm in Campbell - on top of hill - Uncle Bobby was a paratrooper and received a purple heart. He is very computer savy. They had 4 children.

Charles (Charlie) has been married a number of times. He currently lives in Florida with his wife. He retired from the US Navy. He had 5 children in his first marriage - Bobby died several years ago.

Margaret - was actually married twice - her first husband was Dellis Wood - my mother's step-brother. Her second husband John Thompson passed away several years ago. Margaret lives in Lawrenceville, PA. She had 5 daughters. Margaret retired from the Corning Glass Works - she was a silkscreener for the Pyrexware division.

Josephine - (Aunt Jo) married Philip Ruocco - Aunt Jo died in 1971 and Uncle Phil died about 10 years ago. They had 7 children. One son, Tommy, died around 1972.

Edith - (Aunt Edie) married Roy Wood - yep another Seeley-Wood marriage - 3 in all. They had 4 children. Aunt Edie and Uncle Roy live in Thurston. Aunt Edie did alot of research for the Seeley side - and put together a huge family tree for our family reunion.

Dorothy and Herbert are the 2 children that died as infants - I believe Dorothy (or Dorothea) was born in Feb and died in Sept. Herbert - I believe was only a few days old.

Ira was a lumberman and with Theodore (son of Herbert) - had a lumbercamp in the mountains. He had several contracts with the government for the logs. However, he had 2 bad seasons - no snow to help skid the logs to the river and the following year - too much snow/water and he lost his logs in the "roaring river." It is my understanding that Ira had a chance to do "share farming" on the farm in Campbell - and they moved to Campbell when my Dad was 4 years old. My Dad was too young to go with the cattle and the men and had to ride with my Grandmother. The men drove the cattle through - sleeping in barns along the way -- so the story goes.

Have to go now - but will continue tonight.

*************************************************************************************
Wow, Ira & Kate had a big family. Thank you for all the information you gave me...now I can place all of them.

Now I am going to see if I can stretch your memory a little bit further. Do you know if your grandmother Kate's brother Jim and his wife Zella had any children? My mother remembers visiting Jim & Zella once as a little child but never remembered her mother mentioning any children of theirs? Also George, Jim and Kate had a brother William who supposedly died young. Our family heard that he had drowned as a teenager. I noticed he is no longer in any census after 1900. I am thinking he died sometime between 1904-1910. Do you know any details of this or when it might have occurred?

My great aunt has a picture of William as a teenager. We found a small grave marker with no name only a few feet away from William & Jane Heath's graves in Fox Hill. I am thinking he died after his father died in 1903 and the family might not have been able to afford a big grave marker at the time. This would explain the mystery person buried a few feet from William & Jane...it makes sense that it is their teenage son.

Also do you know how Jane Shay Heath died? She died in 1898 and Potter County did not have her death certificate on file at their court house. They have most of the records from 1885-1905. Considering Jane's age I find it interesting that she passed away at the age of 31/32. I am not sure if your grandmother even remembered her mother...she must have been 4 or 5 when Jane died. I know after William A Heath died in 1903, his brothers Lorenzo, Frank and his mother Katharine looked after the children. George went to work at a winery in upstate New York to help support his siblings until they reached adulthood.

Let me know what you think.