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Seymour Family

EARLY SEYMOUR FAMILY SETTLEMENTS

 Although the Seymour family has been in this area since Colonial times, there is not much published information on this clan.  Brother Jerome Lepre of New Orleans et al have been working several years on The Seymour Family, another cog in his Gulf Coasthave been working several years on The Seymour Family, another cog in his Gulf Coast Genealogy series titled, Early Mississippi Coast Families.  Brother Lepre has already written thirteen early Mississippi Coast family history books,Cannette-Moore-Fayard-LaFontaine-Graveline (1983), The Despau Family (1984), The Caillavet Family (1984), The Saujon Family (1984), The Carriere Family (1985), The Ignacio Sierra Family(1987), The Delaunay Family (1988), The Krohn Family (1989), The Santa Cruz Family (1990),The Trochesset Family (1991), The Fountain Family (1992), The Meaut Family (1995), and The Seymour Family (2001), which have proven to be invaluable to local genealogical researchers. 

     In addition, Brother Lepre has provided researchers important references works, such as:  Catholic Church Records Diocese of Biloxi, Volume I (1991), Catholic Church Records of Biloxi, Volume II, (1995), Catholic Church Records of Biloxi, Volume III, (1995), and Index to the Records of Old Mobile-Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception 1704-1891, (1992).

            This essay is not meant to compete with Brother Jerome Lepre and his cohorts or other Seymourfamily historians, but rather to complement their genealogical research with early Seymour land records to define locales where the primal Seymour families lived. 

            An admonition to Seymour descendants, although there is much genealogical information in this article, I know that some of it must be incorrect.  This is the nature of family research.  One strives for perfection, but it is seldom attained.  If I have erred in describing your Seymour ancestors, please forgive me.

            Other researchers known to this writer who have published on the Seymour family are Ellen E. Kuehn, "Seymour Family", Annette R. Seymour, "Seymour Family" and "John Chester Seymour and Annette Raley", and Betty Clark Rodgers, "Lazarus Seymour and Nancy Seaman", all published in The History of Jackson County, Mississippi (1989).  Pauline H. Entrekin wrote "The Seymore Family Tree" for The Mississippi Coast History and Genealogical Society Journal

(Volume 20, No. 2) in June 1984.  The Seymour family is mentioned briefly in A History of the Mississippi Beef Cattle Industry (1985).

            The author has utilized these and other common genealogical sources to create this essay.  The Chancery Court Land Deed Records of Jackson and Harrison CountyMississippi, as well as the Jackson County Archives directed by Betty C. Rodgers and Lois Castigliola at Pascagoula were invaluable to this study.

            The genesis of the large Seymour family of the Mississippi Gulf Coast traces its ancestry from St. Cyr Seymour (1788-1845) and Marie-Josephe Ryan (1786-1876).  The origin of the name Seymour is quite obfuscated by the Roman Catholic Church records of Colonial times and later.  In

July 1995, Brother Lepre published an article, "Solution To A Mystery? LeBlanc-White-Moore-Zamora-Seymour", in The Mississippi Coast History and Genealogical Society Journal.

             Jerome Lepre relates that the man we know today as St. Cyr Seymour is referred to in various Catholic Church documents as St. Cyr LeBlanc, St. Cyr White, Jose St. Cyr, St. Cyr Zamora, Jose Zamora, and Joseph S. Moore.  The name on his tombstone in Section B of the Old Biloxi Cemetery is St. Cyr Zamor.  St. Cyr Seymour died on January 1, 1845 at New Orleans

            Regardless of this ubiquitous nomenclature from LeBlanc to Zamora, the name Seymour has survived in various forms, such as Seamore, Seymore, and Seymoure.  Their appears to be absolute certitude that the man who was once "commonly called Joseph S. Moore", the patriarch of allMississippi coastal Seymours, is St. Cyr Seymour.

            In June 1808, St. Cyr Seymour married Marie-Josephe Ryan, the daughter of Jean Ryan and Marie Gargaret at St. Mary's Church on Chartres Street in New Orleans.(Lepre, 1995).  Their known children were:  Edward Seymour (1809-1868+), Pierre Seymour (1810-18  ), Jean-Baptiste

Seymour (1811-1887), Lazarus Seymour (1816-1902), Narcisse Seymour (b. 1818), Victoria Seymour Fayard (1819-1904), Josephine Seymour Fayard (c. 1825-1852), and St. Cyr Seymour II (1827-1903).

FONTAINEBLEAU-THE PATRIARCH'S SETTLEMENT

The homestead of St. Cyr Seymour is clearly defined in the American State Papers and the early land records of the Chancery Court of Jackson County, Mississippi.  In January 1816, William Crawford, Land Commissioner for the District East of the Pearl River, submitted Report No. 234 to the 14th Congress.  His abstract No. 12, included the 174 settlers who had land claims east of the Pearl Riverwhose land claims were not derived from the French, British, or Spanish.  Joseph S. Moore (St. Cyr Seymour) was one of these claimants.  His land claim, Claim No. 161, was at Belle Fontaine (Fontainebleau) and was settled in 1799, by himself.(American State Papers, 1994). 

The Joseph S. Moore Claim, No. 161, consisting of 640 acres in Section 5, T8S-R7W, Jackson County, Mississippi

            Claim No. 161 was confirmed by an Act of Congress in March 1819.  It was surveyed in 1827-1828 by Thomas Bilbo, Deputy Surveyor.  The Seymour donation encompassed Section 5, T8S-R7W, which contains 640 acres.  The St. Cyr Seymour acreage was highly variable topographically.  The south perimeter consisted of a large estuarine marsh on the west, which became the open waters ofGraveline Lake to the east.  Above the tidal marsh, the western half of Section 5, T8S-R7W is a broad, northwest-southeast striking ridge, which reaches a maximum elevation of 20 feet above mean sea level.  The culmination of this ridge in the S/2 of the NW/4 of Section is the most desire-able location for a settlement.  A small, southeast meandering, bayou, which was alluded to as Bayou Derion? on the 1835-1838 tax rolls, flows into Graveline Lake in the SE/4 of Section 5, T8S-R7W, diagonally transects the east half of Section 5.(USGS Topographic Maps, Gautier and South Gautier) 

             Francois Rillieux and Jean-Baptise Baudrau dit Graveline and his heirs, very early settlers of the general Pascagoula area with the Krebs and La Pointe families, were also land claimants near the St. Cyr Seymour parcel. (Higginbotham, 1967).  Early maps depict what we know today as Graveline Bayou as Bayou Rilicax (sic).(1)  This name had degraded to Bayou Pilicox by the 1920s, probably due to typographical errors by the cartographers..  Vincent Rillieux (1740-1800), a son of Francois Rillieux and Marie Chenet, is the great grandfather of Edgar Degas (1834-1917), a French painter and sculptor, and friend of the French Impressionist movement of the late 19th Century.  The Rillieux family left thePascagoula area for New Orleans prior to 1763.(Higginbotham, 1967).

            French Canadian adventurer, Jean-Baptiste Baudrau (1671-1761), called Graveline, who came to Fort Maurepas, at present day Ocean Springs, of the Louisiana Colony with d'Iberville (1661-1706) in 1700, remained and settled permanently in what became in December 1812, Jackson County of the Mississippi Territory.  Today, his descendants from daughter, Magdeline, and her spouse, Pierre Paquet, number in the thousands.  Graveline's granddaughter, Catherine-Louise Baudreau (1742-1806+), wedded Joseph Bosarge (1733-1794), a native of PoitiersFrance in 1763, founding another large coast family.(Lepre, 1983)

            Another early settler in the Fontainebleau area was Charles C. Russell.  His claim, Claim No. 148, was at Bayou Relliaux (sic), east of St. Cyr Seymour.  Russell settled here in April 1809.  His claim included 160 acres comprising the E/2 of the NE/4 and the E/2 of the SE/4 of Section 5, T8S-R7W.(American State Papers, 1994).  In September 1848, the heirs of St. Cyr Seymour, quitclaimed their "rights, titles, claims, and interests" in this parcel to Alfred E. Lewis (1812-1885). (JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 3, pp. 28-30)

            The Charles C. Russell claim lies for the most part on the east side of a small, unnamed bayou which should fittingly be called St. Cyr or Seymour Bayou.  Although low topographically, this land is suitable for habitation.  The Old Shell Landing Road takes a sinuous path across the northern perimeter of the NE/4 of Section 5.  A.E. Lewis had purchased the Russell claim from Thomas L. Fletcher in August 1842.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 3, pp. 23-24) 

A Federal land patent was issued on November 22, 1895, to St. Cyr Seymour, his legal representatives, and heirs on 480 acres in Section 5, T8S-R7W.  The heirs of Charles C. Russell received their Federal land patent on October 9, 1895, on 160 acres in the E/2 of the E/2 of Section 5, T8S-R7W.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. Bk. 242, pp. 457-459 and Bk. 17, p. 151)

The Seymour name has long been linked to beef cattle.  Their maternal ancestor, Jean-Baptiste Baudreau (1671-ca 1762) dit Graveline, is credited with the importation of cattle into the Louisiana Colony during Colonial times.  In June 1748, Pierre de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil, then Governor of French Louisiana, in a letter to Jerome Phelypeaux, Comte de Maurepas, Minister of Marine for Louis XV, King of France, wrote the following about Graveline:

      “he has generously risked so many times for the service of his majesty, first in expeditions in which he took part in Canada against the Iroquois, where he always  distinguished himself, as well as in the journeys that were made there by sea to take Hudson's Bay and ravage  the coasts of Newfoundland, and since he has been in Louisiana in the difficult journeys he has undertaken, both to manage certain Indian nations for us and to suppress the insolence of several others, having marched at the head of the militia, of which he is the oldest captain, whenever we have formed an army to fight them.” 

                 Graveline, one of the first voyagers from Canada who came here for the settlement of the colony, at which he has worked steadily, both by the frequent voyages which he made to France to contract and conduct people here and by the voyages he has made to Vera Cruz and Havana in order to open commerce there and to have transported to this country the first purebred horned livestock seen here.(Rowland, et al, 1984) 

            When Thomas Hutchins (1730-1789), Surveyor-General of the United States came to the area in 1784, he observed:

There are still a few inhabitants at Biloxi, some of whom are the offspring of the original settlers.  Their chief employment is raising cattle and stock, and making pitch and tar:  but the natives (Indians) are very troublesome to them.(Hutchins, 1784)

             Hutchins had first come to the area in 1772, when he was a young lieutenant in the British Navy at Pensacola.  He was searching for an English military vessel, Mercury, which went aground at FreeMasons Island in the Bernard Roman's Hurricane of September 1772.  While at Biloxi, Hutchins "was advised that all the coastal islands had been awash during the storm.  Cattle and hogs had been lost, some said as many as three hundred from Horn, Buck (Deer), and Ship Island".(Rea, 1990, p. 58)  Cattle were kept on the barrier islands to reduce their theft by the Native Americans.

            Possibly one of the earliest corroborations of the Seymour link to cattle is the 1827 Tax Roll of Jackson County, which indicates that St. Cyr Seymour was residing at Belle Fontaine and possessed 300 cattle ($4 per head) and 8 horses (valued at $300) worth $1500.  By 1856, the county tax rolls indicate that the widow Seymour, Marie-Josephe Ryan, and her four sons still owned over 300 cattle and seven slaves.  Many of St. Cyr Seymour's descendants became well-known stockmen and butchers in towns along the Mississippi coast.

            When the children of St. Cyr Seymour and Marie-Joseph Ryan became of marriageable age, one could speculate that the sparse population in the Belle Fontaine-Fontainebleau area and the probable desire to select spouses of the Roman Catholic faith led their children to seek mates in other areas of the county.  At this time, their particular environs near Fontainebleau were inhabited for the most part by strongly Protestant families, such as those of William Ramsay, Daniel H. Ramsay (1814-1867) and Daniel Webb.

            To understand population distributions at this time, one can observe the 1840 Federal Census forJackson County, which indicates that there were only 1459 Caucasians residing in over 1300 square miles.  With the religious factor and paucity of eligible women near their Fontainebleau homestead, it is easy to imagine how the first three Seymour sons found mates at East Biloxi (now Ocean Springs). 

            Here in the early 1800s, on the eastern shore of the Bay of Biloxi resided the family of Andre Fournier II (died pre-1851) and Catherine Bouzage (1780-1841+).  They occupied a three arpent tract on the east end of the LaFontaine tract.  A small bayou on the eastern perimeter of the Fournier land, called Bayou Bouzage, is now the main channel of the Ocean Springs Inner Harbor.  The present home of Mrs. Alice T. Austin at 545 Front Beach Drive probably occupies the same site as the primal Fournier settlement.

            The Fourniers came to Ocean Springs from the Bayou La Batre area of coastal Alabama.   They had a large family with many daughters:  Gertrude F. Carco (1805-1850+), Andre Fournier III (1809-1878), Emilie F. Bouzage (ca 1811-1850+), Maria Evaline Foretich (1813-1854), Louise F. Seymour(1815-1860+), Marie F. Seymour (1817-1890), Catherine F. Ryan Moran (1819-1887), Delphine F. Llado (1819-1906), and Adele F. Seymour (1823-1890).(Adkinson, et al, 1991)

            In December 1849, Andre Fournier III (1809-1878) also acquired land at Ocean Springs.  His tract consisted of 160 acres in the SW/4 of Section 19, T7S-R8W.  This tract is east of Martin Avenue projected north along the range line between Range 8W and Range 9W to Fort Bayou, and includes all land south of Fort Bayou to Government Street projected to the range line.  The eastern perimeter of the Fournier parcel is a line from Blount Avenue north of Government to Fort Bayou.  George A. Cox (1811-1887) acquired 78 acres in the western portion of the Fournier tract in December 1859.

            Here, this entrepreneur from Yazoo City homesteaded on the old Fournier place which was probably located near the present day PFG Precision Optic plant at 733 Bienville.  The road leading to his home became known as Cox Avenue and a family burial plot was commenced near the west boundary of the former Coca Cola bottling plant.(Schmidt, 1972, p. 29).

            From the Andre Fournier II family at East Biloxi, Edward Seymour married Adele Fournier.  Pierre Seymour married Louise Fournier and Jean-Baptiste Seymour married Marie Fournier.  The tax rolls of Jackson County, Mississippi, indicate that these Seymour brothers and St. Cyr II, and their families continued to reside in the Fontainbleau area as late as 1856.  Their father St. Cyr Seymour had passed on January 1, 1845.

            As we will see, the children of St. Cyr Seymour and Marie-Josephe Ryan eventually moved to the western side of Jackson County and into eastern Harrison County.  With the exception of Jean-Baptise Seymour, who settled at Ocean Springs with his wife, Marie Fournier, the other Seymour male siblings found habitations to the north and west of Fort Bayou in what today we know as the St. Martinand Latimer communities.  This area of western Jackson County is also the primal haunts of the Jean Ryan family from which the Seymours were maternally related.  The Seymour girls, Victoria and Josephine, married Fayard cousins, Narcisse Fayard (1825-1896) and Charles Fayard (1822-1897), and settled at heavily Roman Catholic Biloxi.

            Before leaving the original St. Cyr Seymour settlement at Fontainebleau, it is important to know that as late as 1914, the children of St. Cyr Seymour II (1827-1903) were involved in litigation concerning the western 480 acres of Section 5, T8S-R7W in the Chancery Court of Jackson County, Mississippi.  It is from depositions in these Chancery Court cases that much interesting information on the original Seymour claim was revealed.  In what may be described as a story within a story, the following is generally what transpired on the primal St. Cyr Seymour homestead after his demise at New Orleans in January 1845.

 

            We will probably never know precisely why the family of St. Cyr Seymour abandoned their home place north of Lake Graveline after his demise.  As previously suggested, the paucity of eligible life mates in the immediate area of the Seymour settlement with similar religious tenets, may have been a contributing factor. 

            Another consideration in the Seymour migration to the western end of Jackson County, is that between August 1852 and October 1860, no fewer than six hurricanes struck the coast of the MexicanGulf.  The Great Mobile Hurricane of August 1852, landed between Pascagoula and Mobile and was particularly devastating in the Pascagoula region. 

             The Year 1860 saw three storms affect the Mississippi coast.  The August 1860 tempest passed between Biloxi and Pascagoula, which was very near the St. Cyr Seymour homestead.  The September 1860 Hurricane saw sea level rise seven feet in 20 minutes, inundating the village of

Pascagoula.(Sullivan-?)  The third tempest hit Louisiana in early October 1860, and did some damage to the west side of the Mississippi coast sparing the Fontainebleau area. (Sullivan-?).

            One can only imagine the effects of a tidal surge, emerging swiftly through the churning waters of Lake Graveline, over the lower elevations of the Seymour plantation during one of these tropical storms.  How did their home, large herd of cattle and other livestock, and virgin forests fare during the banshee-screaming, tornado winds and driving rain of these great tempests?

            Regardless of all suppositions, it is known from the land deed records, land rolls, and tax rolls of the Chancery Courts of Jackson and Harrison Counties, that the six surviving heirs of St. Cyr Seymour, one daughter, Josephine S. Fayard, had expired childless in February 1852, began selling their legacy atFontainebleau, in the late 1860s.

            In December 1868, the first Seymour heir to sell his interest at Fontainbleau was Edward Seymour who sold to James Mulholland (1823-1871).( JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 6, pp. 548-549).  Mr. Mulholland was an Irish immigrant who operated a store on the Daisy-Vestry Road (now Old Biloxi Road).  His daughter, Elizabeth Mulholland (1859-1936), married Calvin Seymour (1850-1922), the eldest son of St. Cyr Seymour II and Anne McCarty.  A son, Jeff Davis Mulholland (1861-1930), sometimes in alliance with the Quave family, was a leading merchant and entrepreneur at North Biloxi in the late 19th and early 20th Century.(Bellande, 1992)

            In January 1876, Narcisse Fayard (1825-1896) and his wife, Victoria Seymour (1819-1904), sold their 1/6 interest to Alfred E. Lewis (1812-1885) for $50.( JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Book 3, pp. 74-75)

            Jean-Baptiste Seymour sold for $100 his interest, which was described as one-half in the "Joseph S. Moore grant" to his son, Moses Seymour, in August 1887.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk.   10, p. 32)   He must have acquired the interests of his brothers, Pierre Seymour and St. Cyr II.  These conveyances were lost or destroyed, as they were never recorded in the Chancery Court post-1875.

             Lazarus Seymour and Martha Fayard for $100 conveyed to Delmas and Emily Seymour their 1/6 interest in February 1890.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 10, p. 547)  Delmas Seymour was the son of Jean-Baptise Seymour.  The heirs of St. Cyr Seymour II claimed that he never sold his 1/6 interest in his father's Fontainebleau estate.  They pursued unsuccessfully for many years in the Chancery Court ofJackson County, to be remunerated for their alleged interest in the St. Cyr Seymour homestead.  By 1893, M.D. Russell, a land speculator from Iowa, who was residing in the O'Keefe Cottage at Ocean Springs with his new bride, was in control of the old St. Cyr Seymour tract.  Young Russell and his father, Doctor D.P. Russell, a veterinarian, who resided at Belle Fontaine, were involved with Colonel W.R. Snyder (1864-1918) in local land speculation.  The three men were alleged partners in the sale of the A.E. Lewis Estate, a small portion which had been the St. Cyr Seymour homestead, to the John B. Lyon (1829-1904) family of Chicago.(JXCO, Miss. Chancery Court Cause No. 413, "Snyder v. Russell", June 1890) The Lewis tract later became known as the Hamill Farm in the Fontainebleau area.

              From depositions given in Jackson County, Mississippi Chancery Court Cause No. 3336, "H.F. Russell v. Calvin Seymour, et al", March 1914, the following information was revealed concerning theSeymour land in Section 5, T8S-R7W:

             H.F. Russell (1858-1940), the plaintiff in the case, testified that D.P. Russell, called Doc Russell, and the father of M.D. Russell, was the agent for the owners in the 1890s.  Between 1895 and 1901, the virgin timber was cut or worked off the property by the timber crews of Doc Russell.

            Richmond Spradley (1847-1900+) became the tenant for then proprietors, Moses L. Pervin and Wilson.  Spradley lived in a frame and log house with his wife, Elizabeth (1833-1900+), and son, Elias (1878-1900+).  Their country house was located on the middle bayou near the center of Section 5.  Here Spradley cultivated a garden and burned charcoal to make his livelihood.  He left the land in 1906, when his wife became ill.  Others who worked on the land were John Webb (1854-1900+) and A.B. Spradley (1874-1900+).

            Thomas E. Ramsay (1845-1934), who owned the Seymour tract with H.F. Russell (1858-1940) from 1902 to 1909, testified that Mr. Spradley was the tenant of M.D. Russell and that he resided on the land for about eleven years.  Ramsay said that Spradley built one or two houses and

"raised some mighty fine sugar cane and potatoes".

            John Webb testified to the Chancery Court that D.P. Russell lived on the Seymour land and had logs cut and charcoal burned there during his occupancy.  Webb stated that "he (D.P. Russell) lived on what they call the Seymour place".  Russell built a house, barn, and a structure for his teamsters to occupy.  John Webb further averred that this was the same site that Richmond Spradley later resided on commencing in 1895 or 1896.  Webb also revealed that there were hundreds of charcoal kilns on the property.  The average kiln produced about 350 barrels of charcoal.  When asked if he ever knew of anySeymours living on the tract, John Webb replied negatively.  He did say that "there was an old man living there once, that we called Uncle Baptiste".  Webb did not know with any degree of certitude that this man, Uncle Baptiste, was Jean-Baptiste Seymour, the son of St. Cyr Seymour.

            From testimony given in Cause No. 3336, H.F. Russell v. Calvin Seymour, et al, one could conclude that the homestead of St. Cyr Seymour was located in the SE/4 of the NW/4 of Section 5, T8S-R7W.  Here the tenant, situated near a navigable bayou and protected from the hurricane prone shores of the Mississippi Sound to the south, was ideally situated to take advantage of the fecund waters ofGraveline Lake with its fine oysters and fish.  Access to the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico and a window to the outside world via coastal schooner was available through Graveline Bayou.  High land suitable for cultivation and stock raising lie nearby as well as lush tidal marshes suitable for winter foraging for livestock.

    

Camp Graveline

            Today, this area of Jackson County is still sparsely settled.  In August 1977, Louis A. Fayard, Inc. and Mary C. Mahoney, Inc. opened a subdivision called the "Father Mullin Lake Graveline Properties".  It consists of nineteen lots on the north shore of Lake Graveline in the southern 3/4 of the S/2 of the Joseph S. Moore Claim.(JXCO, Ms. Land Plat Book 15, p. 37)

            A second unit consisting of twenty lots was added in Section 19, T8S-R7W, on the John Baptiste Beaudreaux (sic) Claim, in August 1978.(JXCO, Ms. Land Plat Book 16, p. 3)  In the same general area, Graveline Pointe Subdivision, is now being developed by James Reeves Development, Inc. ofLaurelMississippi.

            The Reverend Herbert Mullin and Monsignor Geofrey O'Connell, Roman Catholic Irish priests, acquired this land in April 1944, from Charles S. Gerth of New Orleans.( JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 87, pp. 491-492)  Here with the assistance of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart from Bay St. Louis, they developed Camp Graveline at Graveline Point just west of where "St. Cyr Bayou" enters Graveline Lake.

              According to Bob Mahoney of Biloxi, who spent many summers of his youth here, CampGraveline was a vacation camp, which catered to the recreational needs of the Coast's juveniles.  It offered two sessions and could accommodate about 150 campers.  Girls went for four weeks commencing in June.  The boys session was six weeks terminating in August.  Both groups enjoyed fishing, swimming, sailing, water skiing, hiking, and horseback riding.  In addition to Bob Mahoney, a well known Coast restaurateur and amateur golfer, singer-song writer-author, Jimmy Buffett (b. 1946) ofPascagoula and Key West, may be Camp Graveline's most famous alumni.

            Camp Graveline was owned by the Sisters of Mercy from May 1958 until March 1961, when it was quitclaimed to Father Mullin, et al.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 185, pp. 357-359)  It is believed that Camp Graveline ceased to function as a summer holiday resort in the late 1950s, and was subsequently a victim of Hurricane Camille in August 1969.  The Creare Corporation purchased it from the Catholic priests, Mullin and O'Connell, in June 1969.( JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 357, p. 467) 

             We are now ready to investigate the migration of the children of St. Cyr Seymour and Marie-Josephe Ryan from the primal Seymour homestead at Fontainebleau to other areas of the Mississippicoast, primarily western Jackson County.  For the most part, they settled in what we know today as the Latimer community.  The primary focus of this late 1860 Seymour settlement is in and around the intersection of Tucker Road and the Old Biloxi Road (Daisy-Vestry Road). 

            North of the "Big Ridge" on the east side of the Tchoutacabouffa River water shed is an area that could be described as an "inland peninsula".  With Bayou Costapia to the north, Perigal Creek to the north and east, and Cypress Creek to the south, some of the Seymour family chose the high land amidst these waterways to settle.  Here, elevations range between 40 and feet above sea level.

            It is interesting to note that this general locale was the childhood home of their mother, Marie-Josephe Seymour, nee Ryan.  She was reared on the Jean Ryan settlement about two to three miles south, in the vicinity of present day Bayou Porteaux-Gulf Hills.  It was a homecoming for her.

 

EDWARD SEYMOUR SETTLEMENT-LATIMER/LARUE

     Edward Seymour (1809-1898), the eldest of the Seymour children, married Adele Fournier (1818-1890), the daughter of Andre Fournier and Catherine Bouzage, circa 1829.  They may have started their lives south of Edward's birthplace at Fontainebleau.  The 1833 tax roll of Jackson County demonstrates that Edward Seymour was at Belle Fontaine Pointe where he owned 10 acres of land.  By 1842, he owned 60 head of cattle.

          The Mississippi agricultural census of 1850, reported Edward Seymour's holdings as:

      10 acres of improved land, 400 acres of unimproved land, cash value of farm $300.  Stock included 4 horses, 1 mule, 30 milch cows, 4 working oxen, 10 other cattle, and 38 swine valued at $850.  Seymour also owned 50 bushels of Indian corn and 50 pounds of butter.

             By 1856, the tax rolls have Edward Seymour in possession of 80 cattle and one slave.

           It cannot be ascertained with a high degree of certitude when Edward Seymour and family left theFontainebleau area for the Latimer area in western Jackson County.  The land deed records of Jackson County indicate that in June and November 1851, Edward Seymour purchased two contiguous tracts of land on the Daisy-Vestry Road (Old Biloxi Road) about one mile southwest of its intersection with present day Tucker Road.  From James L. Condry, Seymour acquired the NW/4 of the SE/4 and the SW/4 of the SE/4 of Section 27, T6S-9RW.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 10, p. 384)  He bought from Peter Scarborough of Harrison County, in November 1851, with tenements, the NW/4 of the NE/4 of Section 34, T6S-R9W.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 10, p. 383)

            Edward Seymour and his wife reared a large family consisting of the following children:  Raymour Seymour (1829-1911), Elizabeth Richard (1836-1905), Suzanne Dupree (b. 1839), Lewis Seymour (b. 1939), Antoine Seymour (b. 1840), Joseph Edward Seymour (b. 1842), Josephine "Coriene" Cates (1843-1929), and Clement Fayard Seymour (1846-1915).

            Some corroboration for the relocation of Edward Seymour to the Latimer area, is given in 1867.  At this time, his mother Marie-Josephe or Mary Seymour purchased 160 acres in the north half of Section 26, T6S-R9W from the State of Mississippi.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed  Book 22, p. 368)  Also, at the same time, his, son, Clement Seymour, son-in-law, Fred Dupree (1833-1911), and grandson, Edward Richard, bought the SE/4 of Section 26, T6S-R9W from the State of Mississippi.  These tracts are all on the northeast side of Tucker Road, varying from one mile southeast of its intersection with the Old Biloxi Road to the intersection with same, in the NW/4 of Section 26.

            In 1872, Edward Seymour sold his land in the Latimer area to Clement Seymour and St. Cyr Seymour II.  It appears from the land assessment records of Jackson County, that by 1875, Edward Seymour, who was approximately sixty-six years of age, had disposed of all land holdings in the county.  His name is not on the 1875 Land Rolls of Jackson County.  One would assume that he and his wife were residing with an offspring.

            Annette Raley Seymour, the wife of John Chester Seymour (b. 1929), relates in the "Seymour Family" in The History of Jackson County, Mississippi (1989), that "Edwour

Seymour lived with his son (Raymour) and his wife (Lucinda Williams) for about four years after his wife died.  His death occurred on August 1, 1898 and he is buried in the Wilkerson Cemetery in Larue Community".  John Chester Seymour is the great great-grandson of Edward Seymour and Adele Fournier.

            The Seymour encroachment into the Larue area began in 1891.  In September 1891, Raymour Seymour acquired Federal patents on the following lands in T5S-R9W of the Larue area:  SW/4 of SW/4 of Section 14; SE/4 of SE/4 of Section 15; and the NE/4 and the NW/4 of the NE/4 of Section 22.

            At the same time, his brother, Clement Seymour, and son, Albert Jackson Seymour (1867-1951), received Federal patents, also on lands in T5S-R9W.  Clement received the NW/4 and SW/4 of the NE/4 of Section 10, while Albert got 160 acres in Section 11.

 

PIERRE SEYMOUR SETTLEMENT-FORT BAYOU

            Pierre Seymour (1810-1888) married Louise Fournier, the daughter of Andre Fournier and Catherine Bouzage circa 1833.  Their known children are:  Joseph Lazarus Seymour (1835-1920), William Seymour (1837-1908), Clo Seymour (b. 1842), Louisa S. Garlotte (1838-1916), Adele S. Bullock (1844-1913), Sherrod Seymour (1846-1928), May Seymour (b. 1847), and John Peter Seymour (1852-1938). 

            The early tax rolls of Jackson County have very little information on Pierre Seymour.  One could deduce that he resided in the Fontainebleau area, probably on the St. Cyr Seymour homestead with his siblings until he relocated to the Fort Bayou area of Jackson County

            Like his brothers, Pierre Seymour owned cattle.  In 1843, he was assessed with 40 bovines.  By 1856, his herd had grown to 50 beef cattle.  In the 1860 Federal census, Pierre is a butcher making his livelihood from the sale of beef and other animal meat.  He is a farmer in 1870.

            There is a high degree of certitude that Pierre Seymour and his family settled on the north shore of Fort Bayou in Section 17, T7S-R8W.  He acquired land patents from the Federal government as well as the State of Mississippi on lands here as early as 1847.  In fact, the first Federal patent acquired by Pierre Seymour, in January 1847, the SE/4 of the SW/4 of Section 17, is the most probable homestead.  He paid $50.00 for this land.( JXCO, Ms. Land Tract Book 1, p. 199.)  The Peter Seymour site rests at an elevation of 25 feet above sea level with good drainage and easy access to Fort Bayou.

            Topographically, this habitat is very similar to the original Seymour land at Fontainebleau.  Here Pierre Seymour encountered navigable water, marsh, timber, and some flat areas suitable for subsistence agriculture. 

             By 1875, Pierre Seymour owned about 300 acres of land in Section 17 and several tracts to the south in Section 20, T7S-R8W.  The Pierre Seymour family cemetery developed in the NE/4 of the NE/4 of Section 20.

            It appears that several of the children of Pierre and Louise Fournier found settlements near their primal haunts on Fort Bayou.  The 1875 Land Assessment Book of Jackson County, reveals that William Seymour (1837-1908), owned 320 acres in Sections 7, 8, and 9 of T7S-R8W while brother, Sherrod Seymour (1846-1928), possessed 40 acres in Section 8.  The Old Fort Bayou Road is near or transects several of these parcels which indicates that these Seymour brothers may have lived just north of their parents.  Many of their descendants still reside in the immediate area. 

            Ina Goff Clarke, a descendant of Peter Sherrod Seymour (1870-1934), remembers that as a child, in the 1930s, she was brought to the "William Seymour place".  It was located just west of the SeymourCemetery.  There are groves of live oaks in these areas today, which may indicate old Seymour home places.

            Today, the former lands of Pierre Seymour in Section 17 and Section 20, T7S-R8W are for the most part owned by the heirs of J. Duncan Moran (1925-1995) and his brother, Alfred R. Moran (1930-1981).  With the exception of the Woodfield Subdivion and the Windsor Park Subdivision on the northeast and southwest perimeters respectively, and Bayou Talla Road which goes to the SeymourCemetery, this land is lightly timbered and undeveloped.  Directly across Fort Bayou to the south, Maurepas Landing Subdivision is presently developing on the former Wright-Hunt property in Section 20.

            It is believed that these Pierre Seymour lands came into the Moran family through their grandparents, May V. Minor (1866-1910) and H.F. Russell (1858-1940), who acquired much real estate in Jackson County, for taxes during their lifetime.  In October 1910, H.F. Russell conveyed one acre in the NW corner of the NE/4 of the NE/4 of Section 20, T7S-R8W to the heirs of William Seymour.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Book 39, pp. 182-183)

 An excerpt from this conveyance reads as follows:

      "it is understood and agreed by all parties interested in this deed that the one acre here in conveyed is to be used as a family cemetery only.  It is also understood and agreed that the said heirs and their family shall have the right to go to and from said cemetery through the NE/4 of the NE/4 at any time that they may deem necessary".

  

JEAN-BAPTISTE SEYMOUR SETTLEMENT-OCEAN SPRINGS

          Jean-Baptise Seymour (1812-1887) married Marie Fournier (1817-1890) circa 1835.  She was born at Ocean Springs, after the Andre Fournier family had relocated post-1813, from the Bayou La Batre area of Mobile County.  Her parents, Andre Fournier and Catherine Bouzage, resided on a three arpent tract fronting Biloxi Bay just west of the present day Inner Harbor.  The Louis Auguste LaFontaine family were their western neighbors.  As previously mentioned, Marie's brother, Andre Fournier III (1809-1878), acquired the SW/4 of Section 19, T7s-R8W, at Ocean Springs in 1849.  He sold his land and relocated to the North Biloxi area where many of his descendants reside to day.

            Before arriving at Ocean Springs, Jean-Baptiste Seymour resided at Fontainebleau.  Early Jackson County, Mississippi tax records indicate that his land holdings at the "Seashore" and Belle Fontaine, increased from 43 acres to 280 acres between 1836 and 1839.  By 1856, he was the most successful of the Seymour brothers running over 170 head of cattle in the Lake Graveline area.  He also owned 4 slaves, attesting to his affluence.

           Jean-Baptiste Seymour and Marie Fournier reared a large family in Jackson County.  Their children were: Zeolide S. Krohn (1836-1898), Moses Seymour (1838-1893), Anatole Seymour (b. 1840), Jean Seymour (1843-1903+), Henry Seymour (1844-1924), Narcisse Seymour (1849-1931), Cecilia S. Mathieu (1850-1903+), Rose Seymour (b. 1852), Marie S. Borries (1853-1900), Louise S. Meaut (1855-1939), Caroline S. Beaugez (1858-1933), and Delmas Seymour (1863-1912).

           It is not known with a high degree of certitude, when Jean-Baptiste Seymour and family quit theFontainebleau area for Ocean Springs.  It is known that on September 15, 1849, Jean-Baptiste Seymour purchased a 13-acre tract of land at Ocean Springs from Dr. Andrew B. Dodd (1806-1850+), aKentucky born physician.  The Seymour tract ran from Government Street to LaFontaine Avenue and was only 150 feet wide, except on its southern termination near present day LaFontaine Avenue, where it widened to 165 feet.  Its western perimeter began 200 feet east of Dewey Avenue.  The Jean-Baptise Seymour tract was originally a part of Andre Fournier's three arpent tract on the Bay of Biloxi and Bayou Bauzage (Inner Harbor).  Seymour paid Dr. Dodd $11.54 per acre for this land.

            Before Jean-Baptise Seymour expired on October 14, 1887, he began selling his land at Ocean Springs to his children and others.  In October 1875, Thomas Cochran (1852-1883) purchased all of Jean-Baptiste Seymour's land north of Porter Avenue to Government Street for $200.  He obtained $77.52 per acre for this tract as compared to his original cost of $11.54 per acre.  This particular plot was soon purchased by Joseph Kotzum (1842-1915) who incorporated it into his Kotzum Addition subdivision of January 1895.

 

Moses Seymour

Son, Moses Seymour (1838-1893), was the first sibling of the family to acquire land in the Seymour tract from his parents.  In September 1877, Jean-Baptiste and Marie Seymour sold him and his wife, Adolphine Bellman (1838-1920), for $25, a 300-foot deep lot on the south side of Porter Avenue near present day Minor Lane.  It appears that the homestead of Jean-Baptiste Seymour and Marie Fournier was also located on this tract.  In July 1890, when Delmas Seymour sold a house for $35 to his brother, Moses, the deed concerning this structure read, "a certain house built by me in Ocean Springs for the use of my mother during her life on the said Moses Seymour lot south of his residence on Porter Avenue".

   From his obituary, it appears Moses Seymour was a resident of Scranton (Pascagoula) at the time of his demise.  He expired suddenly, probably from a heart attack, at the L&N Depot in New Orleans as he awaited for a train to return home.  Moses was a well known butcher.  He had married Adolphine Bellman (1838-1893), the daughter of Charles Bellman (1806-1860+) and Pauline Ryan (1815-1899).  Their children were:  Edwin McLan Seymour (b. 1864), Isabella S. White (1866-1928+), Norman A. Seymour (1868-1910+), Robert F. Seymour (1870-1939), and Ernest Adolph Seymour (1875-1877).

 

At Pasacagoula, Norman A. Seymour married and later divorced Condalaura Flechas (1872-1935), the daughter of Captain Joseph Flechas (1824-1883) and Condalaura Villar (1842-1908).  Like his father, Moses, he made his livelihood as a butcher.  Their family was:  Hilda Seymour (b. 1897), Mildred Seymour (b. 1899), Lois Seymour(b. 1901), Hulbert Seymour (b. 1903), Norman Seymour (b. 1905), Blanche Seymour (b. 1907), and Bernard Seymour (b. 1910).

Robert F. Seymour also appears to have settled at Pascagoula.  With Laura Tousell (1869-1909), he had at least two children:  Martin Van Buren Seymour (1897-1897) and Leo R. Seymour (1902-1934).  Members of both these Seymour families are buried in the Greenwood Cemetery at Pascagoula.

 

Narcisse J. Seymour

           Narcisse J. Seymour (1849-1931) was the next of the children to acquire land from his parents in the Jean-Baptiste Seymour strip.  In September 1879, he purchased a lot on the south side of Calhoun Avenue from his parents for $50.  The warranty deed states that Calhoun had not been laid out yet.  It is known that Narcisse Seymour contracted with Westbrook and Buehler to erect two cottages on Calhoun in the Spring of 1892.  One of these Queen Anne style homes is extant and owned by Harriet Perry at1108 Calhoun Avenue.

            Narcisse Seymour acquired other lands in the immediate area.  In April 1881, he bought Lots 1-3 in Block 41 (Culmseig Map of 1854) from Edward Clark of PhiladelphiaPennsylvania through his agent, George A. Cox (1811-1887), for $100.  These lots were contiguous with his Calhoun property and in fact today make up the southeast corner of Dewey and Calhoun.  Land for the construction ofDewey Avenue was acquired by the city of Ocean Springs from Joseph Bellande in May 1898, but wasn't completed until later.  It is believed that Alderman-at-Large, George E. Arndt (1857- 1945), recommended that the new route be named for Commodore and later Admiral George Dewey (1837-1917), the hero of the Battle of Manilla Bay in the Philippines, during the Spanish-American War.

            Narcisse Seymour acquired additional lands on Dewey Avenue in February 1912, when he purchased for $1500, two distinct tracts on the west side of Dewey Avenue.  The first parcel ran 656 feet south of the Bellande Cemetery to the Bruno Reus property and then 200 feet west towards

Washington Avenue.  The second tract was a lot with a front of 150 feet on the west side of Dewey commencing north of the Shanahan Hotel tract (now Little Childrens Park).  It was also 200 feet deep.  These parcels were sold to Seymour by Commissioner Taylor, as the result of a forced heirship suit, Mrs. Delphine Bellande Ryan, et al vs. Eugene Bellande, et al, Cause No. 1779. 

            Narcisse Seymour and his family had a large impact on the economic history of Ocean Springs.  They with Antonio Catchot (1828-1885) and his son, Joseph "Joe Tony" Catchot (1858-1919), were early leaders of the fledgling commercial seafood industry at Ocean Springs.  Fresh seafood andSeymour were synonymous at Ocean Springs for many decades.

            Narcisse had married Amelia Kendall (1840-ca 1873), the daughter of Louis Kendall (1822-1894) and Celestine Ryan (1829-1894), circa 1868.  She had been reared on Lot 4 in the Jerome Ryan tract on the east side of present day Martin Avenue.  Before her demise, Narcisse and Amelia had three children:  Marie Cecilia Dick (1869-1953), Louis Seymour (1871-1871), and Nacisse Joseph Seymour (1873-1873).

            After the untimely death of his wife, Narcisse Seymour married in September 1873, Caroline V. Krohn (1847-1895), the daughter of Henry A. Krohn (1811-1850+) and Marie Solitelle Cuevas (Quave) (1807-1860+).  His sister, Zeolide Seymour, had married her brother, John H. Krohn (1831-1912). 

            The children of Narcisse and Caroline Krohn were: Raymond Seymour (b. 1874), Charles Hugh Seymour (1876-1913), Harriet S. Dale (1877-1956), John R. Seymour (1879-1938), Alice S. Bellman (1880-1957), Benjamin Seymour (1882-1904), J. Frank Seymour (1884-1933), Wilhemine

Seymour (1886-1889), Carrie S. Ames (1889-1979), George J. Seymour (b. 1889), and Leona A. Seymour (1891-1900).

            Mrs. Narcisse Seymour acquired property on Calhoun Avenue in June 1883, when she purchased Lot 1-Block 36 (Culmseig Map of 1854) from E.W. Clark.  It was sold for

$2000 to local realtor, F.E. Lee (1874-1932), in January 1926, as a result of Jackson County Chancery Court Cause No. 4633, Narcisse Seymour v. Mrs. Eugene Dick, et al.  This parcel was contiguous with the earlier land acquisitions of Narcisse Seymour along Calhoun Avenue.  It

gave the family over 450 feet fronting on Calhoun east of Dewey Avenue.

           

Seafood

Near the turn of the Century, Narcisse Seymour (1949-1931) and some of his children and their spouses continued to acquire land on the east side of Dewey Avenue between Calhoun and LaFontaine which comprises ten lots in Block 41 (Culmseig Map of 1854).  They and their kindred

families, the Beaugezs, Bellmans, and Dicks, made their livelihoods in the seafood industry as fishermen and oystermen.  Their neighborhood on the east side of Dewey Avenue became the primary hub of an early 20th Century seafood culture at Ocean Springs.  Without question, Seymour

Avenue is now a more appropriate historic appellation for the present thoroughfare.

            In time, several local seafood enterprises, some of regional distinction, arose from the incipient organization of Narcisse Seymour & Son, which was established in the 1890s.  They were:  Hugh C. Seymour, VanCourt & Seymour (D.B. VanCourt and J.R. Seymour), The Eagle Point Oyster Company (Phillip M. Bellman), J.R. Seymour Fish & Oyster Company, The Seymour Brothers (Bennie and Oscar Seymour), The Grace Seymour Crab Plant, and J&L Seafood (John H.

Seymour and Lydia Beaugez).  For the most part, these families resided on the east side of Dewey Avenue.

             As previously mentioned, Narcisse Seymour had acquired Lots 1-3 of Block 41, in 1881.  Lot 1 of Block 41 commenced on the southeast corner of Calhoun and Dewey while Lot 10

of Block 41 was on the northeast corner of LaFontaine and Dewey.  Through the years, the Narcisse Seymour clan and affiliated families have had transactions on all lots on Dewey south of Calhoun Avenue with the exception of Lot 9 and Lot 10-Block 41, which is the location of Green Lawns, the Flood-Snyder home at 200 Dewey Avenue, on the northeast corner of LaFontaine.  This property evolved from Scot immigrant, Jane Flood (1839-1904+), to Henry Wirth to Virginia LeCand (1887-1925) in October 1917.  W.H. Lewis platted the Edgewater Court Subdivision on the south side of LaFontaine in September 1950.

            The chronology of the various Seymour properties in Block 41 (Culmseig Map of 1854) is as follows:

 LOT 3-BLOCK 41

            In February 1885, Narcisse Seymour sold Lot 3-Block 41 to Benjamin Dick (1869-1904).  Dick had married Louise Z. Seymour (1875-ca 1903), the daughter of Jean Seymour and Almenia Miller in November 1891.  Dick died mysteriously after he had gone hunting in the marshes of the Weeks Bayou area in late January 1904.  His remains were not found until early March 1904.  The Dick orphans were:  Benedict Dick, Jr. (1892-1967), Mamie Dick (b. 1894), Herman Dick (1896-1941), Gertrude Dick (b. 1898), and Edwina Dick (b. 1904).  The Progress, the local journal at the time, collected money for the financial assistance of these children.

            Before his demise in 1904, Ben Dick had sold Lot 3 to Thomas A. Friar (1871-1896) in April 1892.  Mr. Friar's father, Thomas R. Friar (1845-1916), a local building contractor and seafood producer, probably had a cottage erected here.  He conveyed it to Manuel Gonzales Fernandez in July 1896.  (Manuel Gonzales of Mobile see PD-S, 6-7-1895, p. 3)

            It is interesting to note that in the Federal Census of 1900, a Henry Seymour (b. 1873), possibly the son of Henry Seymour (1844-1924), is married to a Lizzie ? Slater (b. 1870), a native of Louisiana.  They are residing in the Dewey Avenue area.  Her father is Mexican.  Could this Manuel Gonzales Fernandez be her father?  Lizzie Seymour has a son, Wesley Slater (1882-1900+), by a prior marriage.  Regardless of this coincidence, Senor Fernandez sold Lot 3 of Block 41 to Carrie Seymour (1889-1979), later Mrs. Theodore Ames, for $500 in September 1906.  This home would become the property of Mark Seymour (1910-1944) in September 1938.  His widow, Ruth Clark, sold it to Irving L. Cox in February 1948.  It is believed that Mr. Cox had the old structure demolished.  Gordon Mathieu, Jr. and family reside here today at 304 Dewey Avenue.

 LOT 2-BLOCK 41

             Narcisse Seymour conveyed Lot 2-Block 41 to Caroline Seymour (1847-1895) in May 1888, for $50.  In August 1918, Narcisse Seymour sold a part of Lot 2 (100 feet by 86 feet) to John R. Woodcock.  Cora A. Woodcock (1872-1934) vended a 50-foot lot fronting on Dewey Avenue to Louis R. "Boy" Ryan (1880-1960) in January 1922.  Mr. Ryan built a vernacular cottage, which is extant at308 Dewey Avenue.  Jeweler, Phil N. Kreutz, once resided here and later the Crysell family.   Cassie M. Parker acquired the south 50 feet of the Woodcock lot from Louis Ryan in September 1944.  This residence is extant at 306 Dewey Avenue.  Carrie Seymour Ames was quitclaimed the remainder of Lot2 from the Heirs of Caroline K. Seymour, her mother, in March 1936.

 LOT 1-BLOCK 41

            Lot 1-Block 41 is located on the southeast corner of Calhoun and Dewey.  Narcisse Seymour had several rental houses here.  A portion of Lot 1 became the possession of  Carrie S. Ames in October 1914, when her father, Narcisse Seymour, deeded it to her.  After the old rental cottages burned or were demolished, she conveyed a lot (100 feet by 84 feet) on the southeast corner of Calhoun and Dewey to John J. Seymour (1898-1962) in February 1945.  Mr. Seymour built a house, which is extant at 1102 Calhoun.  It was formerly owned by Vernon F. Seymour and was acquired by Glen R. and Rose Skelton in May 1965.  The Skeltons had previously obtained a smaller tract (25 feet by 84 feet) at 310 Dewey, south of this lot from Vernon F. Seymour in April 1962.

 LOT 6-BLOCK 41

            Charlotte Franco Cochran (1864-1939) sold Lot 6-Block 41 to Mary Cecile Seymour (1869-1953), wife of Eugene Dick (1868-1918), in September 1897.  By 1916, H. Minor Russell was in possession of this property and conveyed it to Caroline M. Seymour, nee Domning.  In April 1946, Mrs. Seymour sold the parcel to Joseph H. Thibodeaux.  Robert J. Beaugez acquired the old cottage at 214 Dewey Avenue, from the Thibodeauxs in May 1969.  This edifice has been moved eastward and extensively remodeled.

 LOT 4 and LOT 5-BLOCK 41

            In June 1902, John R. Seymour (1879-1938) acquired Lot 4 and Lot 5-Block 41, from Bartholmew Morere of South Port, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana for $350.  The old house was demolished and a modern bungaloid erected here in 1928, for Mr. Seymour by Jean Basly and Joseph L. “Dode” Schrieber.  The daughter of John R. Seymour and Lula VanCourt (1880-1956), Margaret S. Norman (b. 1908), resides here at 302 Dewey Avenue today.  Mrs. Norman was recently recognized as the oldest living alumnae of the St. Alphonsus School.  She is one of our most valuable living historians as her memory of past events is most remarkable.  Mrs. Norman credits her mental capacity to the daily intake of fresh seafood that she ate while growing up on Dewey Avenue and working at her father's fish house at the foot of Washington Avenue.  The small rental cottage at 300 Dewey Avenue on her property inLot 5 was erected from lumber taken when the Anchor Inn of her brother, Mark Seymour, which was situated lower Washington Avenue, was demolished in the late 1930s.

 LOT 7-BLOCK 41

            Narcisse Seymour acquired Lot 7-Block 41 from Charlotte F. Cochran in October 1902.  He sold it to his daughter-in-law, Caroline M. Domning 1887-1969), the wife of Frank J. Seymour (1884-1933), in February 1914.  Their son, Oscar Seymour (1912-1964), acquired it from his mother in 1942.  After Oscar Seymour and family moved to the Veillon-Fields Cottage at 300 Ward Avenue in 1944, he sold it back to her in January 1946.  Mrs. Seymour then conveyed the home to another son, Bernard P. Seymour (1908-1969), in August 1958.  This old Seymour residence at 212 Dewey Avenue has been in the possession of Larry and Celeste Maugh since July 1991.  They have done an excellent job of preserving and improving this historic property.

 LOT 8-BLOCK 41

             Narcisse Seymour acquired Lot 8-Block 41 from Herman Nill in October 1903.  He sold it to Caroline M. Seymour, his daughter-in-law, in March 1907.  This is the homestead of the Frank J. Seymour (1884-1933) family.  She conveyed the lot to her son, Milton J. Seymour (1917-1974), in July 1944.  The Heirs of Milton Seymour Sr. and Virginia C. Clifton sold the parcel to David A. Schmirer (1934-1988) and his wife, Gladys M. Richard, in December 1975.  The old Frank J. Seymour home is extant at 204 Dewey Avenue.  In recent years, Mrs. Gladys M. Schmierer sold her home and a .32-acre lot carved from Lot 8-Block 41, to Catherine E. Schmirer et al.  A new residence at 206 Dewey Avenuewas erected in the rear of 204 Dewey about 1988, on the remainder of her original property. 

            On the west side of Dewey Avenue, Narcisse Seymour sold a narrow lot (55 feet by 200 feet) to his daughter, Alice S. Bellman (1880-1957), in January 1913.  She and spouse, Philip A. Bellman (1872-1927), conveyed it to L. Morris McClure (1884-1940), in 1925, for $800.  The McClure residence was on Washington Avenue.  The other acreage on the west side of Dewey that Narcisse had acquired in February 1912, from the heirs of Joseph Bellande (1813-1907), was also conveyed to landowners who had frontage on Washington Avenue.  These people of affluence were E.A. Morris (1860-1946), Emma E. Pace (1851-1936), Amanda Shaffer (1841-1920+), S.A. Calogne, and Elizabeth Holloway.  In March 1976, Rita Kerry Holloway (1912-1982) vended to the City of Ocean Springs, an 80-foot parcel fronting on Dewey, which became the southern addition to the Bellande Cemetery.

 

Delmas Seymour

               Continuing with the disbursement of the Jean-Baptise Seymour tract at Ocean Springs, a son, Delmas Seymour (1863-1912) acquired the southern most 350 feet of the Seymour tract from his father, Jean-Baptise Seymour, in December 1879.  He sold a small lot off his parcel to Dr. A.J. Whitfield in March 1888, for $50.  By May 1913, it belonged to Alphonse Beaugez, Jr. (1887-1945).  Delmas Seymour sold off the lower 250 feet of his tract to Herman Nill (1863-1904) and his wife, Caroline Vahle (1862-1949), in July 1889 for $900.  In March 1899, the Nills with B.F. Joachim (1853-1925) opened a public street 35 feet wide and 590 feet in length on the southern perimeter.  It was originally called Nill's Avenue, but is today that portion of LaFontaine east of Dewey Avenue.  Nill was a druggist from New Orleans who resided on the old Andre Fournier tract fronting Deer Island while Mr. Joachim, also from the Crescent City, operated a small hostel, the Joachim Cottage, probably in the vicinity of the Jack Haviland property on Clark Avenue.

              Delmas Seymour (1863-1912) was born in July 1863.  He married Emma Bosarge in April 1884.  They divorced in December 1886.  Delmas then wedded Emily Morin Forstall (1864-1922), the daughter of Felix Morin and Emily Bernard.  She had four children by a prior marriage:  George Forstall, Marie Forstall Groue (b. 1877), Amanda F. Kelly (b. 1878), and Georgine F. Voivedich (1880-1964).  Delmas Seymour and family moved to Biloxi where he was the animal control officer and policeman in the early 1900s.

             Brothers, Jean-Baptiste Beaugez (1857-1913) and Alphonse M. Beaugez (1860-1942), were sold two lots in the Seymour strip by Jean-Baptise Seymour in March and May 1883, respectively.  The Beaugez lots were between those of Narcisse Seymour, which was on the south side of Calhoun and Delmas Seymour.  The Delmas Seymour parcel went as far south as present day LaFontaine Avenue.  Alphonse M. Beaugez (1860-1942), the son of Stanislaus Beaugez (1813-1889) and Louise Ladner (1820-1897), married Caroline Seymour (1858-1933), the daughter of Jean-Baptiste Seymour and Marie Fournier in November 1881.  Their children were: Alphonsine B. Domning (1882-1965), Rosa Mary Beaugez (1884-1937), Alphonse M. Beaugez, Jr. (1887-1945), Henry P. Beaugez (1889-1963), Moses H. Beaugez (1891-1973), and Herbert P. Beaugez (1895-1954).

            It is interesting to note that apparently the only direct descendant of Jean-Baptiste Seymour to presently reside on the J.B. Seymour tract at Ocean Springs is Oswald P. Beaugez.  Mr. Beaugez, the grandson of Caroline Seymour and Alphonse Beaugez, resides at 1116 Hellmers Lane on a portion of the parcel acquired in 1883, by his grandparents from Jean-Baptiste Seymour.

           After the death of Jean-Baptiste Seymour in October 1887, his widow, Marie Fournier, sold May V. Russell (1866-1910), the wife of H.F. Russell (1858-1940), a 1.2-acre tract north of Calhoun Avenuefor $145.  This sale resulted in a law suit filed in August 1900, Jackson County Chancery Court Cause No. 921, Theodore Borries, et al v. Mrs. M.V. Russell.  The Borries alleged that since Jean-Baptiste Seymour had died intestate, there was a cloud on the title because his daughter, Marie Eliza Seymour (1853-1900), the wife of Gustave Theodore Borries (1855-1920+), called Theodore, had not assigned her interest in the warranty deed to Mrs. Russell.  It appears that there was a small structure built on the tract by Borries, which Duncan Minor (1863-1920) had improved for his sister, Mrs. Russell, in order that it could be let.  The Borries may have resided here.  We know this tract today as a portion of the Lloyd H. Catchot (1912-1995) Estate, which he acquired in November 1941, from Kate Wieder (1882-1963). 

            The children of Theodore Borries and Marie Eliza Seymour were: Clara B. Ramon (1875-1957), Charles Borries (1878-1957+), John Borries, Marie Eugenie Borries (b. 1883), and Agnes Borries (1890-1920+).  In 1920, Mr. Borries made his livelihood as a butcher in Biloxi.

 John Seymour

          The final disposition of the original Jean-Baptiste Seymour tract occurred in September 1890, when his heirs sold their brother, Jean Seymour (1843-1903+), an approximate one acre lot north of Mrs. Russell's tract.  It was midway between Porter and Calhoun and south of his mother's house.  Jean or John Seymour married Armina Miller (1852-1929) in February 1871. Some of their children were: George Seymour (1873-1950), James Seymour (1887-1948), Adolph Seymour (d. 1951), and Alphonse Seymour.(The Jackson County Times, May 7, 1948, p. 1)

            Their son, George Seymour (1873-1950), and his spouse, Josephine Cox (1878-1927), reared a large family at Ocean Springs.  Jean Seymour served with the 3rd Mississippi, Company A and Company E, during the Civil War. 

 Henry Seymour

              It is unknown why Henry Seymour (1844-1924) was the only son of Jean-Batiste Seymour who did not acquire land in the original Seymour Tract.  He was also a veteran of the Civil war having served with the 3rd Mississippi, CO A Live Oak Rifles.  It is believed that Henry Seymour married circa 1871, Armentine Ladner, who he divorced in December 13, 1886.  Their may have been three children from this union:  Evelina Seymour (b. ca 1871), Emilia Anna Seymour (b. 1873) and John Seymour (b. 1875). 

              The daughters of Jean-Baptise Seymour and Marie Fournier, Zeolide and Louise Seymour married local men.  In July 1854, Zeolide Seymour (1836-1898) married John Henry Krohn (1831-1912), the son of John Henry Augustus Krohn (1802-1853) of HamburgGermany and Marie Solitelle Cuevas (1808-1861).  They reared a family probably in the NE/4 of Section 36, T6S-R10W, northwest of present day D'Iberville on the Hudson-Krohn Road.  Their children were:  Amelia S. Eglin (1855-1916), Anthony S. Krohn (b. 1859), Louis H. Krohn (b. 1862), Moses L. Krohn (b. 1864), Mary V. Hosli (b. 1867), and Elizabeth J. Moran (b. 1874). 

            John H. Krohn owned large tracts of valuable lumber and naval stores lands in Sections 28 and 29, T6S-R9W, and Sections 25 and 36 in T6S-R10W, respectively northeast and north of Cedar Lake in eastern Harrison County.  Most of this acreage was acquired from the Federal Government in 1854.  The Native Lumber Company of L.N. Dantzler Jr. and Union Naval Stores later exploited these Krohn properties.

            Amelia S. Krohn married Albert M. Eglin (1852-1891), an Alsatian émigré, in October 1873.  They settled on the west side of Washington Avenue south of Government and established an entrepreneurial family, which was prominent in business, real estate, and banking at Ocean Springs until recent years.  The meat market of Charles W. Eglin (1883-1966) and the Eglin House, a tourist home and apartment dwelling of his sister, Miss Annie O. Eglin (1881-1963), were very important commercial ventures in our local history.  The old Eglin properties on Washington Avenue were demolished and the land on which they stood is now incorporated into the Villa Maria retirement community site on Porter and Washington.

Louise Seymour

            In May 1883, Louise Seymour (1855-1939) married Justin Meaut (1847-1923) and relocated toBiloxi.  Here at 437 Copp Street, they reared a family consisting of Justin T. Meaut (1884-1970), Oscar Meaut (1885-1954), Mary L. Michel (1887-1952), Oloff Meaut (1890-1972), Justine G. Elder (1892-1973), Edwin L. Meaut (1894-1961), Pascal Meaut (1896-1896).  Mr. Meaut made his livelihood in the construction business.

            At present, the author has very little familial information on Cecelia Seymour Mathieu (1850-1903+) and Mary Seymour Borries (1853-1900).  Anyone willing to share their knowledge of these children of Jean-Baptiste Seymour and Marie Fournier would be appreciated.

            Jean-Baptiste Seymour expired on October 14, 1887.  His remains are interred near those of his father, St. Cyr Seymour, in Section B-Lot 24 of the Old Biloxi Cemetery.  Mrs. Mary Fournier Seymour passed on at Ocean Springs on June 19, 1890.  She was interred in the Narcisse Seymour family plot at the Bellande Cemetery on Dewey Avenue in Ocean Springs.  Jean-Baptiste Seymour acquired this 11 acre tract in September 1849, from Dr. Andrew B. Dodd of Kentucky.  Other children of the J.B. Seymour family to acquire land in the Seymour strip were:  Moses Seymour (1838-1893), Delmas Seymour (1863-1912), Caroline Seymour Beaugez (1858-1933), and Jean Seymour (1843-1903+).  Oswald P. Beaugez, who resides on Hellmers Lane east of Dewey, is believed to be the only descendant of Jean-Baptiste Seymour on the original Seymour strip.

 

LAZARUS SEYMOUR-NORTH BILOXI

            Lazarus Seymour (1816-1902) was born on April 18, 1816, at Fontainebleau.  Like his Seymourbrothers, he engaged in stock raising and farming while in the Graveline Lake area.  Lazarus married Nancy Ann Seaman (1826-1853), the daughter of William C. Seaman (1801-1844) and Catherine Sheffield Grantham (d. 1853).  After Nancy Seaman expired in June 1853, Lazarus Seymour wedded Elizabeth Martha Fayard (1842-1907), the daughter of Augustine Fayard (1795-1857) and Louise Carco. 

            In his obituary of April 29, 1902, it relates that Lazarus Seymour relocated to Harrison Countyand entered the butcher business.  It is known that in January 1853, Lazarus Seymour purchased a two-arpent tract of land on the north shore of the Back Bay of Biloxi in the Dominique Ladner Grant (Section 22, T7S-R9W), from his brother-in-law, Peter Lienhard (1812-1873), for $200.  Mr. Lienhard was married to Melinda T. Seaman (1827-1890).  The Seymour land was west of the of the L.A. Caillavet (1790-1860) lands and east of Lienhard and Spanish boat carpenter, Manuel Sanchez (1806-1877).  The present day locale of this Seymour tract is in the city of D'Iberville from just east of Pringle Avenue, west to a point about 500 feet east of Church Avenue.  There was approximately 400 feet fronting on the Back Bay of Biloxi and the parcel ran north to a point just south of Big Ridge Road.  It encompassed about 60 acres of land. 

            In November 1866, Peter Lienhard sold an additional two acre-tract west of Lazarus Seymour to Lazarus Seymour (1835-1920), a son of Peter Seymour (1810-1872+), who is often referred to as Lazarus Seymour Jr. for $600.  Lazarus Seymour Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Seymour (1842-1917), the daughter of Lazarus Seymour and Nancy Ann Seaman, sold this tract in June 1870, to his father-in-law, Lazarus Seymour, for $1000.  It can get familial confusing.

            Here on the north shore of the Back Bay of Biloxi and later at Biloxi, Lazarus Seymour engaged in the stock raising and meat slaughtering business.  His pens were always well stocked with cattle, swine, and sheep.  Some of the accounting records between the years 1857 and 1862, from the Pierre Quave store at Back Bay (now D'Iberville) are preserved in the archives of the Biloxi Public Library having been donated to that institution by Wallace Quave.  These worn and tattered pages, excellently scripted, in the finest cursive writing that one can ever hope to view, indicate that Lazarus Seymour, his mother, Marie-Josphe Ryan, who is referred to as "old lady Seymour", and his brothers, Edward, St. Cyr II, Peter, and Moses traded with the Quave family.

             Mrs. Seymour's (old lady Seymour) account indicates that she purchased 1 sack of salt ($1.50), 1 bbl. of flour ($7.00), 5 yards of hicory ($.75) and 2 1/2 yards of cottonade ($.30) in 1858-1859.  It is believed that she was residing at Latimer during this period.

            During this ante-bellum time, Ramon John Quave (1851-1908), the son of Pierre Quave (1826-1862), ran the ferry from Back Bay to Biloxi.  Lazarus Seymour, his father-in-law, was a good customer as indicated that in the month of July 1860, he transported 43 cattle, 89 sheep, and two horses across the waters of Back Bay.

            Lazarus Seymour fathered four children with Nancy Seaman:  Elizabeth Seymour (1846-1917), Edmund Seymour (1848-1925), Pliny Seymour (1852-1902), and Edward Seymour

(1854-1944).  His children with Elizabeth Martha Fayard were: Celestine Seymour (1858-1902+), Josephine S. Quave (1859-1934), Celina Boney (1861-1902+), Rosa S. Boney (1863-1929+), Pierre Ernest Seymour (1865-1891), Marie Eliza Seymour (1867-1928), Cecile S. Lepre (1869-1929), Moses (Maurice) Seymour (1872-1928), John Adolphe Seymour (1873-1896), Louis Seymour (1875-1916), and Lillian Esperance Seymour (1883-1899). Edmund Seymour and Pliny Seymour became butchers like their father, Lazarus, while Edward Seymour was a storekeeper at North Biloxi

            Lazarus Seymour remained active as a stock raiser until his final days.  In his Estate, HARCO Chancery Court Cause No. 1421, it reveals that he owned 566 sheep and 124 head of cattle at the time of his demise in late April 1902.  Mr. Seymour was also possessed of several lots in Biloxi.  The remains of Lazarus Seymour were interred in the family tomb at the Old Biloxi Cemetery.  It is believed that his corpse was the first to be transported across the original Back Bay bridge, a wooden structure, dedicated in August 1901.  Prior interments at Biloxi required transport by steam ferry across the placid waters ofBack Bay.

Lazarus Post Office

            Joseph Lazarus Seymour (1835-1920), the son of Pierre Seymour and Louise Fournier, who was also called Lazarus Seymour Jr., and resided at Back Bay from about 1870, until his demise in September 16, 1920, married Elizabeth Seymour (1846-1917), the daughter of Lazarus Seymour and Nancy Ann Seaman.  It is not know with any degree of certitude if the US Post Office here which was called "Lazarus" (1901-1907) and "Seymour" (1907-1911), was named for Lazarus, the son of St. Cyr Seymour, or his nephew, Lazarus, the son of Pierre.  Edgar P. Seymour (1880-1943), a grandson of Lazarus Seymour (1816-1902), was the postmaster at "Lazarus" from 1901 to 1905.  He was succeeded by Mary Quave Young (1853-1928), the wife of Captain William Young (1849-1911).

            Lazarus Seymour Jr. was the father of Albert Seymour (b. 1873) and Oscar Seymour (b. 1882).  His daughters were: Catherine Santa Cruz (1872-1921+), Isabella ‘Belle’ Price Morrison (1873-1921+), Clara Marchman Entrekin (1875-1965), Zulime S. Gollott (1881-1921+), Blanche Seymour (1884-1921+), Evelyn Seymour (1886-1921+), and Alphonsine Seymour (1888-1905).(1900 Jackson Co., Mississippi Federal Census T623 812, p. 6B, ED 43) 

            Lazarus Seymour Jr. left ‘Laurel Hill’, in his estate consisting of 120 acres in Jackson County, Mississippi and  described as the E/2 of NW/4 and the SW/4 of the NE/4 of Section 34, T6S-R9W.  His heirs sold this property to Edgar P. Seymour and Adolph Hunt in May 1921 for $2000.(The Biloxi Daily Herald, January 25, 1905, p. 5)

 

ST. CYR SEYMOUR II SETTLEMENT-LATIMER AREA

            St. Cyr Seymour II (1827-1903) was born in August 1827, at Fontainebleau.  He survived two spouses.  His first wife was an English lady, Anna McCarty (1839-1872), from New Orleans.  Their children as presently known were:  Calvin Seymour (1850-1922), Coralie S. Cannette (1852-1920), Zeolide S. Delaunay (1854-1929), Clara S. McQueen (1857-1914+), St. Cyr Seymour III (1859-1912), Octavia S. Krohn (1861-1914+), Pierre Seymour (b. 1863), Beauregard Seymour (b. 1866), and Margaret Ann Scarborough (1868-1908+).

            On November 25, 1874, St. Cyr Seymour married Victoire Delaunay (1848-1883), the daughter of Robert Delaunay and Clare Ladner.  Their known family was:  Morris Leger Seymour (1875-1941), Leon Seymour (1876-1959), Ernest Adolph Seymour (1878-1963), Mary Olevia Scarborough (1879-1960), Robert Seymour (1881-1952), and Victoria S. Fayard (1883-1914+).

     St. Cyr Seymour II expired on October 15, 1903.  His obituary states that he lived 72 years at his present home "across Back Bay", married twice and had fourteen children.  I do not believe that St. Cyr II lived here 72 years as he would have had to come here in 1831.  His remains were interred in theSeymour Cemetery, which is located two miles southeast of the Latimer Community in Section 13, T6S-R9W.  Calvin Seymour, the eldest son of St. Cyr Seymour II and Ann McCarty, settled here in about 1885 with his wife, Elizabeth Mulholland (1859-1936).  In August 1912, Calvin Seymour sold his son, Carmelious (Camille) Seymour (1883-1945), 60 acres of land in Section 13, T6S-R9W, which included the W/2 of the SE/4 of the SE/4 of Section 13, "less 1/2 acre for cemetery purposes".  In addition to the family of St. Cyr Seymour II, this Seymour family cemetery has members of the Broadnax, Deloney (Delaunay), and Barthese (Barthes) families interred here.

            The 1875 Land Roll Book of Jackson County, Mississippi indicates that St. Cyr Seymour II owned 1600 acres of land in T6S-R9W of western Jackson County.  These lands were located as follows:  the SE/4 of Section 22 (160 acres); W/2 of the SE/4, E/2 of the SW/4, W/2 of the SW/4, and the SE/4 of the SE/4 of Section 23 (280 acres); Section 26 (640 acres); the NE/4, W/2 of the NW/4, NE/4 of the SE/4, and the NW/4 of the SE/4 of Section 27 (320 acres); NE/4 of the SW/4, SE/4 of the SW/4 of Section 34 (80 acres); and the NW/4 of the NE/4, SE/4 of the SW/4, and the NE/4 of the NE/4 of Section 35 (120 acres).

            The 1902 Land Roll Book of Jackson County, Mississippi demonstrates that near the time of his demise, St. Cyr Seymour II had reduced his land holdings in western Jackson County to 240 acres in T6S-R9W.  These parcels were:  the NE/4 of the NE/4 of Section 26 (40 acres) and the NE/4 and the SW/4 of the SW/4 of Section 27 (200 acres).

            It would appear from this information that the homestead of St. Cyr Seymour II was located near the center of the NE/4 of Section 27, T6S-R9W.  This site is on a narrow topographic ridge, which strikes northwest-southeast.  It reaches a maximum elevation of fifty-two feet above sea level.  The southeast corner of this tract is transected by the Old Biloxi Road (Daisy-Vestry Road). 

            Before the Sacred Heart Mission of the Roman Catholic Church was opened in North Biloxicirca 1884, masses were said by a visiting priest at the St. Cyr Seymour II home place near Latimer.

            In December 1908, Commissioner F.H. Lewis sold the St. Cyr Seymour II place to Willie P. Ramsay (1870-1963), for $320.  Mr. Ramsay served the people of Jackson County as tax assessor (1892-1899), Sheriff (1904-1908), and Beat Four Supervisor (1915-1919).  He was married to Louise H. Krebs (1872-1954) of Pascagoula.  Mr. Ramsay also farmed and dealt in pecans and real estate in the Latimer area. 

            The St. Cyr Seymour II estate property remained in the W.P. Ramsay family until November 1989, when current Beat Four Supervisor, Tommy Broadnax, inherited it from Miss Thelma Z. Ramsay (1899-1989).  Mr. Broadnax is presently erecting a home here.  There are no cultural remains of the Seymour or Ramsay occupation on this tract today.

 

ST. CYR SEYMOUR II

            St. Cyr Seymour II (1827-1903) was born in August 1827, the son of St. Cyr Seymour (1788-1845) and Marie-Josephe Ryan.  She was the daughter of Jean Ryan and Marie Gargaret.  St. Cyr Seymour II was born at Fontainebleau where the family were farmers and stockmen.(1) 

     St. Cyr Seymour II survived two spouses.  His first wife was an English lady, Anna McCarty (1839-1872), with whom the following issue are known:  Calvin Seymour (1850-1922), Coralie Seymour Cannette (1852-1920), Zeolide S. Delaunay (1854-1929), Cora Seymour (1857-1860+), St. Cyr Seymour, III (1859-1912), Octavie Seymour (b. 1861), Pierre Seymour (b. 1863), Beauregard Seymour (b. 1866), and Margaret Ann Seymour Scarbrough? (b. 1868).

            After the demise of Anna McCarty, St. Cyr Seymour II married on November 25, 1874, Victoire Delaunay (1848-1883), the daughter of Robert Delaunay and Clare Ladner.  Their known family was:  Morris L. Seymour (1875-1941), Leon Seymour (1876-1959), Ernest Adolph Seymour (1878-1963), Marie Olivia Seymour (1879-1900+), Robert Seymour (1881-1952), and Victoire Seymour (1883-1900+).  St. Cyr Seymour II expired on October 15, 1903.  His obituary states that he lived 72 years at his present home "across Back Bay", married twice and had fourteen children.(2)  His remains are interred in the Seymour Cemetery located in the W/2 of the SE/4 of the SE/4 of Section 13, T6S-R9W, two miles southeast of the Latimer Community. (3)

            The 1875 Land Roll Book of Jackson County, Mississippi indicates that St. Cyr Seymour II owned 1600 acres of land in T6S-R9W of western Jackson County.  These lands were located as follows:  Section 26 (640 acres); SE/4 of Section 22 (160 acres); W/2 of the SE/4, E/2 of the SW/4,

W/2 of the SW/4, SE/4 of the SE/4 of Section 23 (280 acres); NW/4 of the NE/4, SE/4 of the SW/4, and the NE/4 of the NE/4 of Section 35 (120 acres); NE/4 of the SW/4, SE/4 of the SW/4 of Section 34 (80 acres); and the NE/4, W/2 of the NW/4, NE/4 of the SE/4, and the NW/4 of the SE/4 of Section 27 (320 acres).(4)

            The 1902 Land Roll Book of Jackson County, Mississippi demonstrates that near the time of his demise, St. Cyr Seymour II had reduced his land holdings in T6S-R9W to 240 acres.  These parcels were:  the NE/4 of the NE/4 of Section 26 (40 acres) and the NE/4 and the SW/4 of the SW/4 of Section 27 (200 acres).(5)

            It would appear from this information that the home site of St. Cyr Seymour II was located near the center of the NE/4 of Section 27, T6S-R9W.  This site is on a narrow topographic ridge, which strikes northwest-southeast.  It reaches a maximum elevation of fifty-two feet above sea level.  The southeast corner of this tract is transected by the Old Biloxi Road (Daisy-Vestry Road).  The entrance to reach the Seymour house from the Old Biloxi Road is about 2500 feet southwest of the juncture of the Old Biloxi Road and Tucker Road.(6)  Became home of W. Ramsay.

            The eldest Seymour child, Calvin Seymour (1850-1922), married Elizabeth Mulholland (1859-1936), the daughter of Irish immigrants, James Mulholland (1823-1871) and Margaret Mayers (b. 1817).  The Mulhollands were merchants and settled circa 1858, on the Old Biloxi Road (Daisy-Vestry Road) southwest of the St. Cyr Seymour place. 

            Calvin Seymour and Elizabeth Mulholland settled in Section 13, T6S-R9W, where they reared a large family.  The Seymour family cemetery is located here.

 

 

REFERENCES:

 Jackson CountyMiss. Township Plat Book (T8S-R7W).

Mary Louise Adkinson, et al, 1991.  Bouzage-Bosarge Family, (Mississippi Coast Historical and Genealogical Society:  Biloxi, Mississippi-1991), pp. 53-54. 

American State Papers, 1994.  Volume 3, 1815-1824 Public Lands, (Southern Historical Press, Inc.:  Greenville, South Carolina-1994), p. 6 and p. 38.

Jay Higginbotham, 1967.  Pascagoula Singing River City, (Gill Press:  Mobile, Alabama-1967), p. 5.

The History of Jackson CountyMississippi, "Seymour Family", (The Jackson County Genealogical      Society-Pascagoula, Mississippi-1989), p. 346.

Thomas Hutchins, 1784.  An Historical Narrative and Topographical Description of Louisiana andWest Florida(University of Florida Press:  Gainesville, Florida-1968, a facsimile reproduction of the 1784 edition), p. 63.

Lepre, Jerome, 1983.  Mississippi Coast Historical and Genealogical Society, "Cannette-Moore-Fayard-LaFontaine-Graveline", Special Issue No. 2, (August 1983), pp. 31-33.

Lepre, Jerome, 1995.  Mississippi Coast Historical and Genealogical Society, "Solution To a Mystery? Leblanc-White-Moore-ZamoraSeymour”, Volume 31, No. 2 (July 1995), p. 56.

 Robert R. Rea, 1990.  Gulf Coast Historical Review"Lieutenant Hutchins To The Rescue! The Wreck and Recovery of the Mercury, 1772", Volume 5, No. 2, (Spring 1990), p. 58.

 Dunbar Rowland and A.G. Sanders, revised and edited by Pat Galloway, 1984.   MississippiProvincial Archives French Dominion 1729-1748, Volume IV, Document 73, (Louisiana StateUniversity Press:  Baton Rouge-1984), pp. 321-322.

C.E. Schmidt, 1972, Ocean Springs French Beachhead, (Lewis Printing Services-Pascagoula, Mississippi-1972), p. 29.

Charles L. Sullivan, Hurricanes of The Mississippi Gulf Coast:  1717 to Present, (Gulf Publishing Company:  BiloxiMississippi-?), p. 25 and p. 28,

USGS Topographic Maps, "Ocean Springs" (1954), Gautier and Gautier South.  Scale 1" represents 2000 feet).

 

Chancery Court Causes

Jackson CountyMiss. Chancery Court Cause No. 413, "Snyder v. Russell", June 1890.