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 ====== 237. Nathan Perkins Seymour ======
-//This page is a placeholder added on 28 Sep 2014.  It will be filled in later when the relevant page(s) are scanned.  --jds//
+. NATHAN PERKINS<sup>7</sup> SEYMOUR
+(//[[134.charles|Charles]]//<sup>6</sup>, //[[068.charles|Charles]]//<sup>5</sup>,
+//[[021.timothy|Timothy]]//<sup>4</sup>, //[[008.John|John]]//<sup>3</sup>,
+//[[003.John|John]]//<sup>2</sup>, //[[001.Richard|Richard]]//<sup>1</sup>),
+born at Hartford, Conn., 24 Dec. 1813, died at New Haven, Conn., 28 Dec. 1891;
+married at Hartford, 7 Sept. 1841, ELIZABETH DAY, born at Hartford, 16 Feb.
+, died at New Haven, 7 Sept. 1900, daughter of Hon. Thomas and Sarah (Coit),
+and niece of Jeremiah Day, President of Yale College.
+His early home was in Dorr Street, but while he was a small child the family
+moved to the large house in Pratt Street which was the family home for a third
+of a century. He attended the Hopkins Grammar School, entering Yale College in
+and graduating in 1834 with the appointment of Salutatory Oration.
+After serving for two years as Rector of the Hopkins Grammar School of Hartford,
+he returned to New Plaven in 1836 as tutor in Yale College. In 1840 he was
+called to the chair of Latin and Greek in Western Reserve College at Hudson,
+Ohio, which had been founded a few years before. In 1867 he received the
+honorary degree of LL.D. from Kenyon College. Pie served as Professor of Latin
+and Greek until 1870, when he was made Professor Emeritus, and soon was
+appointed lecturer on English Literature.
+From then until within a few months of his death, he delivered courses of
+lectures not only in the College with which he had been so long connected, but
+also before the students of the Lake Erie Seminary at Painesville and at schools
+in Cleveland and other places. In 1885 he delivered a course of lectures in
+English literature at Yale College. In the spring of each year from 1879 until
+he lectured at Miss Porter's School in Farmington.
+In April 1891 Professor and Mrs. Seymour left the large square brick house in
+Hudson which he had built, their family home for nearly half a century, and went
+to New Haven to make their home with their son, Professor Thomas Day Seymour and
+his wife, at 34 Hillhouse Avenue. His death followed an attack of the prevailing
+influenza, and was hastened by a fall. He was buried in the Grove Street
+Cemetery.
+Professor Seymour was the first, so far as known, to begin a study of the
+Seymour genealogy, which his niece Miss Talcott continued.
+His life was that of a scholar, loving knowledge, shunning excitement, shrinking
+from notoriety. His mind was clear, strong, and accurate. In all things he was
+straightforward and sincere. £te was incapable of pursuing his ends by
+indirection. He loathed that which was selfish and mean. No man had a kinder
+heart. He was sensitive and refined; somewhat intolerant of whatever failed to
+conform to his aesthetic canons; witty rather than humorous; a born teacher,
+delighting in imparting knowledge; a sincere Christian, though not always
+willing to accept denominational formulae of belief.
+His granddaughter, Mrs. Angel, gives this intimate description of him in his
+latter years:
+<blockquote>
+He always wore black broadcloth, with long tails, and a high black stock, a high
+silk hat except in hot summer weather, when he had a tan colored straw--//not//
+a sailor. He was never bald, but his hair was thin and long, white, in separate
+tufts, as it floated about, on top and on the sides, very soft. He always moved
+with great energy and purpose, used his hands and fingers for gesticulating
+freely--never his arms or shoulders--and would talk earnestly, his head slightly
+on one side, his keen light eyes shining, watching; I think of him as having no
+self-consciousness.  When he was in harmony with his surroundings, no one could
+be a more stimulating and delightful companion. He loved all fine poetry, lived
+with it, so his grandchildren were familiar with his little jokes from
+Shakespear: "You shall not be excused, Sir John; excuses shall not serve, Sir
+John"; or sonorous quotations from the Bible-- "There was a man in the land of
+Uz." He must have been a splendid teacher, a thrilling one. Music too was dear
+to him, especially Beethoven. He knew something about Harmony, theoretically,
+but could not play more than chords. He was much of an autocrat in his own
+family, with little restraint of a quick temper, but an equally quick reaction
+to tenderness. His first words on entering his home in Hudson were
+"Elizabeth"--calling his wife. Story of his wrath with a careless milkman
+illustrates much; a four year old grand-daughter patted his arm in the midst of
+his harangue, saying, "That will do, Grandpapa"--and it did.
+</blockquote>
+Another granddaughter writes that when displeased with a sermon he would turn
+round in the pew until he almost had his back to the minister,--to the
+embarrassment of his family.
+The following contributed sketch throws additional light on the characteristics
+of Professor Seymour:
+<blockquote>
+The Seymour home in Hudson for half a century was a large square brick house
+which he built in 1843, not long after his marriage. It stood on high ground
+near the old "Brick Row" of the colleges facing a great field which was intended
+to be a college park. The entrance door with its side-lights was flanked by
+columns of the Greek Doric order, finely proportioned and executed in wood. The
+house with its four acre grounds is now (1936) much as it was when occupied by
+the Seymour family except that the wooden wing in the rear has been rebuilt of
+brick. Formerly the house was heated from seven fireplaces, in some of which
+wood-burning stoves of the "drum" type were installed, requiring frequent
+attention on wintry days. Professor Seymour usually attended to the fires
+himself, bringing in armfulls of hickory sticks (he used only hickory). He kept
+physically fit by splitting hickory logs and by walking once or twice daily to
+the village stores and post office, half a mile distant. He was of more than
+average height, of medium build and through his long life of robust health.
+Near-sighted, he wore gold-rimmed octagonal spectacles which rested on his
+forehead while he was reading. In dress, he adhered to fashions of the sixties
+wearing invariably a long frock coat of black broadcloth, a black satin "stock,"
+a silk hat and high topped boots.
+His study, its walls lined with books, floor to ceiling, occupied the southwest
+corner of the second story. From its windows he enjoyed a view of the Richfield
+hills some ten miles westward reminding him of Connecticut. To this room his
+grandchildren were always received with welcome; he delighted in telling us
+stories of his boyhood and as we grew older pointing out the real meaning and
+beauty of literature, of art and of music, illustrating each in such a way as to
+make clear to us the abstract truths and principles of life. He was a reader of
+daily and weekly papers, with special interest in government poicies; I recall
+particularly his reading aloud from the Cleveland //Leader// the messages to
+Congress of President Cleveland, whose peculiar phraseology aroused his
+interest.
+In dress and manners a gentleman of the old school, he was critically receptive
+of advanced ideas in social problems and discoveries in science and medicine. Of
+Christian Science he remarked that it was "neither Christian nor Science," and
+of Woman Suffrage, that it would surely come whether we favored it or not.
+Our Grandmother set a bountiful table, and he relished good food, saying that
+bad cooking caused more harm in this world than whiskey. He liked his tea but
+abstained from wine and liquor.
+Of his parents he said that his Mother, a minister's daughter, meeting many young
+men studying for the ministry, preferred to marry a business man!
+Throughout his life he derived great enjoyment from music. He was especially
+devoted to the sonatas and symphonies of Beethoven. He would like to hear a
+piece repeated many times on the piano, studying the themes and their
+development and the relation of one part to another so as to interpret the real
+meaning of the composer. He had a keen ear for quality of voice and for tone of
+instrument, once remarking that the real test of a great violinist was not in
+rapid and apparently difficult music, but in the quality of slow and sustained
+tones. His voice was rich and deep. He enjoyed singing hymns and parts of
+oratorio with his grandchildren, as they did with him.
+After the college removed to Cleveland, he made weekly trips to deliver courses
+of lectures at the college and before groups of intellectual people there and in
+other cities. He invariably walked to the station, even in deep snow and zero
+weather, taking the early Monday "milk-train."
+//W. E. P.//
+</blockquote>
+Pictures of Professor Seymour and of the Seymour homestead in Hudson, Ohio, are
+included herein.
+^ Children, born at Hudson, Ohio: ^^^^^
+| | i. | CHARLES<sup>8</sup>, b. 20 Dec. 1843; d. 12 Apr. 1913, unm.   See below. |||
+| | ii. | SARAH DAY, b. 30 Nov. 1845; d. at New Hartford, Conn., 15 Aug. 1934; m. 31 Dec. 1868, WILLIAM CHENEY PARSONS, b. at Brimfield, Ohio, 19 Feb. 1841, d. at Hartford, 5 Feb. 1925, s. of Edward and Clementina (Janes) Parsons. He was graduated from Western Reserve College, 1863; was tutor there, 1865-7; served in the Civil War, Battery E, Ohio Artillery. He settled at Akron, Ohio, where he was a manufacturer; removed in 1907 to New Hartford, Conn., where he and his wife are buried. Children: |||
+| | | I. | Katharine Seymour<sup>8</sup>, b. 27 Feb. 1870; m. 20 Sept. 1930, Rev. Lee Maltbie Dean, B.A. (Yale, 1896), s. of Lee Parker and Seraph (Maltbie) ; res. Falls Village, Conn. ||
+| | | II. | William Edward, b. 19 June 1872; m. 21 Aug. 1911, Myra Louise Matthews, dau. of Franklin and Mary (Crosby), cousin and ward of Clara Louise Kellogg. See below.   Children, b. at Chicago, Ill.: ||
+| | | | (1) | Louise Kellogg<sup>10</sup>, b.  11  Mar.  1915;   m. 5 Jan. 1936, Francis Rew Stanton, s. of Edgar and Harriet (Rew) of Winnetka, Ill., a graduate of Yale College, 1932, and of the Yale School of Fine Arts (Architecture), 1935. |
+| | | | (2) | Seymour, b. 5 July 1916; student at Yale, Class of 1938. |
+| | | III. | Harriet Day, b. 17 July 1876. ||
+| | | IV. | Sarah Day, b. 27 Aug. 1880; d. in infancy. ||
+| | | V. | Charles Seymour, b. 4 Feb. 1882; d. 18 May 1909, unm.; B.A. (Yale, 1903). ||
+| | | VI. | Robert Day, b. 21 Aug. 1885; d. 5 Nov. 1930; m. 23 Oct. 1915, Dorothy Gait, dau. of Hugh Allen and Annie (Alexander). He was graduated from Carnegie Tech., 1908; in 1918 was commissioned Lieut, (junior grade), U. S. Naval Reserve Flying Corps; was later in business at Zanesville, Ohio; buried in Akron, Ohio. Children: ||
+| | | | (1) | Hugh Gait<sup>10</sup>, b. 25 Aug. 1916. |
+| | | | (2) | Robert Day, b. 10 Jan. 1919. |
+| 302. | iii. | [[302.thomas_day|THOMAS DAY]], b. 1 Apr. 1848. |||
+| | iv. | HARRIET, b. 27 Mar. 1856; d. young. |||
+**CHARLES<sup>8</sup> SEYMOUR** (1843-1913) was born in Hudson, Ohio. His
+youthful surroundings aroused in him contradictory impulses: admiration for the
+intellectual culture and stern virtues of the New England atmosphere of the
+Western Reserve and an impatience with what he regarded as its self-satisfied
+provincialism. At an early age he felt the temptations of adventure and the
+desire for the contacts of a larger world. Nevertheless he stayed in Hudson to
+complete his college course, from which he graduated in 1864. He was a fine
+scholar, distinguished for his excellent bass voice, and a member of Alpha Delta
+Phi. After graduation he set forth at once to build a career in a new section,
+going to Knoxville, Tenn., then a small town on the edge of a frontier. There be
+set bimself up in a law office and within a few years disposed of the largest
+practice in the region relating to real estate developments and large land
+holdings.
+Seymour perceived early the wealth of the Tennessee mountains in forests and
+water power and was one of the first to organize companies for their
+development.   He represented large interests, several of the most important
+being English, and most of them outside of tin state. He was thus brought into
+personal contact with all parts of the United States and with England, which he
+visited generally twice a year. He was urged to run for political office and on
+two occasions was offered a position on the State Bench, but always refused. In
+Knoxville, where he kept his office until his death, he was regarded as the
+Nestor of the community and exercised almost unlimited personal influence.
+His personality was vivid. He had uncompromising views on politics, morality,
+and manners, and never hesitated to express them. He had the purity of intent of
+Colonel Newcome and the regard for worldly conventions of Major Pendennis. His
+criticism was sharp and he was chary of praise. He evoked fear from those who
+did not know him well, but the deepest affection from those close to him. He was
+a "man of the world," an excellent judge of a cigar and of whiskey, loved to
+meet new persons, despised physical or moral cowardice. His generosity, covered
+often by extreme brusqueness of manner, was unbounded.
+In 1889 he was in a disastrous train wreck in Tennessee, was badly smashed up,
+and lamed for life. He rose against the handicap, learned to play golf and
+continued his active mode of living. For a decade he was subject to heart
+attacks which he concealed from all his friends; and he died in 1913 after a
+short illness.
+**SARAH DAY<sup>8</sup> (SEYMOUR) PARSONS** (1845-1934) was a woman of
+remarkable intellectual endowment, and we are indebted to a daughter for the
+following sketch.
+In recalling the early days in the Hudson home, my mother wrote: "Father [Nathan
+Perkins Seymour] would stand us three children in front of him and sing with us,
+'To receive power,--and riches,--and wisdom,' to the climax 'and
+blessing'--continuing by himself the 'Blessing and honor,' etc., of the rolling
+Handel chorus." (This custom he continued in the next generation, for it is one
+of my earliest memories of him.) Because of his great love of music, my
+grandfather bought a piano and imported an English governess who kept little
+seven-year-old Sarah practicing three mortal hours a day; but not contented with
+the "Silvery Showers" standards of the governess, he threatened to have the
+pedals cut off if used, and as soon as possible the child was introduced to
+Haydn and Beethoven. This bore fruit later on, when she played her children to
+sleep with Beethoven sonatas--the only time the busy mother had for her music.
+Being a girl, little attention was paid to her mental diet, and it was
+considered a joke when she was discovered reading Virgil; but her scholastic
+aptitude was such that, thirty years later, to help me make up missed lessons,
+she picked up the Aeneid and read page after page at sight, without an error! To
+the end of her long life, she relished problems, whether in mathematics or
+chess, and to the inherited love of the great in music and literature she added
+an intense interest in painting.
+In the hustling manufacturing city of Akron, Ohio, she was a
+moving spirit in rousing a desire for beauty and knowledge; founded
+clubs; introduced good pictures into the public schools; and was
+president of the Womens Council of the city. She left a lasting
+imprint as an influence for the finest things of life.	H. D. P.
+**WILLIAM EDWARD<sup>9</sup> PARSONS**, son of William Cheney and Sarah Day
+(Seymour) Parsons was born in Akron, Ohio, June 19, 1872. He attended school at
+Western Reserve Academy, Hudson, Ohio, Bingham School in North Carolina and
+Norwich Free Academy, and graduated from Yale College (Phi Beta Kappa) with the
+Class of 1895. He studied Architecture at Columbia University, receiving degree
+of B.S. in 1898 and entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, in the fall of that
+year, studying under Victor Laloux until July 1901. In 1899 he was awarded the
+McKim Traveling Fellowship in Architecture. On returning from Paris he entered
+the office of John Galen Howard, Architect, New York. On being appointed
+Consulting Architect of the U. S. Government in the Philippine Islands, he left
+New York and went to the Islands in November, 1905, where he remained nine years.
+While there, he designed a great variety of public and semi-public buildings in
+Manila and in the provinces, including Court Houses, schools, hospitals,
+markets, prisons and parks; also the Manila Hotel, Philippine General Hospital,
+Manila Club, University of the Philippines. In the tropics he introduced the use
+of reinforced concrete for permanent buildings at a time when that material had
+barely come into use in the United States. While his designs generally followed
+the classic tradition, the use of concrete gave his work a modern expression in
+advance of the movement toward modernism of today. He planned the restoration of
+the old City Walls and Moats of Manila as public parks and playgrounds and
+established standards of public architecture which have been and are being
+generally followed. W. Cameron Forbes, Governor General, says in "The Philippine
+Islands":
+<blockquote>
+Mr. Parsons brought to the Islands a fine sense of proportion, thorough training
+and unusual industry. He designed and secured the adoption of his plans for the
+construction of many beautiful buildings, all of which were in excellent taste.
+The Architecture of his time will stand as a permanent monument to the American
+Administration in the Islands. His lines were always simple, proportions
+harmonious, colors agreeable, and the useful purposes to which his plans were to
+be put were never lost sight of in mere architectural beauty.
+</blockquote>
+He was charged with the interpretation of the Burnham Plans for Manila and
+Baguio, extensive development of both cities having been achieved during his
+stay in the Islands. Says Charles Moore in his book, "Daniel H. Burnham" :
+<blockquote>
+Within three days after the plan of Manila was approved, work was begun.
+Happily, the task of construction was entrusted to William E. Parsons, a young
+American architect, who had eight years of continuous service before a policy of
+retrogression in the Philippines caused his resignation. At the time of his
+appointment, in November 1905, Mr. Parsons had but recently received a diploma
+from the Ecole des Beaux Arts and had entered upon private practice in New York
+City. Under the terms of his agreement with Commissioner W. Cameron Forbes, Mr.
+Parsons had general architectural supervision over the design of all public
+buildings and parks throughout the Islands. Thus he became the interpreter and
+executant of the Burnham-Anderson plans; and he also did private work. It is not
+possible to praise too highly the fidelity with which Mr. Parsons carried out
+the spirit of the plans, the judiciousness of the modifications he made in them,
+the simplicity, directness, and good taste which characterize the many and
+varied buildings he designed, the ability with which he solved problems both old
+and new, and the judgment he displayed in all his dealings with both officials
+and people.
+</blockquote>
+Mr. Parsons resigned in 1914 and associated in practice with E. H. Bennett in
+Chicago and since 1922 has been a member of the firm of Bennett, Parsons and
+Frost, Architects, planners of Civic improvements in Chicago and other cities
+including St. Paul, Phoenix, Palm Beach and Pasadena, the last named comprising
+a group of public buildings at the City Center. In 1918 he planned Camp Knox in
+Kentucky. He was Consulting Architect for Puerto Rico in 1924-26, making several
+trips there, planning the Ocean Boulevard and Rivera Park in San Juan, and
+making a general plan of extension for the University of Puerto Rico.
+Mr. Parsons designed the New Botanic Gardens and Conservatory and (he
+Enlargement of the Capitol Grounds in Washington by extending the grounds from
+the Capitol to the Union Station. This project covered an area of twelve city
+blocks, involving the razing of many old buildings, the location of a new avenue
+(Louisiana) connecting the Union Station Plaza with Pennsylvania Avenue, the
+relocation of street car lines, and the construction of the great terrace and
+fountain, beneath which a large garage for Members of Congress was built.
+He served from 1929 to 1937 as Advisory Architect for the Federal Commission for
+the George Rogers Clark Memorial on the site of Fort Sackville in Vincennes,
+Indiana. He was responsible for the general plan of the grounds with streets and
+approaches, the placing of the Memorial structure and statues of Vigo and Father
+Gibault. The Memorial, now a national monument of first historic importance,
+stands on the banks of the Wabash River covering an area of twenty-five acres,
+within which is preserved the old Catholic Cathedral. The river wall and the
+bridge approaches also were built from his designs.
+Dr. Charles Moore, Chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts, says in
+"Personalities in Washington Architecture," 1937--"The Fine Arts Commission
+recommended Mr. Parsons first to Governor Towner to plan the government
+buildings at Puerto Rico, then to the Indiana Commission on the rejuvenation of
+Vincennes in connection with the George Rogers Clark Memorial, and finally to
+the Committees of Congress, charged with the removal of the Botanic Gardens and
+the extension of the Capitol grounds. The completion of these plans marks a fine
+record of progressive achievement on Mr. Parsons' part."
+The William Wrigley Memorial, Santa Catalina Island, California, was executed
+from Mr. Parsons' designs, and the Apex Building in Washington is among the
+later projects of his firm.
+In 1938 Mr. Parsons received an appointment as Associate Professor of
+Architecture in the Yale School of Fine Arts, where he will teach in particular
+city and regional planning.
 \\ [[236.ira|(<-- 236. Ira(7) Seymour)]] [[start|(Back to Start)]] [[238.chester|(238. Chester(7) Seymour -->)]]