Abel R. SEYMOUR

                   Champaign County, Illinois Biography of Abel R. Seymour (http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilchampa/biographies/bio0519.html):

ABEL R. SEYMOUR, the proprietor of 240 acres of valuable prairie land and forty acres of timber on section 17, Scott Township, is a fine representative of the prosperous element of this county, who by his own industry and enterprise has built up a fine homestead and secured a competency for his later years. He is a native of Hampshire County, Va., born Dec. 2, 1815, and the son of Garrett and Sally (MCNEIL) SEYMOUR. His parents were both natives of Hardy County, now W. Va., where they were married and first located. Afterward they removed to Hampshire County, where the mother died in about 1825. The father afterward removed to Tippecanoe County, Ind., where he lived about ten years and then became a resident of Ross County, Ohio, where he died in 1848. The six children of the parental household included four sons and two daughters, of whom our subject was the third child.

Abel Seymour removed with his father to Tippecanoe County, Ind., and in 1839 to Ross County, Ohio. In the latter place he was engaged in herding and driving cattle until 1848. He then removed to Fayette County, Ohio, and from there in 1856, to Urbana, where he lived two years, then returned to Fayette County, of which he remained a resident until 1862. That year he came to Illinois, purchased a farm in Cumberland County, and lived there until the fall of 1866. He afterward rented land in Piatt County until 1869, when he came to this county and located in Scott Township, of which he has since been a resident.

The marriage of Abel R. Seymour and Miss Jean DILL was celebrated at the home of the brides parents in Ross County, Ohio, May 13, 1840. Mrs. S. is the daughter of Robert and Ann (GREGORY) DILL, who were both natives of Pennsylvania. They located in Ross County, Ohio, soon after their marriage, became the parents of ten children, who lived to mature years, and there spent the remainder of their lives. Of the seven sons and three daughters born to Mrs. and Mrs. Dill, the wife of our subject was the fifth child. Mrs. Seymour was born in Ross County, Ohio, Nov. 22, 1812. Of her union with our subject there have been born eight children, of whom the record is as follows: William D. married Miss Kate E. RUFFNER, and is farming in Scott Township; Annie became the wife of Joseph H. BRADLEY, and died in Hillsboro, Ohio; Abel married Miss Sciota A. RENICK, and resides in Seymour, Ill.; Sally J. married Abel S. SCOTT, a farmer of Scott Township; Robert G. married Miss Rhoda BARTLETT, and is a resident of Denver, Col.; Richard F. is at home with his parents; John J. married Miss Corinne HOWELL, a cousin of the author, W. D. Howell, and resides in Quincy, Cal.; Absalom J. is in Nevada.

Abel Seymour, Jr., during the late war enlisted as a Union soldier in the 60th Ohio Infantry, and served in the army for fourteen months. He was captured at Harpers Ferry in September, 1862, but soon afterward paroled and went with his regiment to Chicago, where they were discharged. The year following he re-enlisted in the 1st Ohio Cavalry, and served until the close of the war. In 1854 our subject, in company with three other gentlemen, took a trip to England and Scotland in the interest of the Clinton and Fayette Counties Importing Company, for the purpose of purchasing Short-horn cattle. He was gone about two months, the journey proving a source of both pleasure and profit.

Mr. S. has been quite prominently connected with township affairs, holding the minor offices, and politically is a Democrat. Mrs. Seymour is a member of the Swedenborgian Church. In 1861 she was chosen President of the Ladies Aid Society at Washington Court House, in Ohio, and shortly after the battle of Pittsburg Landing was sent to Camp Dennison in charge of supplies. She is a lady of great benevolence and kindness, and gave much of her time during the war in preparing necessaries for the wounded soldiers, large consignments of which were frequently sent from the North to the various hospitals where the soldiers were suffering from illness or wounds.