My Genealogy Hound

SEELEY, ELI, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O. Primrose; he was born May 7, 1813, in Fairfield Co., Conn.; in 1841 he came to Lee Co., Iowa, and entered a quarter-section of land, where he yet lives; returned to Connecticut, and remained till the spring of 1843, when he returned to Iowa and commenced improving his land; broke up forty acres, built a house, fenced his land, and the winter of 1843-44 returned to Connecticut; the following spring he started for Iowa again, coming through Pennsylvania, where he purchased eight or nine hundred sheep and drove them through, arriving here in August; he made a specialty of sheep-raising for many years. He married Miss Martha Beeler, daughter of Isaac and Jane Beeler, May 1, 1845; she was born May 14, 1822, in Wayne Co., Ind.; her parents emigrated to this township in the spring of 1836; among the first families settled in Harrison Tp. Her father harvested grain where Cincinnati, Ohio, now stands, and was in the war of 1812, and departed this life Feb. 16, 1872, at the advanced age of 89 years 2 months and 6 days; his wife Jane Beeler, was born Feb. 24, 1788, and died May 9, 1860; he had a family of seven sons and four daughters; the children of Mr. and Mrs. Seeley are Lucy J. (who married S. B. Davis, Jan. 1, 1879), Marietta, Theodore F., Ada M., Wm. B., and George L.; lost one infant son. Mr. Seeley has, by his industry and economy, accumulated a handsome property; his home residence is one of the best farm houses in the county; he owns in this county about 1,600 acres of land, and about 3,000 elsewhere. Is a member of the Presbyterian Church; Republican.