Husband: John Jefferson SEILEY
Birthdate: Abt 1817
Birthplace: , , SC
Death date: 2 Jan 1868
Place of death: Eunice, St. Landry, LA
Burial: Eunice, St. Landry, LA
Father:
Mother:
Other Spouses:

Marriage date: Abt 1854
Marriage place: New Orleans, , LA

Wife: Elizabeth Melissa DUNNAM
Birthdate: 29 Apr 1831
Birthplace: , Wilcox, AL
Death date: 22 Dec 1910
Place of death: , St. Landry, LA
Burial: Caney Creek, St. Landry, LA
Father: Ebenezer James DUNNAM (1796-Bef 1835)
Mother: Agatha JAMES (1800/1810-????)
Other Spouses:

CHILDREN

Child No. 1: John William SEILEY
Sex: M
Birthdate: 20 Oct 1855
Birthplace: New Orleans, Orleans, LA
Death date: 7 Mar 1890
Place of death: Caney Creek, St. Landry, LA
Burial: Caney Creek, St. Landry, LA
Marriage date: 17 Feb 1876
Marriage place: Opelousas, St. Landry, LA
Spouses' names: Laura GUILLORY (1859-1920)

Child No. 2: Georgiana SEILEY
Sex: F
Birthdate: Abt 1857-1858
Birthplace: LA
Death date: Abt 1860
Place of death: , Rapides, LA
Burial:
Marriage date:
Marriage place:
Spouses' names:

Child No. 3: Thomas Jefferson SEILEY
Sex: M
Birthdate: Mar 1859
Birthplace: , Rapides, LA
Death date: 2 Feb 1921
Place of death: Spring Prairie, Evangeline, LA
Burial:
Marriage date: [1] 23 Feb 1882 [2] After 1907
Marriage place: [1] Opelousas, St. Landry, LA [2]
Spouses' names: [1] Margaret J. PARNELL (1860-1907) [2] Cleymen GUILLORY (1882-1963)

Child No. 4: James Hamilton SEILEY
Sex: M
Birthdate: 26 Mar 1861
Birthplace: , St. Landry, LA
Christened: 15 Dec 1869 - Eunice, St. Landry, LA
Death date: 6 Jun 1912
Place of death: Mamou, Evangeline, LA
Burial: Spring Prairie, Evangeline, LA
Marriage date: 17 Oct 1884
Marriage place: Opelousas, St. Landry, LA
Spouses' names: Clara LEDOUX (1865-1954)
 
 
Documentation:
General Notes: Husband - John Jefferson SEILEY
* Cunningham's Co., South Carolina Milita (Florida War) Index lists Seiley, John J., Pvt. NOTE - probably served in the following conflict:
The Second Seminole War (1835'961842) was the result of the United States government attempting to force the Seminoles to leave Florida altogether as described in the Treaty of Payne's Landing of 1832, which Seminole leaders claimed that they signed under duress. Raids and skirmishes and a handful of larger battles raged throughout the Florida peninsula, with the outgunned and outnumbered Seminoles effectively using guerrilla warfare to frustrate the ever more numerous American military forces.[5] In October 1836, Thomas Sidney Jesup is sent to Florida. Jesup, the commander of U.S. troops in Florida, begins a search-and-destroy campaign against the Seminoles. This drives them deeper into the Everglades. After several years spent chasing bands of Seminole warriors through the wilderness, the U.S. Army changed tactics and began seeking out and destroying Seminole farms and villages, a strategy which eventually changed the course of the war. The war resulted in most of the Seminole population in Florida being killed in battle, ravaged by starvation and disease, or relocated to Indian Territory (in modern Oklahoma). A few hundred Seminoles were allowed to remain in an unofficial reservation in southwest Florida.
* The Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA, 22 August 1851, page 4; news article on dead letters in the post office show a letter addressed to John J. Seiley is available for pickup at the post office with payment of one cent per letter to pay for advertising costs. NOTE OF INTEREST - there was a letter at the New Orleans post office for a Samuel Seiley on 18 July 1851. Could Samuel and John J. be related??? There is also a record of a Joseph Seiley owning a boarding house in 1890 in New Orleans at the corner of Toulouse and Marais Streets.
* Probably married in New Orleans according to family legend. First child, John William, was born on Howard Street in New Orleans on 20 Oct 1855.
* 1860 Rapides Parish, Louisiana, census, roll #423, page 230, line 14. Shows John J. Seilley, age 43, with occupation as engineer. His wife, Elizabeth M., and children; John W. (age 6) and Thomas J. (age 2); were listed in the household located in rural Rapides Parish with Alexandria as post office. Next door was the Joshua Korn family and Joshua was a blacksmith.
* John Jefferson Seiley, according to family legend, died from overexposure to the elements. He reportedly shot one of the gang of "Jayhawkers" that showed up on his farm near Alexandria in Rapides Parish. His wife sent him away because she was concerned the gang would come back and kill him. He went away and she went back to her hometown area north of the Eunice community. When John Jefferson met her again he was deathly ill and soon died. The "Jayhawkers" were a gang of scoundrels and deserters who were trying to take personal property away from local citizens.
* He was buried in an area near Eunice, Louisiana, known as "Faquetaique Prairie" pronounced as FAY-KEY-TIE-EEK. Maybe in the Fruge/Fontenot cemetery approximately 2 1/2 miles north and 3/4 mile east of the center of Eunice.
* Need more research on below information:
Beulah Seiley memoirs dated 1976 states that John Jefferson Seiley was drafted during the Civil War to build boilers and other iron works. I have not found a record for this John Jefferson Seiley serving in the Confederate States Army as of 2018 - Bob Hadley.
* 1850 Edgefield Co., SC, census, roll 852, page 125, has following "John Sealey" shown which could be our John Jefferson Seiley:
line 31 dwelling 2003, family 2009, Kennedy, Joseph J. age 46, M, Blacksmith, 1,000, SC.
line 32 2003 2009 Kennedy, Mary, 46, F, . . SC.;
line 33 2003 2009 Sealey, John, age 25, Male, Black Smith, born in SC.
* The fact that the above John Sealey shows his occupation as a blacksmith could be construed as a similar occupation to boilermaker or engineer. The ages shown in the 1850 and 1860 census are not always found to be correct.
* Possible brother to John Jefferson Seiley is "Thomas Seley", age 40, born about 1820, is shown in the 1860 Edgefield Co., SC, census, roll 1219, page 83, living in the Hamburg area with wife, Mary, age 31, who was born in Germany. This Thomas Sealy/Sealey shows up in the 1870 Hernando Co., FL, census roll 130, page 81, age 50, farmer, born in SC. His wife, Delilah C. (Hughes??), age 23, born in GA. They were living in the Ft. Dade area.
* Another possible brother is "James Seily" shown in 1860 Edgefield Co., SC, census, roll 1219, page 113B, age 40, occupation as mason, born in SC, with wife, T. Seily (age 38), and children; A. (female, age 13) and John (age 5) all born in SC. This family was living in the Hamburg area.

General Notes: Wife - Elizabeth Melissa DUNNAM
* Deed: St. Landry Parish conveyance #8490, dated 7 Sept 1868; from Adolphe Teller to Mrs. John J. Sealey.
This deed records sale of four acres of land in Prairie Faquetaique, just north of Eunice, LA. Amount of $100 in trade was paid. Date of sale was 22 Aug 1868.
* Making the connection between Elizabeth Melissa Dunnam and her father, Ebenezer James Dunnam, was made using the information entitled "THE DUNNAMS OF SOUTH CAROLINA",published by Rev. James T. Dunnam, of Fernandina Beach, Florida. Correspondence with Reverend Dunnam by Robert L. Hadley confirms that this is the most likely fit for Elizabeth in the Dunnam family although no written record has been found to confirm this connection as of August, 1995.
* 1870 St. Landry Parish, LA, census, roll 530, page 258, shows "Elizabeth Coley", age 37, house keeper, born in Alabama. Her sons, John, Thomas and James, were listed with her. They were living with the Francois and Felicite Dupre family near Bayou Chicot. Palastron Dupre was a son of this family who later married Mary Armide Guillory, a sister of Elizabeth's daughter-in-law, Laura Guillory Seiley.
* Elizabeth took the three boys to New Orleans sometime between 1873 and 1876. Don't know how long they stayed there or the year they returned to Evangeline Parish. Laura found work as a seamstress in a tailor shop on Royal Street. John worked at the French Market, Tom did chores for a priest and James delivered milk.
* 1880 St. Landry Parish, LA, census roll 470, page 385, shows a "Mary Seily", age 50, born in Louisiana, parents born in LA, living with the John Tompkins family. This may have been Elizabeth Melissa who may have been known as "Mary" or this could be a misspelling of the name "Mellissa".
* There was a "Mary Made Seely", age 50, born in LA, parents born in LA, living in the Sisters of Convent home on Olivier Street, New Orleans, in 1880 census. Could this be the same person as our Melissa Dunnam Seiley?
* 1910 St. Landry Parish, LA, census, roll 530, page 225, 6th Ward, Beaver District, shows Elizabeth Seiley, mother, age 78, widow, mother of two children with two living, born in LA, parents born in LA. She was living with her son, Thomas Jefferson Seiley, and his family. She died later that year.
* Birth and death information taken from headstone. Seiley Cemetery listing was published in la voix des Prairies, Vol. 21, No. 82. Inscription on headstone reads "She died as she lived, Trusting in God".
* A picture of Elizabeth was sent to Bob Hadley by Joseph Seiley in April 2006. The original of this picture is in possession of Jo Alice Seiley.

Last Modified: 24 Aug 2018