Re: George W. Seigler from Anderson County, SC
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In reply to:
Re: George W. Seigler from Anderson County, SC
Barbara Hightower 3/12/08
Hi, Barbara
What fun!
If you'd like to email me directly, my address should be listed on the Genforum site in their "hard-to-read" way.
I've got some questions for you!Where was your Nancy Ann born?Where in Georgia did G. W. Seigler live and die?And, unless you know for a fact where they are buried,I suspect that G. W. and Melinda are interred at Old Good Hope Presbyterian cemetery (probably under a fieldstone since I've poked around that cemetery a lot--even though I live in Arizona!--and the only Seigler headstones there are for Thomas William Seigler who I suspect is G. W.'s half-brother).Here's why I would guess this:"Good Hope Baptist church was organized on August 23, 1932, with 15 persons joining the church. The church met a the old Good Hope School building and on December 9, 1933, a lot was secured for the church, and the old Good Hope Presbyterian church sold their building to Good Hope for $100.00. On December 27, 1933, men of the church began disassembling the old church and moved it to the new property where they used it to build a new church "
Here's what I know about John and Permelia Gilmer Seigler.The following memorial article was the coolest thing I've bumped into:
John Seigler (Sigler, Zeigler) 6/12/1788 - 2/12/1885 was born in Germany according to his youngest son Baxter’s death certificate. In May 1882, he conveyed his property to his son Valentine Baxter Seigler.Family legend says he and a brother came from Germany together as adults, that the brother died at a river fort on the Savannah, and that John left a family in Germany.This may all be conjecture or some of it may be true, like most legends.John was married to a Permelia A. Gilmer who was born c. 1817--therefore almost thirty years his junior--and I strongly suspect that he was married at least once before.I've identified another Seigler woman, Martha Jane,married to Andrew May/Mays.They lived in Franklin County, Georgia, next door to John Robert Seigler, the oldest "definite" son of the John Seigler family.
Anderson Intelligencer , Anderson, SC
Thursday Morning, March 5, 1885
A Remarkable Man Dead
Moffattsville, S. C., Feb 23, 1885.
Editors Intelligencer:I think the following worthy of mention in your valuable paper:I was called professionally to see one of the oldest men in all this country—old “uncle” Johnnie Seigler.He died on Thursday evening, the 12th day of February, from congestion of the lungs.If the deceased had lived until the 12th day of June next, he would have completed his 97thyear.How few at this day and time even approximate such an age.He was a remarkable man in many particulars.Healthy all his life; lived almost exclusively on the very plainest diet, “his cornbread, bacon, and greens.”Dyspepsia, the commonest complaint of our entire Southern country, was unknown to him, furnishing another proof that plain living, if not the most palatable, is certainly the most healthy.He lived on this kind of diet until the day of his death, often remarking that nothing suited him half so well.Being always accustomed to a hard and industrious life, he was not contented unless engaged at some manual work, and did so up to a month or so before his death.He was liked by all who knew him, young and old; was kind, charitable, energetic, and honest to the bone.You have often heard of “honest Billy.”He was certainly known as “honest Johnnie.”He was not widely known, for he was always happier and better contented at his own humble little log cabin.He believed right was right, and his motto was the golden rule—to do unto others as he would be done by.He never made a profession of religion, but always lived a strict, moral, upright and consistent life.His belief as to the future world was simply this: that if he lived honest and upright, and treated all mankind as neighbors, he would be rewarded hereafter.This one fact is certain: that the entire community in which he lived will miss the good, brawny, honest face of old Uncle Johnnie.Peace be to his memory.
R. A. R.
(I suspect the R. A. R. was Dr. Robert A. Reid, a neighbor and a physician who practiced in the Dark Corner area.RRA)
We know very little about John and Permelia Seigler.I suspect the family was living in Abbeville County prior to appearing mid-1840s in the Dark Corner Township of Anderson County.We do know that they were landowners and that the farm schedule of 1860 lists John with 40 improved acres and 8 unimproved acres with a total land value of $400.00.They had 1 horse, 3 milk cows, 12 other cattle, 20 sheep, 25 swine, with a total livestock value of $450.00.They raised 43 bushels of wheat, 200 of corn, 10 of peas and beans, 10 of Irish potatoes, and 100 of yams and produced 300 pounds of butter, 3 tons of hay, $50.00 in home manufacture, and $100.00 in slaughtered animals.
The Civil War was hard on John Seigler’s finances.By the Anderson County Agricultural Schedule of 1870, he had 35 improved acres, 25 unimproved; a value of $100.oo for his farm and a $10.00 value on his farm equipment.He still had 1 horse, 2 milk cows, 1 other cow, 7 sheep, 8 swine, with a total value of livestock at $166.00.He had raised 10 bushels of spring wheat, and 30 bushels of Indian corn.
John’s name appears occasionally in documents. The Pendleton District and Anderson County, South Carolina, Wills, Estates, Inventories, Tax Returns, & Census Records lists on p. 266JOHN SIGLER buyer in estate sale of William Buchanan, dec’d 6 Aug. 1847, on p. 278JOHN SEAGLER buyer in estate sale of Hubbard Partain, 25 July 1849, on p. 273JOHN SEAGLER, Jincy Evans,sale bill of Hubbard Partain (Jincy Evans d/o Hubbard Partain) and on p. 111JOHN SEIGLER (X) as witness of will of John Adams (pp. 309-310) (pp. 329-330) Proven 8 Nov. 1850.
Martha Gilmer:
A Martha Gilmer is listed as living with John Seigler in the 1870, Census, aged 83, so born c. 1788.In 1850 a Martha Gilmer is living next door to a Washington Gilmer and is listed as 65—therefore born c. 1785; in 1840 a female head of household M. Gilmore is living in Abbeville County next door to J. Zeigler and G. W. Zeigler, listed as 40 - 50, born c. 1800 -1790.Are these women all the same person?I’m pretty sure that the subject of this obituary is the Martha who lived with the Seiglers and who must have been Permelia’s mother because of the proximity of the church to the Seigler home.The Father Porter referred to in the obituary must have been the Rev. Alexander Porter who was pastor of the Associate Reformed Church of Long Cane and Cedar Springs, SC, (Abbeville Dist.).In 1814 he and 34 members of his Abbeville, SC, congregation headed for Ohio since they were much concerned with the slavery question.His will was recorded May 23, 1836 inPreble County., Ohio, and he was buried at the Hopewell Cemetery at Morning Sun, Preble County, Ohio.Was Martha a domestic in the Porter household or a foster child?We may never know why she “spent her youth in the family...”Martha is listed as “Martha F. Gilmer” in the census.The oldest Seigler daughter is named Nancy Ann Foster (Latham).Could Martha have been a Foster?There were many Fostersliving in the Long Cane area of Abbeville County where Martha seem to have originated.According to this obituary, Martha Gilmer joined the Anderson County, Generostee ARP Church in 1862.
THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Death & Marriage Notices Volume II: 1866-1888 Compiled by Lowry Ware Scmar Columbia, South Carolina 1998, October 1, 1874
Obituaries
Died of Dropsy, August 31st, 1874, Mrs. Martha Gilmer.Aged 86 years.
The deceased was for twelve years a consistent member of the A. R. Presbyterian Church at Generostee, Anderson, S. C.Her youth was spent in the family of father Porter, and it is likely that the seeds were then sown of that piety which has been growing, ripening, and bearing fruit for nearly fourscore years.When first taken withher fatal malady she resigned all hopes of life, but her faith was firm, and her peace unbroken.On the day of her death, I asked her if she was disturbed with doubts or fears, but heranswer was, “They don’t pester me at all.”
Could John have married an Emeline Ward on 11/20/1833?The John Robert branch of the family think so, though they have no proof other than the record of an Edgefield marriage between an Emeline Ward and a John Seigler.I am not convinced that this is so, although there is a wide separation between the children Frances and John Robert’s ages, so J. R. might have been from an earlier union.A Martha Jane Seigler Mayb. 1828 (husband Andrew May) lived next door to John Robert Seigler and his family in Hart County, Georgia, according to the 1860 census.A John Seigler neighbor, Reubin Hailey, has a daughter Melinda Hailey “Seigler”who seems to be the same Melinda married to a G. W. Seigler (page 200, 1850 Anderson County Census) who is the proper age to have been the Abbeville County G. W. Zeigler born c. 1814living next door to J. Zeigler.It’s entirely possible that Martha Jane and G. W. were children of John Seigler, too, since John was thirty years older than Permelia Gilmer who was born c. 1817.She couldn’t have been Martha Jane or G. W.’s mother, but she could have been John Robert’s since was born c. 1836 and she would have been approximately 19 years old then.
Regards,
Rebecca
More Replies:
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Re: George W. Seigler from Anderson County, SC
Janice Blackhurst 5/05/08
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Re: George W. Seigler from Anderson County, SC
Rebecca Akins 5/06/08
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Re: George W. Seigler from Anderson County, SC
Janice Blackhurst 5/06/08
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Re: George W. Seigler from Anderson County, SC
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Re: George W. Seigler from Anderson County, SC
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Re: George W. Seigler from Anderson County, SC
Barbara Hightower 3/12/08