The theme for Week 39 is “Disappeared.” All of us have someone on our family tree who seems to have just disappeared. This is a good week to write about them. (Who knows – maybe writing about them will help you spot some gaps in your research and give you ideas on new places to look!) Check out all of the 2025 prompts here.
First, let me apologize for not writing much this year. My writing last year was therapeutic because it was a rough one for me personally. This year I have been working on other genealogy projects. Anyway…
Whenever the topic of Disappeared or Lost comes up with my genealogy, I always go to my 2nd great-grandfather Seymour Hiltz. Seymour was born about 1850 to Lawrence Hilts and his wife Nancy (possibly another branch of the Hilts/z family). He married Wilina Booth in 1872 in Ripon, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin. They had three known children, Orville Charles my ancestor, his younger sister Mabel and a younger unnamed brother. I only found this brother’s birth record and I guess he is another example of disappeared.
Sometime after 1880, Seymour seems to have disappeared from the family. I have a newspaper article from 1903 where he wrote a letter to his sister-in-law inquiring about his wife and children. He asked for a quick reply but the reply that was sent was returned undeliverable and unopened. He seemed to disappear again.
My nephew recently found some information about Seymour from 1885 where he was arraigned at the Lewis County Circuit Court (Missouri) and charged with the alleged rape of a 15-year-old. The jury reached a verdict of guilty based on the circumstantial evidence and the direct testimony of eyewitnesses. Seymour’s sentencing occurred on September 23, 1885 (140 years ago). The jury voted 10 to 2 to execute Seymour by hanging but it required a unanimous vote and instead was sentenced to 21 years at the State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri.
His penitentiary records give a description of Seymour (spelled in the records as Seymore). He was 34 years old and a cook, he was 5 ft and 1 ¾” tall (he is shorter than me). Foot length is 9 ½. His hair is blonde and he has blue eyes with dark complexion. He does have a mustache. He listed no religion and he can read and write and was never imprisoned before. He listed himself a Widower (which is not true because Wilina is alive) with 3 children. He has a long aquiline nose, a small scar on the index finger of his left hand (faint), long scar inside left wrist and a small mole above the navel.
Within one month of Seymour’s sentence, the mother of the young girl made a confession that Seymour was innocent and she was made to testified by the father of the young girl. The father compelled his daughter to prosecute the suit and by ways of threats, prevented the mother and daughter from acknowledging Seymour’s innocence of the crime of rape at the trial.
Seymour’s attorneys appealed to Governor John Sappington Marmaduke to pardon Seymour on the grounds of a mistaken verdict. However, this did not happen until 4 years later when the new Governor, David R Francis, issued the pardon for Seymour’s exoneration and freedom on April 5, 1889.
The authors of the article noted that Seymour appeared in a physical wreck and even though he was treated well at the prison, his declining health was a result of his mental troubles due to being innocent. The authors described Seymour as a free, generous and affable and quite intelligent individual and they wished him the best.
Seymour returned to his original trade as a Cooper. A cooper was a skilled artisan who made and repaired wooden barrels, casks, buckets and vats. On May 8, 1890, while trimming hoop poles, he made a deep cut to his knee and was taken home to receive medical attention. Luckily, it was found that he did not have a “dangerous” wound. This was the last article of Seymour in Canton that the website could detect.
