James Wesley Seeney (sometimes mis-initialed as James H. Seeney) Private, ITEMS
OF INTEREST FROM THE PENSION RECORDS:
Pension # 1059235 (alternate/other numbers: 796700)
James Wesley Seeney (listed on some records as James H. or W. Seeney)::
Mollie's residences at various times as noted in the pension records:
Among the affiants/witnesses for James W. and/or Mollie Seeney:
Per affidavit by James W. Seeney on 11 Oct 1902: "I was a slave belonging to Mr. Daniel C. Hopper who set me free when I became 21 years old." Per his Casualty Sheet, James was wounded at the Battle of Cemetery Hill [near Petersburg], Virginia on 30 Jul 1864. Per affidavit
signed by James W. Seeney on 30 Dec 1890: Per affidavit
signed by James Seney on 11 Feb 1891: Per affidavit
signed by James W. Seeney on 18 Aug 1890: Per affidavit
signed by James W. Seeney on [date not given, but it was after the
Act of June 27, 1890]: ----- One record
refers to him as "James W. Seeney, also borne as Jas. H. and
James Seeney and James Simms." The same record goes on to refer
to him as "James Seanney." In the file there is an application for a widow's pension from Mollie Seeney dated 10 May 1909 in which she states that she was not married prior to marrying James W. Seeney and that James had been previously married "but had been separated from first wife more than 30 years and I have been his lawful wife since date given above [26 Dec 1878]." [By "more than 30 years" she must have meant by the time of his death, not by the time of their own marriage. Otherwise, "more than 30 years" prior to their own marriage would put James at having become separated from his first wife prior to 1848, in other words prior to approx. age 12. It is more reasonable to assume Mollie meant he'd been separated "more than 30 years" at the time of his death (and in fact he'd been married to Mollie for 30-31 years at the time of his death), and this fits with the approx. births of his 3 sons ca. 1867, 1871, and 1875 being from his marriage to his first wife, prior to separating from her]. There is a letter contained in the pension file which seems to be a rough draft from an official at the pension bureau and addressed to James' widow Mollie Seeney, apparently in response to her application for widow's pension mentioned above. The letter is written very, very sloppily, has several corrections, revisions, and paragraph notations, as if it were perhaps meant to be typed up by someone else. However, there is no typed or re-written copy in the file. The letter is dated 25 May 1909, a little over a month after James' death and 15 days after Mollie's widow's pension application. From what I can decipher it seems to be asking Mrs. Seeney for evidence of her marriage to James and/or James' divorce from Annie Davison. Here is the letter as best as I can decipher, followed by the image:
It doesn't appear that Mollie ever responded or pursued her request for a widow's pension. Perhaps she felt she was not entitled to one if James hadn't truly divorced Anne, or perhaps Mollie died soon after James and was never able to follow up on her request. These scenarios are just speculation, as more evidence is needed.
OTHER ITEMS PERTAINING TO JAMES W. SEENEY, NOT FROM THE PENSION RECORDS: In the June 1998 issue (Issue #6) of Owen's Offspring, a Seaney/Seeney newsletter published by former Mitsawokett list member Dave Seaney, he states the following:
The following notes pertain to the preceding extract from Owen's Offspring: ¹
As mentioned above (in "OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE"), it was
on a form from Mollie Seeney in which it was stated that James had
been previously married "but had been separated from first
wife more than 30 years." ² It was not Mary (aka Mollie) who died on 11 Apr 1909. This was James' death date. ³
The pension records never give a presumption that these children
were Mary/Mollie's. It's relatively clear that these children were
by James' first wife, Anne. Also, the children were not listed as
being born in those years. Their ages were given in an affidavit
by James on 20 Sep 1898 as being 31, 27, and 23 years old. It would
depend on whether their birthday was before or after Sept 20th as
to determine what exact year they were born in. He did not stay "with his unit." He was hospitalized in various hospitals until the war was over, with the exception of the period of furlough when he returned home for a short while. However, he was still considered a member of the army/his unit while he was absent from them. He did not live in Baltimore "about six years" upon his discharge. In his affidavit dated 11 Feb 1891 James stated that upon his discharge he was sent Hick's Hospital for about month because he was not well enough to go home, and after that month he returned home to Queen Anne's County and stayed there about six months, and after that he returned to Baltimore where he remained about 13 years. ----- In his affidavit
dated 11 Oct 1902 James stated that he had been a slave belonging
to Daniel C. Hopper until he reached 21 years of age. The date of
his freedom would have been around 1857-58, extrapolating from James'
age of 27 upon his enlistment in Mar 1864. One could speculate,
then, that James may perhaps have been enumerated in the household
of Daniel C. Hopper in the 1850 census when he would have been about
13-15 years old. Based on the above, it is interesting to note the following two families in the 1850 census: 1850 Census of Queen Anne's Co, MD, 3rd Election District, Dwelling #266:
The very next household is: 1850 Census of Queen Anne's Co, MD, 3rd Election District, Dwelling #267:
Additionally, the slave schedules for the same census show the following:
1850 Slave Schedule
of Queen Anne's Co, MD, 3rd Election District:
Might the
45-year-old James and the 40-year-old Lydia be James W's parents? One problem with this is that there is no child named Samuel T. in Daniel C. Hopper's household. Unless perhaps Samuel T. was a younger brother, nephew or some other relative of Daniel C. rather than a son. I could not find any seemingly-matching James Seeney in the 1860 census.*** In the 1870 census for Queen Anne's County (1st & 2nd Election Districts, page 145, Dwelling #982), I found a James Seeney whose age fits the profile (age 35), but this James' wife's name is Clarissa, not Anne. (James did not marry his 2nd wife Mary/Mollie until 1877-78). Also, per James' previously-mentioned affidavit, it would be expected that he would be residing in Baltimore in 1870, presumably in the household of Samuel T. Hopper. In the 1880 census, I found James & Mary Seeney in Queen Anne's County, and the very next household is once again D. C. Hopper. (Perhaps James W. inherited his father James Sr's home? Note that this is the 6th election district, as opposed to the 3rd election district where the Seeneys and Hoppers lived in 1850. However, perhaps the election districts were re-drawn/re-numbered by 1880):
Now, going
back to look for James in 1870: In checking for Hoppers in Baltimore
around the time that James lived there, I could not locate any promising
candidates for Samuel T. Hopper in the 1870 census.***
However, in records for 1880 (by which time James W. is presumably
back in Queen Anne's County), I did find an 1880 Baltimore city
directory which lists an S. W. T. Hopper Sr. & S. W. T. Hopper
Jr. who were part of an insurance agency known as "S. W. T.
Hopper & Sons" and their address is given as 289 Madison
Ave. (Note the similarity to James' statement that he lived with
"Sam'l. T. Hopper, 89 Madison Ave" when in Baltimore).
Might S. W. T. Hopper Sr. of Baltimore perhaps be a brother (thus
making S. W. T. Hopper Jr. a nephew) or other relative of Daniel
C. Hopper of Queen Anne's County? ----- On the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington DC, James' name is displayed on Plaque C-54.
However, there is also another entry in Weslager's notes [also ca. Nov 1941] which states: " interviewed James Seeney, he is the oldest Seeney living and the Grand Uncle of Dalton. James is the son of James Senior and his mother was a Clark[.] James Jr. is one of six sons[:] John, Samuel, F[r]ederick, William, James, [&] Joseph Seeney. James Senior's mother was Rhoda Moore before she married into the Seeney family, and was said to have been a white woman. She appears to be a relative of the white Moore family of Cheswold. James is a very patriarchical man, white silky hair, white mustache and a yellowish complexion and very religious. He has eaten no meat for 40 years as part of his faith. He is a carpenter and has worked hard all his life, he said his father and grandfather were both from the neighborhood of Cheswold and the Seeney's did not come from Maryland as I had previously heard, he said he had heard of Indian blood in his family but couldn't contribute any important information." For a list of the descendants of Samuel Seeney (husband of Rhoda Moore mentioned above), please visit Mitsawokett's Seeney link: http://www.mitsawokett.com/FamilyHistories/SamuelSeeney_bc1795/index.htm 2. Does anyone
have the death date of James' 2nd wife, Mary/Mollie? It would have
been sometime after her affidavit of May 1909. 4. Does anyone
have the names of James' children? (There is a William, age 12,
listed in the 1880 census record quoted above. If this is the correct
household, where were the other two sons, who would have been aged
around 9 and 5 at this point? They were still living in 1898 so
they can't have died young). - - - - - - - - - - For those who may be new to the list, I have posted a few of these Civil War pension extractions previously, as has Paul Johnson and Joseph Romeo. To view some of the others, as well as an explanatory note, please see the following page of the Mitsawokett site: http://www.mitsawokett.com/MilitaryService/DelmarvaAreaCivilWarPensions.htm (Once on the page, scroll down below the Index to see the Overview).
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