Thursday, February 3, 2022

Seavers in the News -- George H. Seaver Dies in 1962 in Marin County, California

Here is this week's edition of "Seavers in the News" - a weekly feature from the historical newspapers about persons with the surname Seaver that are interesting, useful, mysterious, fun, macabre, or add information to my family tree database.

This week's entry is from the Daily Independent Journal [San Rafael, Calif.]  newspaper dated 16 May 1962:

The transcription of the article is:

"George H. Seaver Dies, Rites Held

"Private funeral services were held today for George Henry Seaver, 83, longtime Homestead resident, who died this morning at his home after a long illness.

"Seaver had worked for 35 years for the United States Mint in San Francisco and retired in 1945 as chief bookkeeper.  He was born in Benicia.

"He served as gunners mate and yeoman aboard the troopship General Grant, which carried troops to the Philippines in 1898 during the Spanish-American War.  Seaver signed off the ship and spent two years as a photographer in Manila.

"Returning to San Francisco, he opened a shoe store which he ran six years and was reported to have done a good business after the 1906 fire since his store was not hit.

"Seaver resided in Homestead 41 years.  He was one of the organizers of the Homestead Valley Sanitary District, served on the board 16 years, and was chairman when the decision was made to install sewers.

"His wife died when his two sons were still children.  The two, William G. Seaver of San Rafael and Martin H. Seaver of Mill Valley, survive him, as does one granddaughter.

"Seaver was a member of the National Assn. of Retired Civil Service Employees.  His hobby was gardening.

"Since last July he was cared for at his home at 20 Evergreen Avenue by Mr. and Mrs. Budd S. Cummings, who resided with him.

"Inurnment will be at Mount Tamalpais Cemetery, San Rafael.  The family requests tributes be contributions to favorite charities."

The source citation is:

"George H. Seaver Dies, Rites Held,Daily Independent Journal [San Rafael, Calif.] newspaper, Wednesday, 16 May 1962, page 6, column 5, George Henry Seaver obituary; Newspapers.com   (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 3 February 2022).

This is a very complete obituary that provides significant life accomplishments, associations, the name, age, birthplace,  children's names, death date and place, and residence.  

George Henry Seaver (1878-1962) was born 2 October 1878 in Benecia, California, the son of George Henry and Catherine W. (Kuhland) Seaver.  He married Caroline Brill (1888-1947) on 31 July 1912 in Marin county, California.  They had two children:

*  William George Seaver (1913-1970), married Madeline Terry (1921-1972).
*  Martin Henry Seaver (1916-1997), married Lillian Marie Fitzgerald (1921-1990).

George Henry Seaver (1878-1962) is my 8th cousin 2x removed.  Our common Seaver ancestor is my 9th great-grandfather Robert Seaver (1608-1683).

There are over 10,000 Seaver "stories" in my family tree - and this was one of them.   Life happens, accidentally and intentionally, and sometimes a person had a full life with interesting experiences and accomplished good things for his community.  I am glad that I can honor George Henry Seaver today.  Note that his wife died in 1947, when his youngest child was age 31, hardly a child. 

You never know when a descendant or relative will find this blog post and learn something about their ancestors or relatives, or will provide more information about them to me.

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Disclosure:  I have a complimentary subscription to Newspapers.com and have used it extensively to find articles about my ancestral and one-name families.


Copyright (c) 2022, Randall J. Seaver

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