GenealogyBlog

The Seymour Public Library might be the quintessential small town library.  Although a major flood in 1955 completely destroyed the old town library and many books and records were destroyed.  The Seymour Library still has a good collection of resources of interested to genealogists and local historians. 

The resources of particular interest include city directories, Town Reports, Vital Record compilations, School yearbooks and more.

• City Directories – 1892-93, 1902 through 1980
• Town Reports – 1869 – 1970s
• Four volumes of books on Seymour Vital Records dating from 1850 – 1910
• Seymour Yearbook collection from 1941, various years after that.
• Vital record books from some surrounding towns

The earliest city directory was the 1892-93 directory.  This is a great substitute for use in place of the destroyed 1890 US Federal Census records.  Although it would not list all inhabitants of Seymour during this time, it does this those who are working including women as well as a widowed woman.  The library had a nearly complete set of city directories dating from 1902 – 1980.

• The 1892-93 and 1902 Seymour City directories have been loaded into our database.

Another useful resource for researchers trying to learn more about their ancestors would be the collection of town record books.  The town was formed in 1850 and the earliest town report in the library is from 1869. 

The numbers of individual names listed in the early town reports are very small.   However, starting in the late 1870s there are a significantly larger number of names listed.  Many residents were paid to help maintain and build roads and were often paid to maintain the roads running past their own home.  The town’s poor residents were subsidized by the town and are listed with the amount paid out to them.  In some reports a brief snippet of information about the school teacher’s background and education is provided.  There is nearly a complete set of town reports from 1869 – 1979.

• The 1869-1874 and 1878 town reports have been loaded into our database.

Also within the reference section is a book written by W.C. Sharpe and is a compilation of births, baptisms, marriages, burials, death records and gravestone inscriptions.  The period covered starts from the time the town was formed up until about 1882.  This gravestone inscription compilation was done fifty years prior to Hales compilation and may include tombstones inscriptions which were destroyed prior to Hale completing his compilation in the 1930s.  The compilation includes both church and town records.  There are three other addendums (other books) to the original work.  One covers the period between 1883 and 1891.  The second covers the period between 1892 and 1901.  The last covers the period between 1901 and 1910.

The Seymour public library also has a series of school yearbooks where you could find a picture of your ancestor or relative.  The earliest yearbook was from 1941 and there was a good collection of yearbooks right up to the present day.