Deciphering Antique Postcards

Writing on old postcards has always fascinated us, particularly on these early cards when the notes were written on the face of the card. We wonder if Mrs. W.S. Seymour was related to Helen Seymour Sylvester who built Seymour Point on Fourth Lake. Is she writing to say the butter arrived or the butler? Who was Mrs. A.E. Sigourney? Sometimes, some of these cryptic messages can be understood with a little research; other times, they remain a mystery. This one was written just around the time that Seymour Point began to be used by the Sylvesters and Seymours.

After a little online detective work, we think that W.S. Seymour was William S. Seymour and was related to Helen Seymour Sylvester. Mrs. W. S. Seymour was likely visiting Seymour Point as a guest of Mrs. Sylvester and her husband William Bedell Sylvester. We also bet that she was writing about a butler. More on the Seymours in future posts.

Helen Seymour Sylvester's Brockport, New York House

James Horatio Seymour, Brother of Helen Seymour Sylvester

James Horatio Seymour was the brother of the original builder of Seymour Point, later Penwood, Helen Seymour Sylvester, wife of William Bedell Sylvester, sister of Henry Seymour and daughter of William H. Seymour.

James moved from Brockport, New York to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, where his brother Henry had a very successful reaper factory and later lumber and farming businesses.

When William H. Seymour died, he left the family home in Brockport to his daughter, Helen Seymour Sylvester. When Mrs. Sylvester died, the house was left to her brother James, who by that time lived in California most of the time. Mrs. Sylvester's Adirondack estate, Seymour Point, was also left to James Horatio Seymour, with a life estate reserved to Mrs. Sylvester's husband, William Bedell Sylvester.

In 1930, upon his death, the Brockport house was given to the village of Brockport along with a substantial endowment to run a library in the house. In 1936, books from the local community center were moved to Seymour House and the Seymour Library was opened to the public.

The Seymour Library survives to this day, but is now run in a larger and more modern facility. The Seymour House is used as the village offices in the village of Brockport.

The Owners of Lots 40, 41, 42, 43 John Brown's Tract, Herkimer County, New York

1791-State of New York
1792-Alexander McComb
1798-John Brown
1803-Estate of John Brown
1893-William Seward and Eliza Osgood Webb (40, 41, 42, 43)
1893-Arletta E. Ingham (40, 41)
1901-William Bedell Sylvester (40, 41)
1903-William J. and Marie B. Thistlethwaite (42, 43)
1905-James and Anna Thistlethwaite (42, 43)
1905-Helen Seymour Sylvester (42,43)
1908-Herbert Agate (part of 43)
1915-Helen Seymour Sylvester (40, 41, 42, 43)
1921-Estate of Helen Seymour Sylvester (40, 41, 42, 43)
1921-James Horatio Seymour (fee simple); William Sylvester (life)
1933-Estate of James Horatio Seymour
1943-Helen Seymour Wiley
1945-James M. and Marjorie A. Kennedy
1953-Albert and Dorothea R. Gordon
1967-Dorothea Gordon
1970-Dorothea Gordon (40); M.G. Burstein/C.L. Gordon (41, 42, 43)
1980-Dorothea Gordon (40/life); Margery Burstein (40, 41, 42, 43)
1981-George L. Spoll (42); Joseph and Josephine Testa (43)
1992-Margery Burstein (40, 41)