Lake County Ohio GenWeb

Uri Seeley

This biography is taken from History of Geauga and Lake counties; Williams Brothers, 1878.

Transcribed and submitted by Becky Falin, 1996.

Uri Seeley was one of the most widely known of the old settlers of Lake County. He came to Painesville township about the year 1817, and soon purchased the large farm which he owned throughout his life. He was the embodiment of all that we are accustomed to look upon as the pioneer spirit, - a man whose most prominent characteristics were energy, intense activity, fearlessness, and integrity. He was practical, brusque, rugged, and, above all, a man of strong convictions and unflinching devotion to duty. With these qualities as his most prominent ones, it was not strange that he led a career which left its mark and influence upon the community, and in some measure upon the whole country. He was sheriff of the old county of Geauga from 1824 to 1828, and during his occupation of the office exhibited the same rigid adherence to principle, and the same unbiased, uncompromising sense of justice, that made him a mighty force in the long and severe campaign against slavery. He was perhaps the most prominent man of this neighborhood in the anti-slavery movement, and worked side by side with Wade and Giddings. He had a most fierce hatred of slavery, and his whole strength was exerted in the battle for its overthrow. He was a member of the first National Anti-Slavery convention, later a delegate to the Free-Soil convention, and was the first representative of the abolition element in the State legislature, his constituency being embraced in the counties of Lake and Ashtabula. Mr. Seeley was one of the oldest members of the Presbyterian (now the Congregational) church, and through his long connection with the society was one of its leading men. Uri Seeley died August 10, 1877, aged eighty-six years.