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Hezekiah C. Seymour.

Hezekiah C. Seymour (June 24, 1811 - July 24, 1853) was an American civil engineer and politician.

Quotes

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Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Nr. 89 1852

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New York (State). Legislature. Assembly (1852) Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Nr. 89 Of the majority and minority of` the joint select committee on canal lettings.

General introduction

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  • "Resolved, That the Legislature be respectfully requested ,to appoint a committee to examine and inquire into the action of each and every member of the Canal Board, and of the Board of Canal Commissioners, State Engineer and Surveyor, and division engineers, having charge of that portion of the canals where the work was to be let, for the completion of the Erie canal enlargement, the Genesee Valley and Black River canals, and the enlargement of the locks on the Oswego canal, in the awarding of contracts, and all their acts connected with the same, or in the discharge of the duties of their отсев respectively."
    • p. 1
  • ... The evidence does not show fraud in this transaction, nor any thing from which fraud is to be inferred. On the contrary, it appears from the testimony of Mr. Seymour, the State Engineer and Surveyor, that it was a course which he approved, and which was brought forward by him, and adopted by the Canal Board, about the 16th of October last, as will appear by the minutes of the Canal Board, forming a ­part of the evidence in this case. — It appears also from Mr. Seymour’s testimony, that the subject had been under consideration for nearly a year prior to that time. It would seem therefore, not to have been brought forward 0n any sudden emergency, much less under such circumstances, as would warrant any suspicion that it was concocted for the present occasion, and that with an improper and fraudulent intent. It is doubtless a subject upon' which there may be a wide and honest difference of opinion, as appears from the testimony in the case.
    • p. 9

Deposition of Hezekiah C. Seymour

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  • CHARLES COOK. Sworn and subscribed this 24th day of Feb. 1852, А. В. Conger, Chairman, Sc.
Deposition of Hezekiah C. Seymour. - State of New-York, ss: Hezekiah C. Seymour being duly sworn doth depose and say ; I reside at Piermont, Rockland county, and am an engineer; I was State Engineer and Surveyor during the усы-51850 and 1851.
Q. Did you recommend to the Canal Board the adoption of hardpan and quicksand as а separate classification of earth excavation, and if so, state your reasons for such recommendation?
A. I did recommend it; my reasons were based simply on the ground that it was most economical for the State, and the fairest for the contractors.
Q. How can you make this appear to be most economical for the State?
A. I judge from my own experience in such matters, and from the matter of history, that the State through the Canal Board or Legislature, has almost uniformly as far as I know made allowances to contractors wherever hard or diffìcult work has occurred of this character. These allowances generally in my judgment amount to more than the contractors would receive under the classification mentioned; and consequently this would tend to avoid the expense and trouble of legislation in their allowances.
Q. Do you not think it would have been better when the separate classification was adopted, that the engineers should have computed quantities on the entire excavation for these items of hardpan and quicksand, as was done for your private judgment in the case of the Black River improvement?
A. I do not know that it would have been better it might have been as well. The case of the Black River improvement is one different from the others ; in the respect of under water excavation, where quicksand classification is not judicious the hardpan is; if the classification had been adopted by the Canal Board when I first proposed it, which was several months before it was so adopted, I have no doubt that examinations would have been made so as to give an estimate of the quantities of these items.
Q. Why was not the classification of quicksand under water left out of the Black River improvement contracts and propositions?
A. It was for want of consideration ; had it been reflected upon, it would have been left out; 'this was the only case where such action was at all necessary; it was not anticipated that contractors would bid higher for this item than for common mud; it would have been very difficult for the engineers to separate the quantities of quicksand and mud in their measurements.
Q. Was it anticipated that contractors would bid on common earth excavation, so closely to the prices which the engineers allowed for the entire excavation, including hardpan and quicksand?
A. By reference to the bids, it will be noticed that a great range of prices exists; it would depend on the supposed character of the work, whether contractors varied their prices for earth excavations on account of this classification, or not; on some sections contractors would bid less for common earth excavation, by reason of' the classification, others not; in deep excavations, hardpan and quick-sand are more likely to occur, and contractors would then bid less prices for other earth excavation; Where the excavations are sand or loam, the classification would not affect the price; no doubt in cases where hard-pan and quick-sand are likely to occur, the price of ordinary excavation is lower on account of the classification, and should they occur, the fact that the amount is left to the determination of those. best competent to decide, to wit, the engineers and Commissioners who are to examine and measure the work during its progress, secures to the State and contractors the utmost fairness and impartiality which the case will admit of.
Q. Were you the first to propose to any member of the Canal Board, that the work should be let equally as near as may be, to members of both political parties ; and if so, what reason did you assign to any such persons, naming them, for such propositions.
A. I never made any proposition of this sort to any one.
Q. Will you state what you did say to any such members, naming them, or what propositions you assented to, on the subject of any scheme for a division of the work, it' you did converse with them on the subject?
A. I did say to the members of the board, prior to the advertisement of thc work in answer to enquiries, that I deemed it fair and good policy in which as far as I knew my Whig friends coincided; that the allotment of the work should be so far as bids would justify, divided among the contractors of the different political parties ; I think I had conversations of this tenor with every member of the board; I think the first one who ever asked my views on the subject, was Mr. Frederick Follett.
Q. Did you require, as any condition of your assent to any such expression of your opinion »of policy, that any amount of work, «and if so, what amount, should be allotted to any one person or number of persons?
A­ No, sir; there was no such condition.
Q. Did you propose in anyway, (and if so, how,) any such allotment; and if not, 'what did you say to Mr. Follett, or he to you?
A. I did not propose any allotment. There was no conversation at this interview with Mr. Follett about the names of any persons to whom work was to be allotted.
Q. Did you name to Mr. Follet at any subsequent interview, ~or he to you, any persons Whom either was disposed to prefer or recommend for an allotment of the Work on one or more sections?
A. We did. At the conclusion of our interview, we both agreed that Geo. Law, and other persons, were men to Whom, provided their bids were satisfactory, We would be justified in giving work, because of their experience, and ability, pecuniary and otherwise. This was before the bids were put in, and we had similar conversations after they were in.
Q. Did you ever have any interest, direct, indirect, in expectancy, or in any way, with or from Law, or such other bidders, which induced you to favor their propositions ’l A. None. Not the slightest. '
Q. What was the amount of structures and work not included in the specifications and estimates, as contained in your report .for the year 1851.
A. They are shown in a schedule hereto annexed, marked F.
Q. Did you leave Albany during the pendency of the lettings, and if so, state the reasons which influenced you ; and whether you supposed or designed that your absence would impede or frustrate the execution of the contracts awarded or to be awarded by the letting board?
A. I did leave, and went to Canada, where I had important business, as chief engineer of a railroad. I had stated to the Board the necessity of my going, and when I learned, by telegraph, that it was necessary for me to leave immediately, I informed such members of the Board as were at the hotel where I was staying, that I must then go, and that I would return as soon as possible, naming the Tuesday or Wednesday following as the extent of my absence. I did not believe that the public interest would suffer by my absence. This was before the resolution of the 22d Dec. passed the Canal Board, referring the lettings, and I returned according to my promise, being delayed one day beyond my limit, having travelled by land, instead of steamboat, in consequence of stormy weather, and before the letting Board had commenced an allotment.
Q. Was it supposed by any member of the Board, or intimidated by you in any way, that your absence was to have the collateral or other effect of bringing either the Canal or letting Boards to any terms whatever in regard to the propositions of any supposed to be or being your friends, and to whom you had deemed that contracts should be given?
A. I do not know that it was so supposed by any member of the board, and I did not intimate any such design. Before I went, the effect of my absence was discussed between Mr. Morgan and myself, and I came to the conclusion that it would make no difference with any matters pending or which might be so during my absence before the board.
Q. Did you strive, when you took your seat in the board on your return, in any way to secure for your friends any work when their bids on it was objected to by any others of the board as being too high, or when their competency to do the work was questioned?
A. No sir.
Q. Who recommended that Geo. Law should get section 255?
A. His name was brought forward by Mr. Follett?
Q. Who recommended Oliver Charlick and Minor C. Story?
A. I think Mr. Follett did the first, and Mr. Mather the Second.
Q. Were the various allotments, as the work or parcels of work were conceded to either of the political parties in the board, kept count of, and if so, who kept the account to see that the division should be even?
A. I do not remember that any one kept the account. At the commencement of our sessions I took pains to foot up a list presented by Mr. Follett, and afterwards one by Mr. Mather.
Q. Was there any indication as you proceeded that different members of the board kept an eye to the amount being secured to members of the different political parties as such?
A. I think there was, but no list would have represented the balance of the bids, as most of these bids were divided between individuals represented by persons of both parties.
Q. Did you hear anything about bids being half and half?
A. It was remarked about some bids that the parties bidding them were equally divided.
Q. Did you present to the Canal Board any allotment of the work?
A. I did by request of the board present an allotment of portions of the work, stating to the board on presenting it, that I had made it subject to any variation which further examination might indicate, and merely as a starting point.
Q. Did you consider it proper under the circumstances to allow the alteration of the bid of Wright for the Black River improvement, for quicksand excavation under_water, after his bid had been opened?
A. As far as my judgment was concerned, I did not consider that his bid was altered or changed. I assumed as the basis of my action that his written explanation of the bid was correct, and therefore his price for quicksand was not applicable to any of the underwater excavation, and such price was not included in the contract.
Q. Do you know that any member of the late Canal or letting Board, or of the Legislature, or that any State offìcer has any interest, direct or indirect`or in any conceivable way, in any of the conceivable way, in any of the contracts awarded at the late letting?
A. I do not.
H. C. SEYMOUR
  • p. 96-102

Quotes about Seymour

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New York Times obituary, 1853

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Source: "Death of Hon. Hezekiah C. Seymour". New York Times. July 26, 1853. Retrieved October 10, 2012. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

  • Death of Hon. Hezekiah C. Seymour
Hon. H. C. Seymour, late Engineer-in-Chief of the State of New York, died Sunday evening, 24th inst., at his residence at Piermont, Rockland County, at the age of 42 years - one son and five daughters - to mourn in common with numerous friends and the public at large, his untimely loss, Few men could have passed away from the community at present time, whose death would be more generally and more sincerely lamented.
In the year 1835, after having been engaged in similar, but less extensive duties on other roads, Mr. Seymour assumed the labors of engineer on the New York and Erie Railroad ; acting in which capacity he continued until he was appointed general superintendent of the same great enterprise. He resigned this office in 1849, and was soon after elected State Engineer, the duties of which he performed to entire public acceptance. While holding this high and important station, he was elected chief engineer of the Ontario, Huron and Lake Simcoe Railroad, in Canada West, running from Toronto to Lake Huron. This office he transferred to another in the Spring of 1852, upon becoming interested in important railroad contracts, involving altogether an amount of expenditure exceeding thirty-five millions of dollars. Among the more important of these are the great Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, from Cincinnati to Saint Louis ; the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and the Air-Line Road between New-York and Boston.
Mr. Seymour was a man of quick discernment, correct judgment, and prompt decision. His forecast and sagacity were eminently displayed in his prosecution and management of all the public works with which he became connected. It is to his wise discernment that the public are indebted for the introduction of the "wide gauge" upon the New-York and Erie Railroad, which has been followed by so many other roads in the country. This great improvement was carried by a report of his to the President and Board of Directors, whose simple reasoning overcame all opposition to the measure.
As a scientific and practical engineer, he was held in the highest esteem ; and his predictions of the results of the roads he constructed, were found to be little short of actual prophecies. No man in America exceeded him in the practical knowledge of constructing, equipping and working railroads. He saw clearly, decided promptly, and acted vigorously.
He was a man of unswerving integrity, and conscientious uprightness of conduct, in all the relations of the business of life. No man was more esteemed and beloved by his friends. He was frank, open-hearted, generous : and there are hundreds who will read these lines some made rich, and others in the way of becoming so who owe their good fortune entirely to their benefactor's unselfish disregard of his own. A more affectionate father, a kinder husband, a truer friend, a better neighbor, are rarely to be found. Grateful hearts will follow his remains to their last resting-place today, and bitter, bitter tears will fall from many eyes upon the early grave which enshrouds his manly form.
It is a consolation for his surviving friends to know that as he lived so he died, a conscientious, practical Christian. His life was one of gentleness and good deeds, and "his last end was peace." Green be the turf that covers that cold heart, once so warm ; and sweet the repose from which he will awake in "another and a better world !"
Further comment

Article also online at newspapers.com, see The New York Times 26 July 1853 › Page 4

Times daily journal obituary, 1853

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Source : Brief biographical sketch from the "Times daily journal", cited in The Knickerbocker, Vol 42 (1853) p. 325 (online)

  • In the year 1835, after having been engaged in similar but less extensive duties on other roads, Mr. Seymour assumed the labors of Engineer on the New York and Erie Railroad; acting in which capacity, he continued until he was appointed General Superintendent of the same great enterprise. He resigned this office in 1849, and was soon after elected State-Engineer and Surveyor, the duties of which he performed to entire public acceptance. While holding this high and important station, he was elected Chief Engineer of the Ontario, Huron, and Lake Simcoe Rail-road, in Canada-West, running from Toronto to Lake Huron. This office he transferred to another, in the spring of 1852, upon becoming interested in important rail-road contracts, involving altogether an amount of expenditure exceeding thirty-five millions of dollars. Among the more important of these are the great Ohio and Mississippi Rail-road, from Cincinnati to Saint Louis, the Louisville and Nashville Rail-road, and the Air-Line Road between New-York and Boston.
Mr. Seymour was a man of quick discernment, correct judgment, and prompt decision. His forecast and sagacity were eminently displayed in his prosecution and management of all the public works with which he became connected. It is to his wise discernment that the public are indebted for the introduction of the 'wide gauge' upon the New-York and Erie Rail-road, which has been followed by so many other roads in the country. This great improvement was carried by a report of his to the President and Board of Directors. Its simple reasoning overcame all opposition to the measure.
As a scientific and practical engineer, he was held in the highest esteem; and his predictions of the results of the roads he constructed, were found to be little short of actual prophecies. No man in America exceeded him in the practical knowledge of constructing, equipping, and working rail-roads. He saw clearly, decided promptly, and acted vigorously.
He was a man of unswerving integrity, and conscientious uprightness of conduct, in all the relations and the business of life. No man was more esteemed and beloved by his friends. He was frank, open-hearted, generous; and there are hundreds who will read these lines—- some made rich, and others in the way of becoming so—who owe their good fortune entirely to their benefactor's unselfish disregard of his own. A more affectionate father, a kinder husband, a truer friend, a better neighbor, could nowhere be found. Grateful hearts will follow his remains to their last resting-place to-day, and bitter, bitter tears will fall from many eyes upon the early grave which enshrouds his manly form.
It is a consolation for his surviving friends to know, that as he lived so he died, a conscientious, practical Christian. His life was one of gentleness and good deeds, and 'his last end was peace.' Green be the turf that covers that cold heart, once so warm; and sweet the repose from which he will awake in 'another and a better world!
Further comment
  • Text practically the same as New York Times obituary but rearranged
  • The term wide gauge is misspelled as "wide guage", but corrected in both above texts

The Knickerbocker, Vol 42 (1853)

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  • ... we stood by the bed on which lay all that was earthly of the late Hezekiah C. Seymour, whose recent demise has been mentioned in nearly all the public journals. Mr. Seymour returned from Cincinnati, Ohio, to his residence at Piermont a little before the Fourth of July, on which day he entertained a party of ladies and gentlemen at dinner. On the evening of the next day, he returned from New York seriously indisposed, and the following day his complaint assumed the form of a virulent bilious dysentery, which, despite the assiduous attentions and practised skill of his old friend and resident physician, Dr. Hopson, and Doctors Whiting and Parker of New York, and the most watchful nursing terminated fatally on the evening of the twenty-fourth. The night before the day of his death, some slight hopes had been kindled in the minds of his family and friends, that, although he was greatly prostrated, the symptoms of his disorder had taken a favorable turn. But at five o'clock on Sunday morning his faithful man Edward awoke us with the sad news: "Mr. Seymour is dying!" We repaired immediately to his beautiful residence; and as we walked up the slope of the hill, and looked-off upon the sweet contented fields of summer, with harvests ripe for the sickle, the distant mountains, and the broad river upon which we had so often gazed with our friend, we could not help thinking how hard a thing it was to pass on such a day, from so beautiful a world. The sufferer was much emaciated, but his senses were clear, and his eyes wore an unnatural brightness. They looked beyond the earth; and our dying friend seemed to say:
"The world recedes—it Disappears!
Heaven opens on my eyes!"
"L ----," said he, as we entered, "we have been much together, but we must part here!" His weeping family stood around his bed, while he was struggling with the Invisible Conqueror, to each of whom he separately addressed the most affectionate and moving appeals and counsels. He retained his reason until half an hour or so before his death, when his mind began to wander: 'and presently he fell asleep!' An intimate personal friend, for many years, of the lamented deceased, we can confirm the high eulogium passed upon his character in the following brief biographical sketch from the 'Times' daily journal.
  • p. 324-325
  • And there is his grave, in the cemetery of Rockland, a little way from his own groves, where we have so often walked and talked together; in sight of the verdant landscape upon which he loved to gaze, and below which, to the base of the distant mountains, extends the New York and Erie Railroad, so long the object of his unwearied care, in its linked course to the Great Pacific. Gone—gone: reposing in darkness and silence! "Good God! how often are we to die, before we go quite off this stage f In every friend, we lose a part of ourselves, and the best part" "God keep those we have left!" is our fervent aspiration. - - - How little did our Iowa friend know the amount and variety of pleasure he was affording us, when he sent us the abundant ears of the lofty prairie-corn, which embellished the buck-horns in our town-sanctum during the fall and winter months!...
    • p. 325-326

The american almanac and repository of useful knowledge for the year 1854

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  • July 24. — In Piermont, Rockland County, N. Y., Hon. Hezekiah C. Seymour, aged 42, late Engineer-in-Chief of the State of New York. Mr. Seymour,s name it prominently associated with the New York and Erie Railroad, and with the Ontario, Huron, and Lake Simcoe Railroad in Canada, of hoth of which he had heen chief engineer.
    • p. 336

Between the Ocean and the Lakes: The Story of Erie. (1899)

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Source: Edward Harold Mott Between the Ocean and the Lakes: The Story of Erie. Collins, 1899

Biography

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  • Hezekiah C. Seymour was born in Oneida County, N. Y., and was a warm personal friend of Eleazar Lord. He was one of the early prominent civil engineers of this country. His ideas dominated the policy of the Erie in the construction of the railroad up to the time it was opened to Goshen in 1841, and later. He was the first Superintendent of the Erie, and was also its Engineer until 1845, when Major Thompson S. Brown was appointed to the place. Mr. Seymour was Superintendent until 1849, in which year he was elected State Engineer and Surveyor of New York State.
At the expiration of his term of office in 1852, he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Ontario, Huron and Lake Simcoe Railroad, from Toronto to Lake Huron. He left that place in the spring of 1852 to take an interest in the contracts for building the Ohio and Mississippi, the Louisville and Nashville, the Maysville and Lexington, and other railroads in the West. These contracts were the most stupendous in amount ever taken for the construction of railroads in this country by one firm, the aggregate being more than $35,000,000.
Mr. Seymour did not live to see the completion of the great work, he having died July 24, 1853, at Piermont, N. Y. While superintendent of the Erie he was known among the employees as " The Oneida Chief," and by railroad men at large he was called "The Father of the Erie Broad-Gauge." He left a widow, one son, and five daughters. The son, Augustus S. Seymour, became United States District Judge in North Carolina.
  • p. 315

Work in 1830s

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  • In May, 1838, a new engineer corps was organized to make a final location of the route. Major Thompson S. Brown, of the United States Engineers, was appointed Chief Engineer of the Western Division ; Edwin F. Johnson, of the Susquehanna Division : Celim L. Seymour was Resident Engineer of the Delaware Division, and Hezekiah C. Seymour Chief Engineer of the Eastern Division. Silas Seymour was Major Brow's assistant. A. C. Morton, who had been Resident Engineer in charge of the surveys in Rockland and Orange counties in 1836, was appointed Resident Engineer, in chief charge of work in Orange County in September, 1838.
    • p. 313-14

About the succession of Seymour

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  • The first general superintendent, Hezekiah C. Seymour, came from Oneida County, and got the name on the road of the "Oneida Chief." In 1849 a successor to Superintendent Seymour was to be appointed, as he intended to quit the service. S. S. Post was superintendent of transportation. He was in the line of promotion to the general superintendency, and as he was very popular with the employees, they were delighted with the prospect of having him as their superintendent. James P. Kirkwood was also mentioned in connection with the place. W. H. Stewart ran what was called the night line, and, in expectation of hearing the news somewhere along the line that Post had been elected superintendent, he had a big transparency, inscribed "S. S. Post, General Superintendent," all ready to light and display on his train. The news came, however, that Kirkwood was the choice of the Directors, and there was great disappointment among the "boys." This was in April, 1849. It is highly probable, though, that S.S. Post's long connection with the Railroad Company, and his popularity, would have secured him the place; if he had not shown an inclination to answer, in a non-committal way, queries put to him by the Directors, and a disposition to respond to them by asking questions himself.
    • p. 405

See also

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