Person:James Seaver (20)

An extensive biography of James Everett Seaver was published in the book "Kansas City, Missouri, Its History and Its People, 1800-1908," by Carrie Westlake Whitney, published by the S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908. It reads:

"JAMES EVERETT SEAVER.

"James Everett Seaver, president of the Kansas City Board of Trade and vice-president and general manager of the Midland Electric Company, is one whose words carry weight in business circles, for in his own career he has displayed an aptitude for successful management that indicates marked business and executive ability. A native son of the Empire state, he was born in Batavia, Genesee county, December 8, 1851.

"His parents were James Everett and Nancy Keith Seaver, the former a son of William and Nancy (McCleary) Seaver and the latter a daughter of Nathan and Nancy (Keith) Follett. The first of the Seaver family in America was Robert Seaver, a young Englishman, who came from his native country on the ship Mary and John and landed in Boston in 1633. He wedded Elizabeth Ballard and reared a family of seven children. Settling at Roxbury, Massachusetts, his homestead stood at what is now the junction of Center and Amory streets, and there representatives of the family remained for several generations. Major William Seaver, of the fifth generation, and Captain William Seaver, of the sixth generation, served in the Revolutionary war. James E. Seaver, Sr., conducted a drug and book store at Batavia up to the time of his death in 1852. His father-in-law, Nathan Follett, with his family lived at Batavia until 1850, when he removed westward to Ypsilanti, Michigan. His daughter, Mrs. Seaver, losing her husband in 1852, then took her little son, James, at that time but a year old, and joined her parents at Ypsilanti, Michigan.

"James E. Seaver, of this review, was a pupil in the public schools of Ypsilanti between the ages of six and seventeen years. He afterward learned the milling business with his grandfather Follett, who owned a large mill in that city. In 1870 he went to California and spent two years in travelling through the west. The year 1878 witnessed his arrival in Kansas City, where he engaged in the grain business. Here his activity and enterprise have constantly promoted his business success and enlarged the scope of his activities and his position in commercial circles is indicated by the honor that came to him in his election to the presidency of the Kansas City Board of Trade. He is likewise vice president and general manager of the Midland elevator Company and is a director of the Commercial Club. As officer and stockholder he is connected with many other business enterprises of importance and his wise counsel proves a strong factor in the prosperous management and control of these. He readily comprehends the intricacies of a complex business problem and readily sees the way to a successful solution thereof. He forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution, while another potent element in his success has been his ready recognition and utilization of opportunities.

"On the 22d of December, 1875, Mr. Seaver was married to Miss Bella Ralston Carr, a daughter of David and Cynthia Ann Carr. They now have one child, Everett Herbert, born September 2, 1886. The parents are communicants of the Episcopal church and Mr. Seaver gives his political support to the democracy. In Masonry he has taken the degrees of the lodge and chapter, also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and is a member of the Mystic Shrines."

CENSUS RECORDS:

In the 1910 US Census, E. James Seaver (head, male, white, age 58, first marriage, married 34 years, born NY, parents born NY/NY, a merchant, works for grain company) and R. Bella Seaver (head, female, white, age 54, first marriage, married 34 years, 2 children born, 1 living, born MI, parents born MI/Scotland) resided in the Elsmine Hotel on the Southeast corner of Linwood and Troost Avenues in the 4th Ward of Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri [1910 US Federal Census Population Schedule, Jackson County, Missouri, Lines 84 and 87, Sheet 12B, ED 162, Page 48, Roll 788, National Archives Microfilm Series T624].