Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 15, No. 1
March, 1937
NECROLOGY
J. B. Meserve
Page 125
JOHN DILLON SEAMAN.
A worthwhile character of the concluding Territorial days was John Dillon Seaman who was born at Benton, Elkhart County, Indiana,
on February 15, 1840. He married Hadasah J. Grant of Benton, Indiana, on June 16, 1858. She was born in Indiana on April 19,
1841 and passed away at Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 30, 1911. In the spring of 1872, Mr. Seaman removed with his family to Kearney,
Buffalo County, Nebraska where he engaged in the grain business for several years. He was elected to the State Senate from
Buffalo County in 1879 and after the conclusion of his four-year term, removed to North Platte where he occupied a responsible,
position in the Government Land Office. Ill health prompted his removal to Cabool, Missouri, in 1891 and from that place to
Tulsa, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, in 1893. He was initially engaged in the contracting business in Tulsa and took a prominent
and engaging part in the social, business, and political life of the old Indian Territory. He became a recognized Republican
leader in the Territory and was chosen as a delegate to the Republican National Convention held at St. Louis, in June, 1896.
Mr. Seaman was appointed postmaster of Tulsa on November 22, 1898, by President McKinley, being reappointed by President Theodore
Roosevelt on December 15, 1902, and again on December 20, 1906, and was serving in that position at the time of his demise.
His service as a public officer was of the highest character. He passed away at Tulsa on October 24, 1907, and rests in the
Oaklawn Cemetery at that place.
"Captain" Seaman, as he was affectionately called, although the title had no significance of any military service, was a typical
representative of the old order of things. He was progressive however and became a strong advocate of Statehood but was denied,
by a few days, a realization of his dreams in that regard.
John D. Seaman was a man of the highest character and integrity.
—J. B. MESERVE.
Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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