2022 Update:

1. I made a correction to my 2nd great-grandfather’s name in the original portion of the blog post.
2. I added images to the original post.
3. For clarification to my family members who follow the blog, the line goes from Troy Columbus BATES’ dad Albert to Albert’s mom Mary SEELY BATES to Mary’s father, Charles George SEELY who is listed below in the original portion of the blog post.
4. Since I do have an Ancestry account at this point, I did a quick search for Theodore again. It turns out (if the Ancestry trees I consulted are correct), Theodore Martin SEELY is possibly related to us. It appears we share an English ancestral couple: Sir William SEELEY of Huntingdon and his wife, Lady Grace PRETT SEELEY. William and Grace are my 11th great-grandparents and Theodore Martin’s 10th great-grandparents. I haven’t done the research necessary to solidify this connection but I welcome others to join the search and verify this connection.

Happy searching! Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Original Blog Post:

My connections to SEELY: I can only trace my SEELY line back to my great-great grandfather Charles Harvey George SEELY. He was a Baptist preacher. He married Synthia Arrena FOSTER and together they had 8 known children. I descend through their daughter, Mary Ann, who was the sixth of the eight children. Charles and Synthia were married in Lawrence County, Missouri.

A review of online death records for Lawrence County, Missouri shows that Theodore Martin SEELY died on 17 Dec 1944 in the town of Marionville.

Theodore lived in that area for 1 year and 2 months prior to his death. Theodore was a white male. He was married to Joyce Opal SEELY at the time of his death. He began his life on 28 Dec 1878 in Indiana. He was a retired oil worker. His cause of death was listed as “appoplexy” due to arteriosclerosis, a condition he had for 5 years prior to his death. Theodore’s wife, who was 20 years his junior, was unable to identify Theodore’s parents. I searched HeritageQuest but was unable to locate any information about Theodore with the information that I have from his death certificate. Ancestry listed Theodore and Joyce as living together in McDonald County, Missouri on the 1930 Federal Census.

Beyond these details, I was not able to find anything else by doing a cursory internet search for Theodore and Joyce. If I had a subscription to Ancestry, I would have been able to find more and to possibly find out whether Theodore was a part of my SEELY family that lived for many years in Lawrence County before moving on to other parts of Missouri and nearby Benton County, Arkansas.

For now, Theodore and Joyce will remain a mystery for me. Blessings to all my SEELY’s who are out there. I would love to connect with living relatives.