Sacramento County
Biographies
COL. HENRY I. SEYMOUR
Among native Californians who have forged
to the front in the business field of Sacramento there is none more deserving
of mention in a work of this character than Henry I. Seymour of the Buffalo
brewery and of other enterprises of importance and of promise. Mr. Seymour was
born in Sacramento July 25, 1861, son of Henry O. and Elizabeth (Osborn)
Seymour, both of whom were natives of New York state.
The father came around the Cape in a sailing vessel in 1854 and followed
farming. At the time of his death he was a member of the Board of Supervisors
and had been chairman of that body. His death occurred in 1876. Mrs. Seymour
had made the trip to the west in 1852, and she passed away in 1910.
Educated in the public schools Henry I.
Seymour was graduated from high school in 1878. His first experience in
business was an employe in the freight department of
the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. He early demonstrated that he had in him
the energy from which successful men of affairs are developed, and his
advancement was rapid. For ten years he was in the service of that corporation,
then in 1890 he entered the employ of the Buffalo
Brewing Company as a bookkeeper, and in that capacity he labored faithfully and
most efficiently five years. So devoted had he been to the interests of the
concern, so well had he informed himself in the intricacies of its affairs, that he was called to the higher responsibility of
its management, and since then he has been influential in shaping its course
and directing the carrying out of its policies. The company began business in
1890, with a capacity of twenty-five thousand barrels. It had been incorporated
in 1888, and its original board of directors was constituted as follows:
Ex-Governor Newton Booth, J. R. Watson of the Southern Pacific Railroad
Company, H. H. Grau, Adolph Heilbron,
W. E. Gerber, Frank Ruhstaller, Sr., Louis Nicolaus, Frederick Cox and Samuel Lavenston.
Of this board only three survive. Mr. Grau, the
original manager, retired in 1895. The present capacity of the plant is so very
much greater than that of early days of the company that the output exceeds one
hundred thousand barrels and ranks on a par in production and quality with any
brewery in California.
For four years Mr. Seymour was active as a
director and vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, and from time to time
he has been identified, directly or indirectly, with various interests of the
city. About 1885 he became a member of Company E, First Artillery, National Guards. From a private he rose to the office of
captain in the next three years. In 1895 he was placed on the retired list,
remaining there until 1900, when he was elected colonel of the Second Infantry
Regiment, N. G. C., serving in that capacity until 1910, when he was again
placed on the retired list. As colonel of the Second Infantry he served in San
Francisco during the fire of 1906. He is a member of Sacramento Lodge No. 6, B.
P. O. E., and of Sunset Parlor No. 26, N. S. G. W. The Sutter Club numbers him
among its members, and he has served on its board of trustees.
Mr. Seymour was married in Napa county in 1887 to Miss Grace Brownlee, who was a native
daughter of Napa county and a graduate of Perry's Seminary of Sacramento. They
are the parents of two children, Donald and Doris. In many ways Mr. Seymour has
demonstrated his public spirit, and there are few movements inaugurated which
give promise of benefiting any considerable number of his fellow citizens that
do not receive his cordial and generous support.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 826-827. Historic
Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.