San
Joaquin County
Biographies
OSCAR ALLEN SEAMANDS
Since 1861, Oscar Allen Seamands has
been a citizen of San Joaquin County, being but two years old when he
accompanied his parents to California.
He was born in Gentry County, Missouri, January 14, 1859, a son of
Joshua and Josephine (Andrews) Seamands, the former a native of Iowa and the
latter of Illinois. Joshua Seamands, the
father, grew to manhood in Iowa and prior to 1861 served as sheriff of Boone
County for two terms. Early in the
spring of 1861 the family set out for California with covered wagons drawn by
oxen and on arriving in the state settled at Stockton. In 1868 Joshua Seamands became the
superintendent of the Stockton Rural Cemetery and served in that capacity for
ten years; he also served as coroner of Stockton for one term. There were four children in the family, of
whom our subject is the youngest, and he is the only one surviving. In 1884 the father located in Tulare where he
bought a ranch and became a successful farmer until his death in 1892. The mother passed away on February 25, 1869,
and in 1874 the father was married to Miss Mary Nevin of Lodi and three sons
and one daughter were born of this union, all of whom now reside near
Tulare. Joshua Seamands was a Mason and
an active member of the Knights of Pythias.
Oscar Allen Seamands received a good
public school education at the old North Eldorado School in Stockton and his
boyhood days were spent on the farm. At
seventeen years of age he entered the employ of Edward Clowes,
the nurseryman, as bookkeeper, where he remained for six years when he gave up
office work to take a position with the Stockton Street Railway Company, and
remained with them for five years. In
1898 the tales of the riches of the Klondike country caused him to resign his
position and in company with Woods and Curtis made the trip to the frozen
North. For five years he bore the
privations and hardships of that region, most of the time being spent near
Dawson and Nome, prospecting. Mr. Seamands
recalls the pleasure he experienced in receiving a package from a Mission
Indian runner, containing six copies of the Stockton Record, on which he paid
$5 express charges. On opening the
package he found that the papers were two years old, but none the less
welcome. Times were good in the
Klondike, but the privations and extreme cold proved detrimental to Mr.
Seamands’ health; so he returned to the states on and June 21, 1905, was
married to Mrs. Mary (Lawrence) Buzzell, born near the Mossdale
Bridge, San Joaquin County, on August 4, 1869, a daughter of Joseph and Nora
(Gallagher) Lawrence. Joseph Lawrence
was a native of Portugal, and when a lad of twelve years went to sea on an
English whaler and followed that life until he was twenty-five years old. Her mother was a native of Ireland, who came
to California in 1867, and she and Mr. Lawrence were married at San Leandro at
the Moss home on October 6, 1867. Joseph
Lawrence was employed by Captain Moss, who owned and conducted a ferry on the
river prior to the coming of the railroad, and remained with him for eleven
years. They were the parents of four
children: Mary, Mrs. Oscar A. Seamands;
Frank E. Lawrence is married and resides at Stockton; Mrs. Anna E. Walker died
October 17, 1919; Thomas Lawrence was drowned in the San Joaquin River June 24,
1875, being three years and three months old.
Mrs. Seamands’ father passed away on March 10, 1916, his wife surviving
him until June 13, 1916. Miss Mary
Lawrence was first married at Stockton on June 12, 1888, to Joseph Buzzell, a
native of California of French and American descent whose father came to
America in 1840, and they were the parents of two children: Helen and Lawrence. Mr. Buzzell became deputy sheriff under Tom
Cunningham and he was killed on November 28, 1895, near Paradise Cut, San
Joaquin County, while in the discharge of his
duty. Fraternally Mr. Seamands is a
member of the Fraternal Brotherhood and since 1892 has been a member of the
Stockton Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and politically he votes as a
Republican. He has served as a trustee
of the Mossdale School for three terms, and Mrs.
Seamands has served for two terms, and it was during her second term as trustee
in 1918 that the present school building was finished. Mr. and Mrs. Seamands have an adopted
daughter, Verna, a girl of thirteen. On
January 1, 1907, Mr. Seamands became superintendent of the San Joaquin River bridge at Mossdale in the employ
of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company; this bridge is a fine structure
completed January 25, 1896; the Bell Telephone and Telegraph station is also
located at this point. For the past
twenty years, Mrs. Seamands has had charge of the U. S. Weather Observation
Bureau station at Mossdale. Both Mr. and Mrs. Seamands are representative
citizens of their locality and have contributed to its upbuilding and improvement.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1011. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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