Seely House

As far as I know we are the first to call this place Seely House since about 1905. That this house once again has a name is thanks to Greg Campbell, a neighbor of ours who is in the employ of L.P. Fisher Library. His research provided us with one very important name.


1901 Canadian Census: County Carleton (New Brunswick), Town of Woodstock; Sub-district L-1, pg. 24 (excerpt)

Arthur Seely. Just saying this name in this house seems to bring on a hush. A feeling of reverence. A connection to the past. Arthur Seely built this house. It's not yet clear how much personal involvement he had in its erection, but I have found at least one source that notes his trade as carpentry. His hands have been all over the bones of this place.


Detail of above image.

This is the only census record for Seely and his family that I have so far been able to find. It provides vital information such as Arthur's birth date (9 August 1859), the names of his wife and children and their religion (Methodist, except for the oldest son who is listed as Baptist). It lists Arthur Seely's occupation as "bridge builder".

Here is a transcription of one of the newspaper articles included with the documents originally given to us by Greg:

Dispatch, 18 May 1898 (p. 8)

Arthur Seely of the CPR is about erecting a

house below the new residence of Samuel Watson.

The cellar is already done.

From this it would seem that Arthur worked for the Canadian Pacific Railroad at the time of this article's publication. If we look at both of these sources we could possibly deduce that he was a bridge builder for the CPR. Not much else about Arthur Seely is known to us at this time: a situation we hope to have remedied some day. Another newspaper clipping tells of his sudden departure to Fredericton with his family in 1905. Attempts to track down any more information in York County archives or to locate any surviving relatives have so far failed.