She lived to be 100—71 as a widow…The Deacon’s great granddaughter and her husband

Two of Deacon Mather’s daughters lived into their nineties.  His granddaughter, Emily Selleck Waterbury lived to be 99, but it was her daughter, Betsey Ann Waterbury Seeley who set the record for longevity among the Deacon’s descendants, living past her 100^th birthday (20 Sep 1835-16 Jun 1936).

Betsey was born during Andrew Jackson’s second term and died dur-ing Frankin Roosevelt’s first.  She saw the United States grow from 24 states to 48.  She was born only twenty years after the end of the War of 1812 and passed away just five years before the start of World War Two.  But it was the American Civil War that forever changed her life.

On 19 September 1858, Betsy married Albert Oscar Seeley.  He enlisted from Darien on 9 August 1862.  Corporal Seeley was captured at Gettysburg and paroled seven weeks later.  He was captured again in May 1964 in Welaka Florida and served time in the notorious Andersonville prison camp.  He was paroled in Dec 1864 and died in Annapolis 9 January 1865.  Darien death records cite “Soldier Starved

at Andersonville” as the cause of his death.

Betsy and Albert had two sons.  Albert only lived to age seven.  His brother William Wyx Seeley lived to 98.

“Mrs. Seeley had been in excellent health during her long life and retained her faculties and interest in life almost to the end…”   Mount Vernon Argus June 27, 1936

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