[3] Seymour played the piano, harp, guitar and organ, but never appeared on the stage, except for charitable events, as her relatives were opposed to her pursuing a professional life.

A "confirmed bluestocking",[4] Seymour was also a polyglot who spoke seven languages fluently: German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Hungarian dialects.

She was descended from General Michael Jackson, of Newton, Massachusetts, who commanded a regiment of minutemen in the battle of Lexington.

William Wood Seymour, an Episcopal clergyman[3] at one time connected with Trinity Parish, New York.

[11] The father's loss of property during the American Civil War and his feeble health led her to go to Europe for study to become a vocal teacher.

[2] After the death of her father, she received a sizeable inheritance,[4] and returned to her home in the U.S. After losing her fortune, she moved into a small apartment on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan where she gave piano lessons and developed a platonic relationship with Gottschalk.

In 1884, she brought out her papers on "The Rhinegold Trilogy" (Boston), which had been written in Vienna under the supervision of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner.

[2] She died at her home, "Fonda Vera", in Louisville, of Bright's disease, May 12, 1897,[3] and is buried in that city's Cave Hill Cemetery.