Silas Seymour

He spent one year at the Fredonia Academy when in 1837, construction stopped on the NY & Erie RR due to lack of funds.

On December 23, 1840, he married Delia S. French of Dunkirk (1821-1884) and they had six children: Florence (Mrs. Theodore W. Bayaud), George French, Hanson Risley (died as an infant), James Montgomery ("Mont"), Jeanie (Mrs. Jean G. P. Blanchet), and Silas Jr. About 1851 he became Chief Engineer and was for some time General Superintendent of the Buffalo and New York City Railroad, extending from Hornellsville to Buffalo, New York, and he designed and constructed the bridge across the Genesee River at Portage, New York.

Silas appears to have recommended Theodore Judah as chief engineer for the Sacramento Valley project but was not heavily involved himself.

He designed the high bridge over Dale Creek Cañon, near the summit of the Black Hills of the Rocky Mountains.

He was New York State Engineer and Surveyor again from 1882 to 1883, elected in 1881 on the Republican ticket, but defeated for re-election in 1883 by Democrat Elnathan Sweet.

At the time of his death, he was Consulting Engineer of the Cape Cod Ship Canal and interested in railroads in Florida.