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Five Generations Live In 

 One House 



By NELL FLATT GOODMAN 

 Home Bureau Editor 



V Y-jOT only as a home, but as a 

 ^J/ precious heritage is the way Mr. 

 ^^ I and Mrs. Everett Seiler, VC'ahash 

 county, regard their 100 year old house 

 recently remodeled. Their twin sons sub- 

 scribe to the same idea and show signs 

 of carrying on the tradition. 



Each successive generation has brought 

 something new to the stalwart house set 

 high upon a hill overlooking the Wabash 

 river. Triumphant this house stands now. 

 in spite of winds or weather, paying trib- 

 ute to the thoroughness, energy, and 

 enthusiasm which the pioneers built into 

 their homes and brought to their farms 

 in the early period of midwestern agri- 

 culture. 



Frederick Christian Seiler and Anna 

 Elizabeth Copp, his wife, of Westofen 



i 

 1^ 



MR. and MRS. EVERETT SEILER and 

 their twin sons Robert and Frederick. 



Palatinate, Germany, with their two 

 sons and daughters emigrated to America 

 in 183.^, landing at New Orleans. They 

 came up the river to Evansville, Indiana. 

 In IS.^*) the family moved to Wabash 

 county, Illinois, and bought a farm of 

 SO acres, all timber except 20 acres. A 

 log cabin had been built previous to their 

 coming, which they replaced with a 

 frame house a few years later. This frame 

 house is still a part of the house shown 

 in the picture. The first consisted of 



MAY, 1938 



THE OLD SEttER HOME 

 "Each generation has brought something new.' 



five rooms, a story and a half high. 



Timbers for the house were hewed 

 by members of the family and the frame 

 was raised with the help of neighbors. 

 A sawmill from Evansville was brought 

 to the farm and all the lumber sawed 

 there. The interior was finished as was 

 the custom at that time. A fireplace on 

 which a huge backlog was rolled heated 

 the living room. The second floor was 

 reached by means ot a ladder from a 

 hall between the kitchen and living room. 



The father, Frederick Christian Seiler, 

 became a naturalized citizen in 18-45. 

 Before that in 1838 he helped to organize 

 the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Mt. 

 Carmel, serving as one of the first elders. 

 He died. October 28. ISM .and his wife 

 followed him December I''. 1 866. on the 

 farm on which they settled in 1835. Both 

 are buried in Sand Hill Cemetery. Mt. 

 Carmel. 



The eldest son, Jaob, inherited the 

 homestead. His mother continued to re- 

 side with him imtil her death. In I S i6. 

 he had married Ann Matilda Bahrn, of 

 Lebanon county, Pennsylvania. Jacob be- 

 came a naturalized citizen in KS'^O. The 

 farm was gradually increasing in acre.igc 

 by the purchase of neighboring tracts. 



In 1869 Jacob remodeled. Tlie kitchen 

 was torn away, four rooms were added 

 and the entire house raised to two stories. 

 A stairway repl.iced the old ladder. The 

 hall separated the old and new parts. A 

 small veranda was added over the porch. 

 The lower porch was enclosed with lat- 

 tice work very popular in those days. In 

 the dining room was built another fire- 



place and a capacious cupboard reaching 

 from the tloor to the ceiling. Again, in 

 1882. Jacob Seiler further improved his 

 home by installing a water system. The 

 water was forced by the wmdmill into a 

 reservoir tank in the kitchen. Before the 

 windmill, water had |->een available 

 through a sweep' and still later by the 

 bucket and chain route. 



The farm by this time consisted of 

 more than a section, from which farms 

 of 1 20 acres were deeded to ilie sons 

 as they married and started homes for 

 themselves. In 1889. the last 130 .icres, 

 the original homestead, were deeded to 

 Jacob Ellsworth Seller, the fourth son 

 of the family, with a provision that he 

 care for his parents as long as they lived. 

 The house was then rearranged to care 

 for the two families although the plan 

 remained as in 18 46. Jacob purchased 

 )3 more acres of adjoining land m.iking 

 his farm now 1~3 acres. 



In 1900, Jacob Ellsworth installed a 

 hot water heating plant and an acctclyn 

 gas lighting plant. A few years later, in 

 keeping with the vogue of the time, a 

 front porch was adiled. Although many 

 new ideas were added with the years, 

 little was torn away. Building always 

 with an idea for permanence, those early 

 planners saw to it that construction was 

 sound. 



lacob Ellsworth died in March 1902, 

 and left surviving his wife and three 

 small sons, who resided on the farm 

 until 191 i. 



In 1912, Everett E. Seiler, grandson of 



29 



