SGS Founded
The Seeley Genealogical Society (SGS) was founded by Rev. Garner Osborn in 1965. A native of Burr Oak, Iowa, he was the son of William Osborn and Alice Seely, eleventh generation in descent from Robert Seeley.
Issue #1 of SGS Newsletter Printed and Sent Out
Shortly after the formation of the SGS, Garner Osborn sent out Issue #1 of the SGS Newsletter, dated March 1965. He intended to send out four issues that year and he did just that. As the “Interim Editor,” he started listing queries in Issue #2. The newsletter continues to be compiled and sent out multiple times each year. Past issues can be viewed on the newsletter page.
Lloyd Seely Elected SGS President
The first SGS President was Lloyd Seely (1968-1971).
Deloss Seely Elected SGS President
President from 1971-1980.
The Descendants of Robert Seeley, First Five Generations Published
Compiled by Esther Houtz Walter.
First Seeley Family Reunion
The first family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Lyons, Colorado.
Donald Eff Elected SGS President
President from 1980-1983.
Seeley Ancestor File Compiled
The SGS Ancestor File is a system for storing basic data about all Seeleys of any spelling and their descendants. There are two components—the Seeley Surname Database and the Other Surname Database for the descendants of Seeley women. The current databases grew out of a system John R. Seely devised in 1982 as an index to information on members of the Seeley family.
Second Seeley Family Reunion
The second family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Denver, Colorado.
Robert Cox Elected SGS President
President from 1983-1989.
Third Seeley Family Reunion
The third family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
First SGS Constitution and Bylaws Adopted
Adoption of the first SGS Constitution and Bylaws occurred by a vote of membership attending the third SGS Reunion in Fort Wayne, Indiana, August 21-23, 1986. Since then the Constitution has been revised several times in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2021, each time to reflect changing roles of officers and significant modifications of policies.
Fourth Seeley Family Reunion
The fourth family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Marshal Seelye Elected SGS President
President from 1989-1997.
Fifth Seeley Family Reunion
The 5th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
The Sixth Generation Families Published
Compiled by Madeline M. Mills and her daughter Katherine M. Olsen.
Sixth Seeley Family Reunion
The 6th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Descendants of Robert Seely & Obadiah Seeley, Generations 1-5 Updated
In 1997, Mills and Olsen published Descendants of Robert Seeley (1602) & Obadiah Seeley (1614-1657) Generations One Through Five, a thorough revision of Walters' 1977 publication.
The Seelye Research Center Established
The Seelye Research Center (SRC) was established in 1997, based on an agreement signed by Seelye Mansion owner Terry Tietjens and the SGS Executive Board. A list of documents shelved there and their shelf locations is contained on both the SGS CD-ROM and the SGS Website.
Seventh Seeley Family Reunion
The first Reunion held outside the United States was the seventh, held in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, in 1997. It was co-hosted by Seeleys of New Brunswick under the leadership of Harold Fanjoy. A member of the Canadian Parliament, Elsie Wayne, gave the welcoming address.
Daniel Seelye Elected SGS President
President from 1997-2001.
Eighth Seeley Family Reunion
The 8th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Abilene, Kansas.
SGS Launches Website!
Chaired by the SGS Genealogist, Jim Seeley, a committee comprised of Ed Seeley, Mark Cilley and Terry Tietjens was formed to establish a website for SGS. Daniel P. Seelye, then SGS President, created the site and published it on world wide web.
Seventh Generation Families Published
Compiled by Mills and Olsen.
The SGS Executive Board decided that due to the size of this volume, no further books on this line will be published by SGS. Several hundred copies of these books have been sold to SGS members and Seeley researchers. They are also on the SGS CD-ROM available in the Shop.
Ninth Seeley Family Reunion
The 9th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Tacoma, Washington.
Jim Seeley Elected SGS President
President from 2001-2007.
Seeley DNA Project Launched
In 2002, Fred Hart, a professional genealogist hired by SGS, had just finished some research on immigrant Obadiah Seeley (SGS #4) and suggested that we might try using DNA testing to gain further information about Obadiah's ancestry in England. Wesley Waring, SGS member, took on the project.
Tenth Seeley Family Reunion
The 10th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Reunion Souvenir Book Published for First Time
In 2003, SGS member Paul Taylor, SGS Second Vice President, compiled and published the first Reunion Souvenir Book and the next six books. A Reunion book has been published for each SGS Reunion since.
First DNA Tests Performed
The first DNA tests were done and analyzed at the Oxford Ancestors Lab in England for the possibility of cross-referencing our results with those in their database and help locate the Seeley lines in the UK. (It turns out that didn't help.) The first tests were 10 marker tests of the Y line. There were eight male participants, enough to show how the DNA tests could help us.
"Robert Seeley's England" Tour
In 2004, SGS members made a trip to Robert Seeley’s England. Organized by Katherine Olsen, the trip took members to places where Robert and his ancestors had lived as well as to many other sites of historical interest.
SGS Website Improvements
Members Jerry and Chris Havnar took over the Website in May 2004, changing it to reflect technological advances. The Havnars undertook a complete expansion of the site’s content, but additions to the site slowed down after the death of Jerry Havnar in 2015. The Havnars jointly received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Society at the 2013 Reunion in Grand Rapids, Michigan for their work on the site.
Eleventh Seeley Family Reunion
The 11th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Abilene, Kansas.
Newsletter Indexes Compiled
Newsletter indexes were compiled by Caroline Haddon in 2006 to assist people in finding information within the newsletters published from 1965 to that year. She created three indexes: The first is an index of the articles, queries, reports, and general information contained in the newsletter. The second is an index of Seeley (any spelling) surnames indexed by first name only. The third is an index of Surnames other than Seeley which is indexed by last name.
Twelfth Seeley Family Reunion
The 12th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
Kathie Olsen Elected SGS President
President from 2007-2015.
"Seeleys of New England" Tour
A tour organized by Katherine Olsen took place in 2007 when SGS members visited New England after the SGS Reunion in Wethersfield, Connecticut. The tour visited sites where SGS members as well as Robert and Obadiah Seeley had lived. An excellent description of the tour, “A Tour of Robert and Obadiah’s New England,” by SGS member LeAnne Seely is contained in the 2007 SGS Reunion Souvenir Book and the November 2007 issue of the Newsletter.
Seeley Ancestor File Improvements
In 2008, Bob Crocker converted the Ancestor File into an Excel spreadsheet. Linda Crocker, SGS Chief Genealogist, and Chris Havnar, then a Director of the Society, took over its management. At that time the Ancestor File was moved to storage on Dropbox, a Cloud-based service that enabled both Crocker (in West Virginia) and Havnar (in California) to update the file.
The contents of the Ancestor File come from submissions by members and/or research and include birth, death, marriage, and parent information as well as connection to Robert and Obadiah, if known. As of May 2021 the Ancestor File contained 55,601 lines of data, comprising of the Seeley Surname Database with 37,229 lines of data and the Other Surname Database with 18,372 lines of data.
Thirteenth Seeley Family Reunion
The 13th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Salt Lake City, UT.
SGS Facebook Presence Established
SGS First Vice President Paul Taylor established SGS on the Facebook social media platform in 2011 in order to keep members informed of current SGS events, provide genealogical information of interest to members, and furnish a tool for possibly attracting new members to the Society. As of May 2021 “likes” on the page have increased to 646.
Fourteenth Seeley Family Reunion
The 14th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Horseheads, New York.
Johnson Bequest
In 2012, the estate of deceased SGS members Robert Seeley Johnson and his wife, Evelyn R. Johnson, gave SGS a bequest of $88,919.16, the bulk of which was placed in CD's and savings accounts with some expended on research undertaken by professional genealogists Apryl Cox and Bruce Murduck. The Johnson bequest ensures the ability of SGS to pursue it's goals well into the future.
Fifteenth Seeley Family Reunion
The 15th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Non-Profit Status Established
Although the topic had been broached many times since 1965, only the tenacious efforts of then SGS President Katherine Olsen (assisted by sound legal advice from her brother) finally drove SGS over the finish line in achieving Title 501(c)(3) status as a nonprofit organization. The tax exemption was mad retroactive to March 1, 1965, when Garner Osborn published the first issue of the Newsletter.
All donations are now tax deductible, and many of the expenses of elected and appointed officers are also deductible. This achievement marks SGS as a serious organization dedicated to preserving the genealogy of the family name.
Walter's Family Files Received
The SRC received Esther Walter’s family files in 2014, comprising the original research on which the Society was founded, which she had also used to compile her book on the first five generations of Seeleys in America. Her papers are on display in a custom-built cabinet, funded by former SGS President Jim Seeley.
Seelye Research Center Modernization
Under the leadership of SGS Librarian Pam Turner, the modernization and upkeep of the SRC continued with the adoption of an emergency policy for the center’s collection and the installation of water detectors.
Happy Golden Anniversary SGS!
The Seeley Genealogical Society celebrated 50 years with all those that gathered at the reunion in Abilene, Kansas.
Sixteenth Seeley Family Reunion
The 16th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in Abilene, Kansas.
Lynda Simmons Elected SGS President
President from 2015-2021.
Research Reports by April Cox and Bruce Murduck Published
Beginning in 2016, five research reports compiled by Apryl Cox were published in the SGS Newsletter: three on Obadiah Seeley, one on Robert Seeley, and one on Augustus Seeley. Augustus Seeley was also the subject of three additional reports by Bruce Murduck also published in the Newsletter.
SGS Website Modernization
In 2018, the SGS employed Logan Seelye, a professional web designer, as the SGS Webmaster to revamp the site once again, including completing the transfer of all information from the old site and allowing multiple persons to update and/or add information. Coincidentally, Logan is the grandson of Daniel Seelye, the former SGS President who originally created the website.
Eighteenth Seeley Family Reunion
The 18th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in San Diego, California.
COVID-19
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the SGS resorted to social media for meetings of the Executive Board in 2020 and 2021, holding three via Zoom, which worked well enough that the Reunion Planning Committee determined to hold the 2021 Reunion virtually as well.
Nineteenth SGS Family Reunion
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the nineteenth SGS Family Reunion was held virtually on May 22, 2021 via Zoom. Though less than four hours in length, the Reunion saw presentations by five members, approved current revisions of the Constitution and Bylaws, and sustained the recommendation by the Executive Board that the 2023 Reunion be held in St. Louis, the site originally proposed for 2021. Only the inability of unofficial SGS photographer Paul Taylor to take candid shots of participants marred an otherwise successful Reunion, ably presided over by Lynda Simmons, the SGS President at the time.
SGS Constitution and Bylaws Overhauled
The Constitution and Bylaws were revised at the virtual Membership Meeting and Reunion on May 22, 2021, when members unanimously voted to accept a complete overhaul of these documents, resulting from work comprehensive work by Pam Turner with input from the Executive Board.
Connie Birth Elected SGS President
President from 2021-current.
188th Newsletter Milestone!
As of May 2021, the Society had published a total of 188 issues of the SGS Newsletter. Former Editor Paul Taylor received an Honorable Mention several times from the National Genealogical Society in the Family Genealogy Societies Section competition. The Newsletter now appears in full color and since 2015 has been delivered to members primarily through email, thereby saving the Society the continually increasing expense of printing and mailing copies.
Why the 188th celebration? Why not!
Twentieth Seeley Family Reunion
The 20th family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place in St. Louis, Missouri.
SGS Turns 60!
2025 is the 60th Anniversary of the Seeley Genealogical Society. A commemorative 60th Anniversary logo was designed for the occasion and displayed on the website and in publications during the year. Garner Osborn would be proud of what he started.
Website Evolution
As with all things technological, the website needed another update to keep up. This time with the aid of SGS member Mark Seely appointed as the Assistant Webmaster working with Logan Seelye (SGS Webmaster), the website was updated both in content making the site more user friendly, as well as on the backend making the site more easily updated and in line with current technologies.
Twenty-First Seeley Family Reunion
The 21st family reunion of the Seeley Genealogical Society took place on September 4-6 in Abilene, Kansas.
