Abraham Seely was an able seaman aboard HMS Erebus on the 1845 Franklin expedition. According to the muster books, he was born in Gravesend, Kent and was 34 years old, which puts his birth around 1811. This was his first entry into service.
He initially allotted part of his salary to a sister named Susan Lawrence, who lived at No. 5 Essex Street, Borough Southwark. However, she was later crossed out, and he instead allotted it to someone who appears to be named Mary Inchy, living at No. 3 Oaklay’s Buildings, Thames Street, Greenwich. Presumably, she is another sister, as the relation of “sister” was not crossed out.
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Erebus Allotment Lists. The National Archives, ADM 27/90. |
There is a merchant seaman’s ticket for an Abraham Seely born in Gravesend, who I believe is the same person. He gives his birth as 9 Nov 1810, and it says he first went to sea as an apprentice in 1824 and is currently living in Greenwich. He was 5 ft 2, with a fresh complexion, brown hair, and blue eyes. He could not write.
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| Seaman’s ticket 20,883. The National Archives, BT113. |
It appears Abraham was baptized twice. Once in 1811 in an independent denomination, and once in 1831 in the Church of England. Both baptisms give his birth date as 9 November 1810. His parents are given as Noah and Martha Seely. The second baptism lists his father’s occupation as painter.
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| Baptismal record for Abraham Seely. 30 Dec 1811 in Gravesend, Kent. |
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| Baptismal record for Abraham Seely. 7 Oct 1831 in Greenwich, Kent. |
Marriage
While looking into Abraham, I stumbled across this 1840 marriage between an Abraham Seely and a Mary Frances Haver. Abraham’s occupation is fisherman, and his father is listed as being Noah Seely, a painter.
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| Seely-Haver marriage. 18 May 1840. Saint John The Evangelist, Waterloo Road, Lambeth. |
It appears the couple had one daughter, Mary, in 1841. If I’m reading it correctly, it appears she was born in a poor house in Southwark.
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| Mary Sealey’s baptism. 10 March 1841. St John Horsleydown, Tooley Street, Bermondsey, Southwark. |
To confirm if the above was correct, I found the death duty register entry for Abraham Seely. It outlines some details of his estate and who inherited it, and subsequently, who owed inheritance tax. We can see indeed he was married. The administrator of his estate was his wife, Mary Frances Seely. She inherited ⅓ of his estate, and his daughter Mary inherited the other ⅔.
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| Death Duty Register. The National Archives, IR26. 1854. Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Folio 418. |
It seems quite odd to me that he would have allotted his salary to a sister in 1845 if he had a wife and daughter who’d previously resided in a poor house. I think there’s a strong possibility that the Mary Inchy in the allotment is a distortion or my own misreading of Mary Seely, his wife.
I can’t find much on his wife or daughter past the 1841 baptism. The death duty register has them both living at 5 Essex Street in 1854, the same address as his sister Susan, which was crossed out in the allotment. However, they weren’t there in the prior 1851 census (though Susan was), and they weren’t there in the next census in 1861.
Since Abraham only had a daughter, and daughters don’t inherit their father’s Y-DNA or mtDNA, I didn’t pursue further research into them.
Siblings of Abraham Seely
The most likely marriage I could find for Abraham’s parents, Noah and Martha, was in 1796 in Sholden, Kent.
Looking at baptism records for the children of Noah & Martha, I’ve found four potential siblings of Abraham. All are sisters.
- Dinah, born 1798 in Chatham, Kent (transcribed as “Sealey”).
- Caroline, born 1804 in Chatham, Kent (transcribed as “Seely”).
- Susanna (nicknamed Susan), born 1807 in Gravesend, Kent (transcribed as “Seely”).
- Mary Ann, born 1813 in Gravesend, Kent (transcribed as “Sealey” or “Scally”).
I was utterly unable to find any information on the possible sister “Mary Inchy” from the allotment lists. His sister Mary Ann, listed above, appears to have died in infancy, and I can’t find a baptismal record for another Mary Seely with the right parents. The only Mary Inchys I can find in the census were born in Ireland and aren’t living at the right address in Greenwich. I can’t find any similar surnames at Thames Street in Greenwich in the 1841 or 1851 censuses. Hence why I think it’s likely that, in actuality, the Mary Inchy in his allotment was some malformation of his wife Mary Frances Seely, as I mentioned above.
The purpose of my research is to find living direct or collateral descendants of sailors in an unbroken matrilineal or patrilineal line, as these descendants are eligible to take a DNA test in order to assist in identifying remains of the Franklin expedition. I focused on the maternal line of Susan, given that she seemed the strongest connection, as she was mentioned in the allotments. I was able to find descendants for her. The results of the DNA test are unknown at this time.
Both Dinah and Caroline appeared to have married and had daughters, but I didn’t trace their full descendancy as I already found eligible descendants with Susan.
Susanna Seely’s Maternal Line
Overview
I’ve created a tree on Ancestry.com for Abraham Seely and his maternal descendants, focusing on his sister Susanna. A summary of the same information is outlined below. This is not a complete tree, it is only a small subsection solely focusing on the maternal line. Details on anyone born after 1926 have been censored.
Most members of this descendancy tree live in the United Kingdom. For births/marriages/deaths I’ve included what I believe is the correct quarter-page-volume identifier for their record, which is available at the General Register Office.
- Esther Harrison (nee Lawrence) (1839 - 1906)
- Martha Susan Button (nee Lawrence) (1845 - 1890)
- Edith Rose Keats (nee Button) (1883 - 1951)
- May Elsie Edyth Ward (nee Keats) (1914 - 1987)
- Living descendants
More Information
Married: 30 Aug 1829 to Henry Lawrence in Old Charlton, Kent
Died: 1860 in St Saviour Southwark, Surrey [Q1-01d-22]
Children: Abraham, Henry, Esther, Edward, Martha Susan, Charles
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| Susanna Seely's baptism. 14 Jun 1807. St George, Gravesend, Kent. |
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| Lawrence-Seely marriage record. 30 Aug 1829. Saint Luke, Old Charlton, Kent. |
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| 1851 England census. Lawrence residence. 5A Essex Street, St Saviour Southwark, Surrey. |
Esther, occasionally spelled Hester, was born on 10 Mar 1839. She married a man named Joseph George Harrison, who worked as a joiner, in 1865. Her siblings Edward and Martha Susan were witnesses at the wedding.
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| Harrison-Lawrence marriage. 29 Oct 1865. Saint Mary Magdalene, Woolwich. |
Her sister Martha was staying with them in 1871 at the time of the census.
It appears she and her husband only had sons.
2. Martha Susan Lawrence
Born: 2 Feb 1845 in Southwark, Surrey [Q1-04-546]
Married: 25 Dec 1881 George Button in Medway, Kent [Q4-2a-891]
Died: 1890 in Frindsbury, Kent [Q2-2a-292]
Children: Edith Rose
Martha Susan was born in 1845. While there were other Martha Lawrences, she appears to be the only Martha Susan Lawrence born in England around that time (according to the General Register Office birth indexes).
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| Martha Susan Lawrence’s baptism. Born 2 Feb 1845, baptized 2 March 1845. St John the Evangelist, Lambeth. |
Curiously, it seems she was enumerated in the 1871 census twice: once at her father’s house, and once at her sister's.
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| 1871 England census. Lawrence residence. 33 Gravel Lane, St Saviour Southwark, London. |
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| 1871 England census. Harrison residence. Gillingham, New Brompton, Kent. |
She married George Button in 1881. He was a Royal Navy seaman who was part of the Army Ordnance Department, first as a labourer and then later as a foreman. One of the witnesses to her marriage was her brother-in-law Joseph Harrison.
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| Button-Lawrence marriage. 25 Dec 1881. Gillingham, Kent. |
She gave birth to a daughter in 1883 and passed away only a few years later in 1890. George Button remarried to a woman named Eliza Mary Baines in 1893; she had been a servant in their household.
A. Edith Rose Button
Born: 12 Jun 1883 in Gillingham, Kent [Q3-2a-544]
Married: 23 Jun 1913 to William Charles George Keats in Devonport, Devon [Q2-5b-626]
Died: 24 Apr 1951 in Plymouth, Devon [Q2-7a-597]
Children: May Elsie Edyth
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| Edith Rose Button's birth record. Gillingham, Kent. General Register’s Office. |
Edith Rose was born 12 Jun 1883 in Gillingham, Kent. Her mother died in 1890. In 1891, she and her widowed father lived in Frindsbury, Kent, with a servant named Eliza Mary, who would later be her stepmother.
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| 1891 England census. Button residence. Frindsbury, Kent. |
Edith herself worked as a servant for several years. In 1913, she married an engineer in the Royal Navy named William Charles George Keats. They had their first and only child in 1914, a daughter named May Elsie Edyth.
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| Keats-Button marriage. 23 Jun 1913. St James the Great, Devonport, Devon, England. |
After her father's death in 1926, her stepmother, Eliza Mary Button, came to live with Edith and her husband. She’s present in the 1939 register.
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| 1939 England register. 5 Bungalows Furneaux Rd, Plymouth, Devon. |
Edith died on 24 Apr 1951.
i. May Elsie Edyth Keats
Born: 15 Jun 1914 in Devonport, Devon [Q3-5b-597]
Married: 1937 to Leslie George Ward in Weston super Mare, Somerset [Q4-5c-1144]
Died: 25 Aug 1987 in Plymouth, Devon [Q2-21-1844]
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| May Elsie Edyth Keat's baptism. 5 Jul 1914. St James the Great, Devonport, Devon. |
May Elsie Edyth was born in 1914 in Devonport. She married Leslie George Ward in 1937. By the time of the 1939 register, they were living in Somerset.
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| Ward-Keats marriage announcement. The Fosters mentioned are relations on her father’s side. Western Morning News, 28 Dec 1937. |
Documentation is sparse past 1939, but I know she died in 1987, and her estate was split equally among her children. There are living descendants in her line.
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