Dec 1918 death of South Orange boy, George Seyfried

In December 1918, an 11 yeAr boy, a Boy Scout, George Seyfried, was killed after being shot at 47 Richmond ave, South Orange, trying to save his Nanny during a suicide attempt.

Some historians in Washington, DC are trying to find more information, to ultimately honor and commerate him and have found several New York Times articles, however any Scout records are lost.

His grave has not been located, and genealogy research has not found relatives.

Any locals have an idea what steps might be taken locally?

Thanks. Pete

Nm

Interesting mystery... Well a quick search shows that there is no # 47 Richmond now- and Maplewood broke off from SO in 1922- there may be old maps/telephone books in the library showing the family name or address back around WWI.? There are old school books, church records from the the time as well. Sigh - Marcia Worth would have loved this.

page 6 - http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com/boyheroes.pdf

page 450-

http://tinyurl.com/nhc77at

What a tragedy. Here's the Times article, in which they refer to him by his middle name, Gordon: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9907E7D71239E13ABC4A53DFB4678383609EDE

Definitely check with the South Orange and Maplewood libraries. Ask about old maps (Street names may have changed since 1918), reverse directories, old newspaper files, local history vertical files, etc.

Contact the official local historian for each town and the local historical society for each town to see if they have any relevant information.

Do you know which scout troop the boy belonged to? That troop may have a historic records which would be of value in gathering more information on this tragic incident. Even if the troop is no longer in existence, they may have merged with an existing troop or the sponsoring organization may have some records that would be of value.

If there are any family members still living in the area or any families in the area who had members living in the immediate neighborhood at the time, they may have oral or written recollections that would be of help.

Good luck.

I looked for census records and found them surprisingly difficult to access without registering with one of the major genealogy sites like Ancestry. I did find this, though, which seems a possible record for the family in 1920, after George's death: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4RC-DFQ

At the Maplewood library, you can access a digitized collection of the News Record, going all the way back to the 1910's at least. You can search by word (which would include last names, of course). You may want to try there and see if there are articles about the event, which might give other names of family members.

Googling the brother from Elle Cee's record, I found him in 1940 in Illinois: http://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/Illinois/Kenneth-Seyfried_4y4gzs

1) Maplewood did not break off from South Orange. South Orange Village broke from the much older S.O. Township, and this was long before 1922. The Township (which for many years previously had both a R.R. station and a P.O. address called "Maplewood") finally changed its name legally to Maplewood in 1922. In 1914, any published material might have referred to "S.O" when the address in question was actually in what we know as Maplewood. That happened a lot.

2) Yes, streets sometimes are renamed, but often the confusion is caused by streets or whole towns being RENUMBERED.

3)The brother is listed in the 1940 census (at least on the page linked to above) as the homeowner's partner. In 1940 that would have to mean business partner, at least as far as census nomenclature goes. But I can dream, can't I?

I'm trying to figure out how a kid winds up shot through the neck, and the round passes through and then through her chest, it sounds like right to left. That's a hell of a lot of penetration in any case.

And then the neck-shot boy gives a speech in essence on being a good scout?

Very sad story but fishy too.

joy said:
page 6 - http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com/boyheroes.pdf

After skimming through this document, I now see why they built a pool in the high school and required swimming lessons. A lot of people drowned back then because they couldn't swim!

Here's a map of the area from 1916. Looks like Richmond is the same as today.

However, on this 1912 map of the Oranges, Richmond does not go as far into South Orange as it does today and as it appears to go on the 1916 map. My hypothesis is that many of the houses on the Northern side of Richmond, in South Orange, had not been built yet in 1912. Going out on a limb here, given that 47 is a rather low number, might that mean their home is likely to have been closer to Parker and possibly in what is Maplewood today (S.O township then)?

Today, the house numbers on Richmond start in South Orange at around 250 and go into the 400s on the Maplewood end. This would lead me to conclude one of the following: there was an earlier extension to Richmond (Fairview perhaps or a street no longer in existence where the lower house numbers were located); the houses on Richmond were renumbered at some point; or the street address in the article was incorrect. There is a 470 Richmond Avenue in Maplewood. Could the "0" have been somehow left off of the address?

In the older map, Richmond goes only from Elwood to Garfield. Then there's a gap. And what is Richmond today between Montague and Village had a different name. On the 1918 map, Richmond connects and is called Richmond all the way through.

What great and tragic story.

Seeing that the BSA annual report has this happening in a different year, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the details are suspect.

Jackson_Fusion said:
I'm trying to figure out how a kid winds up shot through the neck, and the round passes through and then through her chest, it sounds like right to left. That's a hell of a lot of penetration in any case.

And then the neck-shot boy gives a speech in essence on being a good scout?

Very sad story but fishy too.

I had it the other way, going through her breast then into his neck. Which is possible, and though heroic and tragic in any case, I've no doubt it's been sensationalized quite a bit (particularly by the scouts).

The address could be 470, but my Googlemap streetview (I'm not in town right now) shows a house that, by its style, probably could not have been built before 1920. Is 470 on the north or south side of the street? I would never trust an internet map without independent verification: they are full of errors compared to classic published maps.

In the 1920 census, the family is listed as living in South Orange so the house cannot be in what is Maplewood today. The family home is likely to have been between Garfield and Parker, and what is in South Orange of it. Richmond between Garfield and Montague and Montague and Village mostly has homes built after 1920.

Except that S.O. Township did not change its legal name to M'wood Township until 1922. Even though Maplewood had its own train station under that name, and the M'wood P.O. was at least a branch of the S.O. P.O. in 1920, the name "Maplewood" had no legal, official governmental standing as a municipality in 1920. However, I must say that what names and definitions the Census uses for locations is complicated (and in my view has not always been accurate, notwithstanding the fact that they are the government and should be the official last word). I'll get back to you on that.

I found the 1920 census page that confirms that the family of John and Myrtle Seyfried, with sons Edwin and Kenneth, lived at 470 Richmond. Seems like it has to be the family in question, no?: http://www.mocavo.com/1920-United-States-Census/126212/004966417/290#row-39

470 Richmond in Maplewood was built in 1925, according to the tax records. They are not always accurate, but the style of home does seem 1920s-ish.

Wow. The plot thickens. This suggests that the house at that address in 1920 may have been torn down. Here's another weird Google discovery: someone with the last name of Mason listed 470 Richmond as his address in the 1916 Yearbook of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. https://archive.org/stream/yearbook1916ameruoft/yearbook1916ameruoft_djvu.txt

Our house had boarders in the 1920's. (They are listed in the Maplewood phone directories.)

Thanks all for the many insights. Need to process - and please - keep on!

What school or church would that little boy have attended

What was the suicidal maid's name? Perhaps there is more to her history. Sounds like she may have held him hostage...at least held him close while she shot.