GOVERNOR SEAY
Born in Virginia in 1832, Abraham
Jefferson Seay served as Oklahoma's
third territorial governor. When he
was four, the Seay family moved to
Missouri, where Abraham taught school
and later practiced law.In 1861 Seay enlisted in
the United States Army.
He served in the 32nd
Missouri Infantry during
the Civil War reaching the
rank of lieutenant colonel.
Following the war, he
served as an attorney and
district judge in Missouri.
President Benjamin
Harrison appointed Seay
circuit judge for the Third
District and Associate
Justice of the Supreme
Court for Oklahoma
Territory. In February 1892,
Seay was appointed governor of Oklahoma territory.
Seay advocated mandatory school
attendance and equal (but separate)
education for black children. To promote
the territory, he convinced the legislature to appropriate $15,000 for an Oklahoma
exhibit at the 1893 World's Columbian
Exchange Exposition in Chicago.
Governor Seay's tenure ended in 1893 as the incoming president appointed new
leadership. He remained in Kingfisher
owning two hotels, serving as president
of three banks, and owning considerable
stock in at least four others. Following
an accident in 1903, Seay was plagued by
health issues and moved to Long Beach
California, where he died in 1915.
Abraham Seay's body was returned to
Kingfisher where he was buried next to
his sister, Susan Isabel Seay Collins.
