Submitted by Ken Seaman

George Leonard was born October 7, 1867, in Linn Township, Dent County, Missouri, the eldest son of William Edwin and Sarah Elizabeth (WORMALD) SEAMAN. At the age of five (in 1872) he moved with his parents in a covered wagon from Missouri to Kansas, where his father homesteaded.

George was married by Rev. Inman on February 20, 1887, to Adah SHULL in the bride's home near Mulvane, Summer County, Kansas. Adah was born July 1, 1866, in Elvaston, Hancock County, Illinois, the daughter of Alonzo and Sarah Ellen (ERTLE) SHULL.

Immediately after their marriage George and Adah moved to western Kansas where they homesteaded in Hamilton County near Syracuse (fifteen miles from the Colorado border). After three years they returned to the Udall-Mulvane area taking up residence four miles north of Udall. Their three children were born at this location.

In his younger years George was not only a farmer, but an accomplished auctioneer, having graduated from auctioneering schools in Trenton, Missouri, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was well known for his "horse trading" abilities.

In 1915 George and Adah retired from the farm to Udall and became identified with several business interests from which he prospered. At one time before the 1930's George's holdings of land where so extensive in the Mulvane-Udall area that he was sometimes referred to as the "Land King". He lost most of his holdings in the Great Depression years.

George was extensively known throughout Southcentral Kansas and beyond, a notoriety he gained, in part, from his auctioneering and "horse trading" activities, but even more so from a team of white oxen which he owned, trained and drove in regional parades. For years he lead the Mulvane Old Settler's Parade with his magnificent team. At the inauguration of Alf Landon as governor of Kansas, George hauled the new governor across the capitol city, Topeka, and later carried Governor Landon across Wichita to a new airplane (symbolizing the old and new modes of transportation). He was always in demand for the annual Christmas parade in Wichita and for most county fairs in the area.

Ironically, when George's wife, Adah, died on October 10, 1938, in her home in Udall, he was driving his team down Main Street in Winfield, Kansas, to the fairgrounds as part of his home county fair's festivities.

George died July 5, 1939 at his home in Udall, Kansas, at the age of 71 years (on his eldest daughters' birthday).

George and Adah were buried in the SHULL plot in the Littleton Cemetery in Gore Township, Sumner County, Kansas (between Udall and Mulvane).

The children of George and Adah were:

"Sadie" Sarah SEAMAN (1892-1955)
Georgie Ellen SEAMAN (1897-1973)
"Bill" William Alonzo SEAMAN (1900-1962)

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