Horace Martin Seaman was born in Milwaukee on 1 October 1864. He was the son of Galen
and Harriet Seaman. After working in the offices of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St.
Paul Railroad and managing the local office of the Washington Life Insurance
Company, he started work with the Seaman Abstract Company that his father ran. In
1893, he earned a law degree from Marquette University and was admitted to the bar.
At this time, he became an executive for the Seaman Abstract Company. He left the
company in 1902 to become the secretary of the Milwaukee Title Company. In October
of 1903, he left that organization and joined the Security Abstract and Title
Company where he became the president and counsel of that company. Seaman died in
1959.
In 1886, Horace Seaman enlisted as a private in the Wisconsin National Guard,
specifically with the 4th Wisconsin Infantry, Company A. He served with the infantry
during the labor riots in Bay View that very same year. He moved up through the
ranks over the years and in October 1897 he became the colonel of the 4th Wisconsin.
In July of 1898 he mustered out of state service and later that month he mustered
into the United States service as the colonel of the 4th Wisconsin Volunteer
Infantry regiment, which enlisted for service in the Spanish-American War. The
regiment never left the United States but went first to Camp Douglas in Wisconsin
and later to Camp Shipp in Anniston, Alabama. The 4th Wisconsin was assigned
respectively to the 3rd, 4th, and 2nd Army Corps until the regiment was mustered out
of service in February of 1899.
