Figure of the Week

John Seddon (1826-1863) was the son of Thomas Seddon (1779-1831) of Stafford County, Virginia.  John lived at Snowden on the Rappahannock River east of Fredericksburg, having purchased the property in 1847 from the Morson family.  During the War Between the States, Union troops sailing up the Rappahannock may have thought the farm belonged to John’s brother, James A Seddon (1815-1880), Secretary of War for the Confederacy.  The soldiers ordered the family out of the house and then opened fire, burning the elegant brick house to the ground as the family watched helplessly.  John Seddon was a  magistrate in Stafford County from at least 1852 to 1860.