Coben Scott is a history graduate, a history buff, and he has explored and researched much of Falcon and the area’s past. Coben’s column, Yesteryear, features stories about the history of the plains.
From Kentucky slaves to Falcon farmers
By Coben Scott
Out of all the early families that populated Falcon in its early years, the Seymours might be the most interesting.
Their story begins with Cerelida Martin, mother of four sons, one of whom was named William. The family wasn’t like the typical Colorado pioneers, as their upbringing was much different. Rather than northern sophisticates or rough and tumble mountain men, their upbringing spawned in slavery from a Kentucky plantation.
Cerelida and her family faced many hardships and cruelties from their time enslaved; the worst savagery took place when Cerelida had to watch one of her sons taken from her and sold to another plantation, never to be seen again. Another story told was about Cerelida picking potatoes in the heat and humidity. The slaves had to make sure all of the bugs were taken off of the plant; if not, the master would have the slave bite the head off the bug as a punishment.
William Martin was about 22 years old when the 13th Amendment was ratified and slavery was abolished in Kentucky.
The family would have to wait two years longer than most slave families for freedom as the Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in Confederate states and not the Union states that maintained slavery. With the newfound freedom, William, his mom, and his wife, Elizabeth, left the state and moved west during the 1880s; the family changed their last name to Seymour at this time.
During this period, the Seymours jumped from town to town throughout Kansas, farming temporarily until they found a place that worked for them. William and Elizabeth started a family of their own on their journey, eventually Elizabeth gave birth to 11 children. In 1889, the family settled down on 160 acres somewhere between Falcon and Black Forest, where they raised their children. Two of their sons, Elder and Luther, told the family’s story in an interview that took place in the 1970s.
William’s family raised ducks and chickens and sold the eggs around the towns, along with milk. William pursued many endeavors. He opened a creamery in the Black Forest area. He later founded a church for the black community in Colorado Springs; he named it St. John’s Baptist Church, and another William visited the church — Gen. William Jackson Palmer. At some point, the two Williams became friends, and Palmer encouraged the growth of Seymour’s enterprises in the Springs because he wanted a place for all races to fit in comfortably without discrimination. William, his wife, and the majority of his family moved to Colorado Springs in 1919, while others, including his sons, Elder and Luther, stayed on the prairie. William Seymour died in 1920.
In the oral history interview with William’s sons, the two talked about ranch life in the Falcon area. There were a handful of other black families who they helped, which was how they made money when they were young.
The brothers were amateur masons of sorts, helping lay brick on the second iteration of the Antler’s Hotel and the tuberculosis ward of St. Francis hospital. For a short time, they worked in the coal mines in Colorado Springs near Garden of the Gods.
After their parents and most of their family moved away, they decided to stay on the plains. Elder and his family owned a small farm, and Luther purchased a home just a couple miles north of the Falcon area, most likely in what is now Woodman Hills. Other siblings of theirs participated in the civil rights movement during the 1960s, and many of the Seymour descendants are still in the Colorado Springs area today.
As for the family legacy, William was a well-known figure, and his family as a whole were some of the first African American pioneers of the area; they were also known as the “Invisible People of the Pikes Peak Region.” William made history in Colorado Springs as the first black juror in the town.
William and his wife are both buried in Evergreen Cemetery, along with their friend, Gen. William Palmer. Their children are buried in various locations around the Springs area. There is a statue of William Seymour in front of the Colorado Springs Pioneer’s Museum; it depicts William leaning on a bench with his hat resting on the seat.
