From History of Walworth County Wisconsin by Albert Clayton Beckwith, Vol. II, 
Publ. 1912 - Page 887-888
 
MRS. ELIZABETH BROOKE (SEYMOUR) SMITH.  The name of this estimable lady is a 
familiar sound to the people of Walworth county, especially the vicinity of 
Delavan, where she has long maintained her home, and the brief record of her 
life, outlined in the following paragraphs, will doubtless be read with 
interest by the many friends and acquaintances who have learned to prize her 
for her beautiful character and useful life, which has been as an open book in 
which there are no pages marred or soiled by conduct unbecoming true 
womanhood, and whose influence has always made for the good of the large 
circle of friends with whom she associates.
 
Mrs. SMITH was born in county West Meath, Ireland, and is the daughter of Rev. 
Donelan Bolingbroke SEYMOUR and Harriet Ann (BROOKE) SEYMOUR.  Through her 
father the ancestry may be traced back through SEYMOUR, Duke of Somerset, to 
the Black Prince, who was near to becoming monarch of England, and whose 
ancestors were of the richest blood of Normandy, and who came over to England 
with William the Conqueror.
 
Rev. Donelan B. SEYMOUR was born in Dover, England, and was the son of Col. 
Eyre SEYMOUR and Catherine BOLINGBROKE, the latter being also of noble 
ancestry.  Colonel Eyre SEYOUR received his christian name in token of his 
descent through the maternal line from the EYRE family of England.  Jane EYRE, 
made famous in story and drama, was a relative of his.  Many of the stories of 
the Colonel's own life would make good reading, as the one of the loss of the 
wife of his youth, who accompanied him with the British army on a forced march 
through France, dying of hardships on the way, and was hastily buried in a 
foreign land, her husband seeking in vain for her unmarked grave in after 
years.
 
Rev. Donelan B. SEYMOUR was a child of the Colonel's second marriage.  When a 
boy was twelve years old the Colonel was transferred from Dover to a station 
in Ireland there became the owner of a beautiful estate.  Donelan grew up in 
the Emerald Isle, was educated for the ministry and was ordained as a minister 
in the Church of England.  His curacy was in county West Meath, Ireland, and 
there he spent most of his life.  He married Harriet Ann BROOKE, a native of 
Bedfordshire, England, and a daughter of Sir Joseph BROOKE, baronet, and 
wife.  Sir Joseph was a lieutenant-colonel in the British army.
 
Three daughters were born of Rev. Donelan SEYMOUR's first marriage, Harriet 
Ann, Louise Kathleen and Elizabeth Brooke, also other children.  When 
Elizabeth was sixteen months old the mother died.  A year later the father 
married a Miss GRIMSHAW, a cousin of his first wife.  Of the three daughters 
above mentioned, Harriet Ann married William SMITH.  While Elizabeth was still 
a young girl her married sister and husband emigrated to America and Elizabeth 
and Louise Kathleen came with them.  Mr. SMITH, Harriet's husband, had 
relatives near Walworth, Wisconsin, and the family came here and established 
their home in the county.  Louise K. is now the wife of Henry VAN VECHTEN and 
lives in Racine.  Mrs. Harriet A. SMITH and husband went to California and 
there she died.  Elizabeth grew to womanhood in Walworth township and was self-
educated, and in 1886 she married.
 
Mrs. SMITH now resides in her cozy home in Delavan.  Her daughter, Alice May, 
is the wife of John B. READER, of Delavan, and William Edward SMITH, only son 
of the subject, is an engineer on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad.
 
Submitted by Carol