Morgan Horton Seacord (1879-1971) was a native and lifelong resident of New Rochelle and a prominent attorney and historian of the city and of Westchester County. He was a descendant of the original Huguenot founders of New Rochelle to whom he gave ample genealogical attention in his study and writings about the city. He was the son of Hiram D. and Phoebe A. (Horton) Seacord and as a child was educated at Caroline Wholbert’s academy and other local private schools of the city. Mr. Seacord graduated from New York University Law School in 1904 and practiced law from an office at 57 Lawton Street, a few doors away from the present location of the New Rochelle Public Library. He was a genealogist of his Huguenot family the Secords, whose descendants spell their name variously as Sicard, Seacord, Secor and Seacor. He became president and historian of the Huguenot and Historical Association (today the Huguenot and New Rochelle Historical Association) and was a member of the Huguenot Society of America and New York Historical Society. Mr. Seacord was author of Biographical Sketches & Index of the Huguenot Settlers of New Rochelle, 1687-1776 (1941) and co-author with William S. Hadaway of Historical Landmarks of New Rochelle (1938). He was a frequent contributor to The Westchester Historian for which he wrote many articles on local history and biographical subjects.
Scope of Collection
The collection consists of twenty (20) original hand-drawn maps executed by Morgan H. Seacord, a leading historian of New Rochelle in the 20th century. The maps depict the southern portion of New Rochelle with particular attention to indigenous encampments or villages, topographical features of the shoreline, including islands, and named properties and thoroughfares of the south end of the city as it existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The maps were drawn to various scales, and cardinal directions are indicated.
