J. C. Seaman

Joseph Carryl Seaman Sr., known as J.C. Seaman (December 8, 1898 – June 14, 1964), was a five-term member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Waterproof in Tensas Parish in northeast Louisiana, having served from 1944 to 1964.

During his tenure as representative, Lake Bruin State Park, originally established in 1928 as a fish hatchery, opened near St. Joseph on Lake Bruin, an oxbow lake of the Mississippi River.

A native of Waterproof, Seaman was the son of Horace P. Seaman (ca. 1875-1943), a federal employee on the Mississippi River levee system, and the former Pearl Davidson (died 1935). He graduated from the since defunct Waterproof High School, as did both of his sons. He was drafted into the United States Army near the end of World War I and hence never served in hostilities. Seaman was an insurance agent and banker with the former Bank of St. Joseph in Waterproof, now Cross Keys Bank, located near the Waterproof Town Hall.

Seaman was first married to the former Evie Hinton Greaves (ca. 1897-December 15, 1926), and the couple had one son, J. C. Seaman Jr. (January 20, 1925–July 28, 2005). Evie was a daughter of the former Elizabeth R. "Vardie" Pitchford (1870–1959) and Harry Percy "Hal" Greaves (1867–1928), a physician and the mayor of Waterproof from 1913-1924. Evie Seaman died two months prior to her son's second birthday.

On October 27, 1932, Seaman married Edith Gooding Post (August 28, 1909—May 15, 1993) at Grace Episcopal Church in Waterproof. J.C. and Edith Seaman had a son, Colin Davidson Seaman (born March 20, 1945).

Seaman served under Governors Jimmie Davis, Robert F. Kennon, and Earl Kemp Long. In his last term in the House, his state senate colleague was Howard M. Jones of St. Joseph.

In declining health, Seaman was unseated in the 1963 Democratic primary by S. S. DeWitt of Newellton and later St. Joseph, who served two terms from 1964-1972. DeWitt had lost to Seaman in the 1959 party primary.

Seaman died of cancer a month after leaving the office of representative. Services were held at a funeral home chapel in Ferriday in Concordia Parish. Seaman is interred at the Natchez City Cemetery in Natchez, Mississippi.