George Seay (1888-1961), Iceman - One of the last Richmond Ice Wagon Delivery Men.

The 700 block of E. Baker Street in Richmond's Jackson Ward. The image shows George Seay, Richmond ice wagon delivery man and Nellie, the horse, August 1956. Image by Edith K. Shelton from her collection of photographs and slides housed at the collection of the Valentine Museum. 

If you are a fan (and member) of the Facebook group “Old Images of Richmond," you might be familiar with the Richmond images taken by Edith K. Shelton (1898-1989). Christopher B. Coleman is the moderator of the Facebook group and often posts images taken by Shelton. These street scene images by Shelton are found on the Valentine Museum’s Collection Database search page where one can search the many collections of the Valentine. Shelton’s collection of images (dating from the 1940s through the 1970s including 1,600 black and white photos and 3,000 Kodachrome slides) were donated to the Museum in 1991 and are available online thanks to the Valentine. Coleman sometimes pairs images from the Shelton collection with images of what that scene looks like today. Older buildings from the original Shelton images are routinely replaced by new buildings or parking lots. Shelton's images give us a glimpse into Richmond's past. The collection documents the city's architecture and streetscape. It is a treasure trove for researching the city's history. 

Some of the most popular Shelton images are the ones that include merchant wagons pulled by horses or mules. Of those, the 1950s color images of “Ice Man” George Seay and his horse Nellie are my favorites. The images of his colorful wagon on the city streets can make you feel like you have been transported back in time. Seay delivered ice to the homes and merchants that still needed large blocks of ice. This line of work had all but disappeared by the 1930s and 1940s when most people in Richmond had replaced their ice box with electric refrigerators. I wondered who this man was - so I did a little digging into various records (city directories, census records, etc.) and old newspapers available online.   

 

The 700 block of N. 9th Street shows an ice wagon driven by George Seay and pulled by Nellie, March 1956. Image by Edith K. Shelton, Valentine Museum. Shelton documented her work with note cards for each image and recorded the date, location, and other data which are included in the Valentine's searchable database. 

George Seay (1888-1961)

George Seay probably first came to the attention of most Richmonders in a column by Charles McDowell, Jr. (1926-2010) in the July 28, 1957 issue of the Richmond Times Dispatch. McDowell was a longtime reporter and popular columnist for the newspaper. He had a national audience as well as a contributor to several national television shows on PBS.

In his column, McDowell reminds his readers about a previous column ["Richmond, Never a One-Horse Town," Richmond Times-Dispatch, July 14, 1957] where he wrote about the two most commonly produced horse-drawn ice wagons that were once often seen on Richmond streets. One source of these wagons was the ornately colorful Knickerbocker wagons made in Philadelphia by the Knickerbocker Ice Company. Another source of ice wagons in Richmond were made by local carriage maker Julius A. Grasberger (1860-1929) who operated his company from the late 1880s until the mid-1920s. His wagons were also colorful and attractive. McDowell writes in the July 28th column:

"Now, two weeks later, we know that a horse-drawn ice wagon is still making its rounds every day in old Jackson Ward, It definitely isn't a Knickerbocker and it almost definitely isn't a Grasberger, but it is a horse-drawn ice wagon 30 or 35 years old. The faded lettering and decorations on its sides show the fancy influence of earlier wagons, however.

The wagon is operated by an independent seller of ice named George Seay and is pulled by a pleasant gray horse named Nelly [Shelton spelled the horse's name Nellie]. Mr. Seay buys his ice every day, and bought the wagon itself several years ago, from the Richmond Ice Company (which relies on trucks for its own deliveries).

Mr. Seay said he preferred his horse and wagon to a truck for delivering ice. Asked why, he said, "Because I can use Nelly to plow, too." He and Nelly do plowing for a number of fairly regular customers on the outskirts of the city.

Although he knows the wagon was old when he bought it, Mr. Seay hasn't looked into its pedigree or worried much about it. But J. A. Woodson, who has worked for the Richmond Ice Company for 25 years, has some ideas about the wagon. He is sure it isn't a Knickerbocker and he is pretty sure it isn't a Grasberger. He thinks it was built by the Richmond Ice Company itself, probably about 30 or 35 years ago." -Charles McDowell, Richmond Times Dispatch, July 28, 1957.

This was the original image that appeared with the Charles McDowell column from 1957. The image was reproduced in the Richmond Times Dispatch on Sept. 25, 2018. 

Here is another view of George Seay, his ice wagon and Nellie. This is from the Library of Virginia's Adolph B. Rice Studio Collection - many of the images in the collection are available online Here. The image in the collection is labeled as "Horse and Richmond Ice wagon" with the date "January 9, 1958."

Above is a newspaper advertisement for the City Ice Delivery Corporation from the April 26, 1926 issue of the Richmond Times Dispatch. Their motto which appears on top of the wagon, "Try Our Service, It Will Please You," is seen on one side of Seay's wagons in many of Shelton's images and on other wagon vendors in the collection. According to newspaper accounts, the company was established in 1920 and was a consolidation of a few different ice companies in Richmond. In just a few years it became part of the Richmond Ice Company, a firm that lasted a few decades. It was this company that Seay bought his ice from. 

An ad for the City Ice Delivery Corp. from the Feb. 15, 1920 issue of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The ad. shows 27 men, all whom appear to be white, who delivered ice for the company. Each man had  different route in the city. The text of the ad includes: "Our wagons are now covering every sector of the city regularly, and we have a special delivery service to take care of hurry-up phone orders." The wagons would be replaced with trucks over the course of the next two decades. The need for delivery men reduced as more and more people acquired electric refrigerators. 

George L. McGee, a Richmond iceman, was profiled in an article by Bill Marmon entitled "Richmond Keeps Share of Cooling Nostalgia - Hark, the Iceman Cometh, but Image Altered" that was published in the July 26, 1961 issue of the Richmond News Leader. The article begins with:

The old-time ice industry is melting away.

The day of the iceman with couple of blocks of house-to-house residential customers is past. Home refrigeration and automatic vending machines are gradually making his job obsolete.

The article goes on to say that the Richmond Ice Co. ended regular iceman delivery routes in 1956 but still sold ice to about 30 independent peddlers (like George Seay) who have their own routes. McGee began his work as an ice man in 1920 with his own horse and wagon route. He replaced his wagon for a truck in 1950.

"The business is not what it used to be," said McGee. Some icemen resent the presence of the vendors but McGee said, "Icemen can't possibly cover the whole city. The vendors are good for the ice business."

Shelton's images of iceman and other wagon vendors is another way her collection documents the city's past. The color images are especially appealing and might offer a more accurate portrayal of the city and of the men and women seen in those images. 

There are at least six images in the Valentine Museum online database that are labeled showing George Seay, his ice wagon, and his horse Nellie. But there are more images by Shelton of ice men with horse drawn carriages that are not labeled as having Seay in them. Some appear to be Seay, while others are labeled as other sellers of ice or different wares. 

This image from the Shelton collection is dated circa 1945 of a horse drawn wagon at the corner of Harrison and Franklin. Shelton wrote on the back of the image "E15-3 / S.E. Harrison + Franklin / Berkley Apts." There is no mention of Seay in her notes on this image but the wagon seems to match the one used by him in other images. It could be Seay but with a different horse. 

This image by Shelton is labeled 1013 St. James Street, in Jackson Ward, and dated April 1956. Shelton does not indicate the driver or horse but it certainly appears to be Seay and his horse Nellie. It is another example of several images in the collection that might include Seay but lack that notation. 

Records on Ancestry.com (birth, death, and marriage records, census data, military records, city directories, etc.) and digitized historical newspapers helped me find a little more about Seay. 

George Seay was born Dec. 22, 1888 in Amelia County, Virginia. The 1900 census lists seventeen-year-old George living with his parents, Warner Seay (1859-1918) and Ella Taylor Seay (1867-?), and with his five brothers and one sister. They were living in "Leigh, Amelia, Virginia" - which is in the western part of Amelia County, near Route 616 (S. Genito Road). His father's occupation is listed as "Farm Laborer." Maybe the Seay family lived on a farm.

The 1910 census lists George, age 24 living at his father's house in "Giles" on Genito Road in Amelia County. That is most likely Giles Mill, a rural neighborhood 10 miles north of Amelia Court House, the county seat of Amelia County. George is listed as a laborer. He is living there with his wife, Amy Wiley (1889-?), whom he married in Richmond in March of 1910. The state marriage register document lists his occupation as "factory hand."

Seven years later, George was inducted into the army on Oct. 29, 1917. He was initially assigned to the 155th Depot Brigade at Camp Lee, near Petersburg, where the brigade underwent basic training and processing. The brigade was transferred to Company C, 367th Infantry Regiment, part of the 92nd Division, a segregated African American unit. The 367th Infantry served in France during World War I and were known as the "Buffaloes." George served overseas from Oct. 1918 to March 1, 1919. 

One interesting record available on Ancestry.com is entitled "U.S. Army Transport Service Arriving Deporting Passenger Lists, 1919-1939" named the ship that brought Seay and other troops in his regiment back from France. The record states that George returned to the United States (they landed in Brooklyn) on March 1, 1919 aboard the ship the SS Sobral . He was discharged March 25, 1919. 

A state divorce record shows he divorced his wife for "desertion" in July of 1927 after 17 years of marriage. They were living in Richmond by this time. I could not determine when he first moved to Richmond. He hardly makes any appearances in city directories. It appears he never had any children. The 1940 census states that he had lived in New York City in 1935. That record also said he was married, but I found no evidence that he married again. His occupation in the 1940 census is listed as a laborer in "building construction." His draft registration card from 1942 lists him living in Richmond and as unemployed. 

In the 1950 census, he is listed as a widower and his occupation as "Ice Man" for a "Retail Ice Co." That is the earliest indication he was a ice delivery man. 

Image from the 1950 census listing George Seay's Occupation and Industry.

George died at the age of 72 on Dec. 8, 1961. His death certificate listed his last occupation as "Huckster." He died from cancer at the "Veterans Hospital," most likely the McGuire V.A. Hospital in Richmond. His obituary from the Dec. 12, 1961 issue of the Richmond Times-Dispatch reads:

SEAY - Departed this life Dec. 8, 1961, George Seay, of 702 North at Sixth St. He is survived by two brothers, Robert Seay and Warner Seay; two sisters, Mrs. Nora Bobitt and Mrs. Emma Crump; devoted friend, Miss Merdith Thomas; eight nieces, five nephews, one sister-in-law, other relatives and friends. Remains rest at the A. D. Price, Jr.. Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, 2:30 P. M., from Flower Hill Baptist Church, Amelia, Va. Interment church cemetery. Family and friends kindly assemble at the funeral home Wednesday, 12:45 P. M. 

George Seay was buried not far from where he was born. The Flower Hill Baptist Church building in Amelia Court House still stands but I am not certain if the congregation is active.

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There are other men identified in the Shelton image collection using horses and wagons delivering ice, coal, fish, etc. They too deserve some attention. I may profile some of those other men in a future post. 

Thanks to the staff at the Valentine Museum for answering my questions about the Shelton Collection. Their Collection Database search page is worth exploring. 

-- Ray B.