John was the son of Jean Baptiste and Marie Anne (Kimich) Seyller. He married Frances Isabella Clark Oct. 14, 1879 in Elgin, Illinois. They had ten children: William, John B., Joseph Michael, Elizabeth M., Edward Charles, Henry A., Helen, Alfred Ellsworth, Harry Eugene, and Lillian M.

Once farmed on the first farm east of Burlington Road, north side of Rohrsen Road. In 1910, lived on the west side of Peplow Road, 2nd house south of Illinois Central RR in Burlington. Helped build the Illinois Central Railroad through Burlington, by hiring out his team of horses and slip (horse drawn excavating mechanism that was the functional predecessor of the modern day earth mover).

Obituary in Elgin Daily Courier-News
Thursday, October 13,1935

Funeral services for John B. Seyller, 81 years old, Burlington township resident for 40 years, who died yesterday in his home, will be held at 9 Saturday morning from the residence, and at St. Charles Catholic church, Hampshire, at 9:30. The Rev. H. M. Meilinger, pastor, will officiate, and burial will be in the Hampshire church cemetery. Because of novena services now being conducted in the church, rosary will be recited at 9 tomorrow evening in the home. The body is to be taken home this evening, and friends may call there.

Born in Alsace-Lorraine March 22, 1857, Mr. Seyller can to America at the age of 14, residing for a short time in Naperville. With his parents he came to Burlington, where he had since resided. He was married in 1879 to Frances Clark, who with nine of their ten children, survives. They are: Mrs. Joseph Sester and Mrs. Herman Laseman of Burlington, John B., of Galesburg, Joseph M., of Muncie, Ind., Alfred E., of Menasha, Wis., Edward C., of Plato Center, Harry E., of Elgin and William G., and Henry A., of Burlington,

He was an employee for many years of the Illinois Central railroad, working on the section, and since the age of 70 had been pensioned. He was a charter member of the Modern Woodmen Lodge.