Seaman was founded in 1887 by John Q. Roads on the Cincinnati & Eastern Railway, established in 1881, and the Old West Union Road, established in 1807, and was incorporated in 1911. It was named for Franklin Seaman, who donated land to the railroad for a station. The community was home to Will Rogers, "The Black King of the Air," the only black hot air balloonist in the U. S. in the 1890's, and the adopted hometown of Daniel Homer Webster (1878-1943), a poet, humorist, and Dayton, Ohio journalist.