On November 11, 1850, Seth Lesser was born in Buffalo, New York. He became an engineer who was involved in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge which was envisioned to connect Brooklyn to Manhattan. Seth Lesser died of “caisson disease” while helping build the Brooklyn Bridge. Caisson disease, known today as “decompression sickness,” hits, among others, construction workers who work underwater. It happens when a person immediately reenters normal atmospheric conditions after having been in the compressed environment of the caisson. Washington Roebling, the Chief Engineer of the project and son of the designer of the bridge, was another fatality of caisson disease. His name is etched on the bridge.
A fund was established by the friends and family of Mr. Roebling to honor the families of those who died the same way as him, such as Seth Lesser. He was a well-liked man, popular with both his colleagues and his superiors. Though Mr. Lesser and Mr. Roebling did not have the privilege of working together, Emily Warren Roebling, credited for continuing the project, knew the former’s wife personally.
Mrs. Roebling personally handed to Marceline Lesser — Seth Lesser widow — a plaque honoring the latter’s husband, in the afternoon of May 25, 1884, one day after the inauguration of the Brooklyn Bridge. Their three children, Seth, Jr., James and Thomas were in attendance.
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