William Henry Seward Papers

William Henry Seward was born in Florida, Orange County, New York in 1801. He was the son of Samuel Sweezy Seward and Mary (Jennings) Seward. He graduated from Union College in 1820, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1822. In 1823, he moved to Auburn, New York, where he entered Judge Elijah Miller's law office. He married Frances Adeline Miller, the daughter of Judge Miller in 1824. Seward was interested in politics early in his career and became actively involved in the Anti-Masonic movement after 1828. With the backing of Thurlow Weed, the Whig newspaper editor, he was elected to the New York State Senate in 1830 where he served for four years. He was nominated by the Whigs for governor in 1834, but was defeated by William L. Marcy. From 1834 to 1838 he practiced law and served as an agent for the Holland Land Company, settling settlers' claims in Chautauqua County.

In 1838 Seward was elected governor of New York State and again in 1840. He favored internal improvements, public support of Catholic schools, and began to favor free soil and abolition positions. From 1842 to 1848 he again practiced law, first in the court of chancery and later in patent cases. He also defended cases involving fugitive slave laws.

In 1849 Seward was elected to the United States Senate, and increasingly built a reputation as an anti-slavery senator. After 1855, the Whig party merged into the Republican party, and Seward became one of the leading Republicans. He was passed over as the presidential nominee in 1856 and, though he was the front runner in 1860, Lincoln was given the nomination.

After Lincoln's election, Seward was appointed to the post of Secretary of State, a position he held until 1869 serving under both presidents Lincoln and Johnson.

As Secretary of State Seward was a central force in the administration. The major issues he dealt with during the Civil War years were the possibility of European intervention, the outfitting of Confederate cruisers in British ports, the Trent affair and the French invasion of Mexico. Seward was also interested in territorial expansion, and in 1867 negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia.

Seward was seriously wounded in the Lincoln assassination conspiracy, and after 1865 his health was not good. He retired from public life upon Grant's election, and despite his poor health, took a trip around the world in 1871. William Henry Seward died in Auburn on October 10, 1872.

William Henry and Frances Adeline Seward had three sons and two daughters. Augustus Henry Seward (1826-1876) graduated from West Point, pursued a career in the army, and spent much of his life in the West in the paymaster corps. He rose to the rank of major.

Frederick William Seward (1830-1915) attended Union College, graduating in 1849, and served as secretary to his father from 1849 to 1857. He worked as associate editor of the Albany Evening Journal edited by Thurlow Weed from 1851 to 1861. When his father was appointed Secretary of State, Frederick became assistant secretary of state, in charge of consular service. After W. H. Seward was injured in a carriage accident in 1865, Frederick served as acting secretary of state. He was also wounded during the assassination attempt on Seward. Frederick was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1874 and served as assistant United States secretary of state under Rutherford Hayes from 1877 to 1879. Frederick also edited and published his father's autobiography and letters. He married Anna Wharton of Albany, and spent the latter part of his life in a house he built in Montrose, Westchester County, New York.

William Henry Seward, Jr. (1839-1920) was educated at home. He became interested in finance and, in partnership with Clinton McDougall, opened a private bank in Auburn in 1861. He abandoned banking in order to fight in the Civil War, where he eventually rose to the rank of brigadier-general. After the war, he returned to banking and lived with his wife, Janet MacNeil (Watson) Seward, in the family homestead in Auburn.

Of the Seward's two daughters, Cornelia Seward (1835-1836) died of smallpox at the age of 5 months, and Frances (Fanny) Adeline Seward (1844-1866), who lived at home, never enjoyed good health. She wanted to become a writer, and from the age of fourteen until her death at age 22, she kept a detailed diary which recorded both Auburn and political Washington life.

The Papers consist of the public, private and family correspondence of William Henry Seward and his immediate family; files from Seward's term as governor, and as United States Secretary; personal financial and legal records; speeches, proclamations, diaries and secondary printed material relating to his life and career. The collection contains personal papers of Seward's wife Frances Adeline (Miller) Seward, his three sons, Augustus, Frederick and William Henry, Jr., his daughter, Frances Adeline, and his daughter-in-law Janet McNeil (Watson) Seward. Other members of the family represented by small amounts of material (less than five inches) are Seward's adopted daughter Olive Risley Seward, his grandfather John Seward (1730-1797), his father Samuel Sweezy Seward (1768-1849), his brother Edwin Polydore Seward, nephew George Frederic Seward (1840-1910) and grandson William Henry Seward III (1864-1951).

Biographical Information: Dictionary of American Biography Van Deusen, G. William Henry Seward. New York, 1967 Seward, F. W. William Henry Seward. New York, 1891