Eckert and Powell

[Linda Anderson]

The Seward family had many pets: dogs, cats, birds, even a fawn.

"When he returned to Washington after the exciting campaign of 1860, and just on the eve of the still more exciting prospects of disunion, he found time to write, 'I would not have believed it, but my pretty cat remembered me, and was wild with joy at my return. She attends me constantly, sitting on my shoulder when I write, and following me when I move.' Birds and cats and dogs always found a safe retreat in Seward's grounds." Frederic Bancroft, The Life of William H. Seward, Volume 1.

Fanny wrote in her diary on Sep. 1, 1861, the day she met Lincoln for the first time:

"Mr. Lincoln showed us the pretty cats, kittens
given him by Father Sunday. They were playing in one ^of the grand^ halls. Mr. L.
^seems quite fond of them. Says they climb all over him.^"