Also, there is a document in the Seward Papers that recounts Wormley's visit to Auburn with Seward.
"In addition to Frances’ work, there is an indication that William Seward, while a senator in Washington, DC, worked with African American hotelkeeper, James Wormley, to transport fugitives to freedom. A c. 1870 manuscript by Francis B. Carpenter in the Seward Papers notes:
“Among the visitors in the evening was Mr. Wormley, the well known colored landlord of Washington. Greeting him cordially and introducing him to his other guests, Mr. Seward said: ‘Wormley and I went into the emancipation business a year and a half before Mr. Lincoln did,
down on the James River. How was it Wormley – how many slaves did we take off on our steamer?’ ‘Eighteen,’ replied Mr. Wormley.”16
16 Francis B. Carpenter, “A Day with Governor Seward at Auburn,” handwritten mss., no date
[prob. July 1870], Seward Papers.