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[Linda Anderson]

(01-17-2015 08:13 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  When Seward bought the townhouse in 186, most of his family came to live there in May, but Frances and Fanny stayed in Auburn.

Frances was said having lived most of the time there. At the assassination she suddenly "pops up" in Washington. When did Frances and Fanny come to Washington? Was it due to the carriage accident? Did Frances die in Washington or in Auburn? If in Auburn, when did she leave Washington? (Did Fanny accompany her?)

Eva, Seward leased the Old Clubhouse from owner Augustus Stoughton for the eight years that he was the Secretary of State. Frances rushed to Washington when she received news of her husband's carriage accident on April 5.

I agree with Susan that Frances' mind would be on her son since Seward was pronounced out of danger very quickly but Fred's condition was still very precarious.

Toia, Seward was called "Henry," his middle name, by his family when he was growing up so Frances just continued the practice.

As for the Sewards' marriage, I would have to read a lot more about them to have a better opinion about it. I would like to know more about Frances' childhood and her relationship with her father who insisted that she and Seward live in his house to take care of him after they were married.

Frances seems to me to have suffered from an anxiety disorder which manifested itself in frequent headaches, sensitivity to light and noise, colds, fevers and various pains. Patricia Carley Johnson writes that Seward "... suspected, however, that a good portion of her difficulty was her own fault, and he refused to go along with her obsession for homeopathic medicine." Maybe someone can chime in here about the mental health care that women received in the 19th century.

Frances wanted her husband home with her but Seward would have been miserable in Auburn. He seems to have led a very fulfilling life in Washington without her, though.

Here's a link from the Seward House Museum to a lovely portrait of Frances, taken in 1844, the year Fanny was born.

http://sewardhouse.org/gallery/frances-seward-by-inman/