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[Susan Higginbotham]

(01-19-2015 09:52 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  

(01-19-2015 07:24 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Thanks, Linda. I admit I'm a little confused now, so I'll try again and beg for your patience. You stated they (Seward and Olive R.) wrote affectionate letters to each other. From where do "we" know these affectionate letters actually existed? I sure agree that it would have made sense to burn such letters instead of passing them on, but who was the source of the letters' actual existense? Who saw/had read them to "witness" the affectionate tone?

I don't know what if any letters between Seward and Olive were burned by their relatives. The letters that I was talking about were between the Seward sons expressing their displeasure of Olive and her father.

Seward wrote to Olive, "Why did I ever allow myself to become dependent on you so entirely?" (Taylor) On another occasion he wrote, "...the illegible and ragged manuscripts which I sent to you yesterday will show you how tenaciously I adhere equally to a purpose of my will or an affection of my heart." "A few weeks later he closed his letter by telling Olive he was 'as anxious as you can be that we may meet again and not be separated.'" (Stahr)

"Olive signed her letters 'affectionately yours.'" (Stahr)

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(01-19-2015 07:57 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  My own guess is that Seward's feelings toward Olive were more fatherly than romantic--if they had been the latter, I doubt he would have created a quasi-incestuous relationship with her by adopting her, when he could have simply married her and settled his estate in a manner that favored his sons but left her comfortable.

I wonder if there was a law in Seward's time that determined how much a wife would inherit when her husband died. If there was, Seward may have not been able to favor his sons.

Well, those excerpts certainly do sound more than fatherly . . .