Letter from Frances Adeline Seward to William Henry Seward, August 5, 1866
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Letter from Frances Adeline Seward to William Henry Seward, August 5, 1866
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Distributor:Seward Family Digital Archive
Institution:University of Rochester
Repository:Rare Books and Special Collections
Date:1866-08-05
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Letter from Frances Adeline Seward to William Henry Seward, August 5, 1866
action: sent
sender: Frances Seward
Birth: 1844-12-09
Death: 1866-10-29
location: Auburn, NY
receiver: William Seward
Birth: 1801-05-16
Death: 1872-10-10
location: Washington D.C., US
transcription: ssb
revision: zz 2021-06-04
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Page 1
Auburn. Sunday
5th August 1866
My dearest Father,
Your welcome letter
of Friday lay on my plate
this morning when I went
down to breakfast. It was
almost like having a talk
with you – to follow its sen-
tences from subject to subject.
The letter which you for-
warded to me was from dear
good “Aunt Eliza” Freeman.
She sends me a promised recipe
and goes on to tell me of
her ill health and embarrassed
circumstances, She dated the 2nd
Aug. and says she went to you
a day or two before, and heard
you were out of town. She
wished to ask you to give
Henry
Unknown
(her son) an appoint-
ment, if you could. She
had heard that the State
Department was to be removed,
and that probably “there
would be more help needed.”
She asks me to speak to
you for Henry – I give
you the rest in her own
words – “Henry, upon whom
I am somewhat dependent, as
my health is so indifferent that
I can't attend to my calling. I
would not trouble you if I were
not really in need of some assist-
ance of this kind. They are making
extensive improvements on the
street that my house stands on,
and I shall have several hundred
dollars to raise to pay for this.
There is but little doing here,
as a great many families are
out of town. Henry is at
present taking care of Mr
Chandler’s
Unknown
house, for which
he is receiving but a small
sum ($10) per month.”
I am so sorry to hear
that her health is giving out!
I know you appreciate her
merits too fully for me to add
any recommendation. She has
been very faithful & affectionate
to me in all my intercourse
with her. I hope you may
find some way to help her.
What a pleasant
drive that was which
you and the eColonel
took together. I wish in-
deed that I could have
been with you.
I am very much obliged to
you for sending my dress to
me. You ask
about my going to Cape May –
When you wrote, my letter
telling you what Dr Robinson
Birth: 1804-02-04 Death: 1889-07-28
said had not had time to reach
you. Since he told me he
thought it so unsafe I
have given up the idea of
going – though I waited not
writing my “regret” to Mrs
Souder
Birth: 1814-06-05 Death: 1886-12-22
till Dr Norris’s
Birth: 1828-03-09 Death: 1895-11-10
answer to Will
Birth: 1839-06-18 Death: 1920-04-29
should come.
It has not come yet. If
he were to write that I might
go, in reply to Will’s question,
I should hardly feel justified
in doing so – as when Will
wrote him we were not
aware of the changes which
Dr Robinson found to have
taken place since he (Dr Norris)
last examined my lungs – and if he
were aware of it he too might
say Cape May was not advisable.
Delighted as I should be to
see dear Mrs Souder and Mrs
Linnard
Birth: 1843 Death: 1911-12-05
, I am at present
so little able to visit any-
body that it is very easy
to give up the plan.
In regard to going to Washington
I had accustomed myself
to think that I would
not return there before some
time in October. I long
to be with you. It was very
unwillingly that I gave up
my intention of staying
the summer ^there.^ but I saw that
I could not stay without being
too sick to be anything but an
anxiety. The heat which might
affect me so differently had I health
& strength to meet it with, was
completely overpowering to me – and
days which Anna
Birth: 1834-03-29 Death: 1919-05-02
told me were
so much more temperate than those
which often came during a summer,
^that she could not call them hot,
produced an indescribable effect upon
me – one that it seemed to me I
could not live under long. Last
September when I went back from
Cape May– the weather affected
me similarly – and the cough &
fever returned after an interval
without them. So I think
I had better remain away. But
how much I wish I might be with
you!
We have had a dark cold day
of rain and wind. The only pleasant
thought – and it is a very
pleasant one – connected with this
weather is that with such
a temperature here we may
trust there is a moderate
one for you at Washington.
I fear you are working too hard –
and ^I^ vainly wish for a vacation
for you.
I have not been out today.
This morning I had a chill,
not severe but long – and after
half an hour or so, on moving
about a little, another one
rather more severe. Mrs
Perry
Birth: 1819-10-04 Death: 1898-02-12
was here at noon.
I write after dinner –
have been to the table –
and feel pretty well.
Nelly
Birth: 1862-09-11 Death: 1921-10-05
says "Aunt Fanny,
when Grandpa comes
home I will love him
and I think he will
love me."
Love to Gus
Birth: 1826-10-01 Death: 1876-09-11
.
Most affectionately your daughter
Fanny