RUN, RUN, RUNAWAY

“Notice. Ran away from the subscriber a colored bound servant girl, Jane Russell, on Friday last. Said girl is strongly marked with the African peculiarities of face, although somewhat lighter. She is about thirteen years of Age and is of a bold and forward disposition….” Benjamin Jennings Seward, Fredonia Censor December 19, 1838 

    On January 25th a communique marked “in haste” was delivered in Florida to Samuel Seward.

New York 25th January 1818 [1819]

Sir,

Enclosed is a letter to Dr. S.S. Seward giving him intelligence that his son Henry has lately left college and come to this city as I am informed bound for Savannah, and as I suppose without the knowledge of his father—I have been searching onboard of vessels and making inquiries of owners of vessels that have sailed within two days past for him and altho I have heard of him at a number of places yet I can’t find him. I fear he has sail[ed]—yet it is possible he still may be waiting privately until more vessels sail which will be in a few days—By forwarding the enclosed you will render an important service and oblige yours— John J. Wheeler 

    Apart from the unexplainable note on January 17th, the first communication between father and son after Henry left school, is marked “February 16, 1819 Eatonton Plantation Georgia.” It begins, “Respected and Dear Sir, What idea you will form of my conduct and myself I know not.” But this is not the first correspondence that Henry sent home. “From Savannah,” Henry continues,”I lately wrote to you giving an explanation of my motives….” The rest of this letter tells me nothing. I’ve yet to find that previous letter to his father.               

     By the time of Hannah Teed’s death, young law clerk William Henry Seward had passed the New York State bar exam and had fled Orange County....again. Aware of their clerk’s ambitions, and his father’s frugality, John Durer and Ogden Hoffman had let Henry keep his fees and share in the Goshen office’s revenue.  Henry’s sister Cornelia Seward, who had been in Bethlehem, Pa., now attended Emma Willard’s Troy Female Seminary. Cornelia was in Florida on vacation and brought a friend home for the Christmas holidays in 1822. This friend was Frances Miller. Although Henry was involved with another woman at the time (Mary Ann Converse) Frances Miller and Henry Seward hit it off. Miss Miller mentioned that her father, a judge in Auburn, may be in need of “an ambitious young lawyer” to revive his flagging law practice. That’s all it took. Henry Seward, with a little money in his pocket, began courting pretty, well-to-do, Frances Miller, and plotting his move to Auburn.

      Frances’ father was the same Judge Elijah Miller, who had helped Gov. Dewitt Clinton build that prison on the Owasco outlet. The Millers lived on a large estate just down the river from the State Prison. The Judge had a lot of power, and political sway in Albany, as well as Auburn. William Henry Seward was twenty-two years old. Like his friend Horace Greeley would later advise, Seward headed west, along the path of the still under construction Erie Canal, through the Mohawk Valley and settled in the old frontier town of Hardenbergh Corners (Auburn); which less than fifty years earlier, had been a thriving Cayuga Indian village. Finally Henry Seward had traded the “groveling race,” of Goshen, for the “step lively” pace of the Erie Canal, Auburn society and Albany politics. 

      After moving to Auburn, and securing work with Judge Elijah Miller, on August 12, 1823 (the day after Hannah’s body washed ashore) Henry wrote his father. “In the first place the dowry of Miss M [Frances Miller]—cannot be much inferior to that of Miss K [Mary Ann Converse]….These are arguments to the head. There are others of the heart. Frances M. is a girl of strong mind and of a undissembling heart. She says she returns my affections and I know she does. She respects me as the Man to whom above all others she would commit her destinies for life….My little girl [?] when I told her of the communication I was to make to you upon the subject dropped a curtsey to her distant Father and Mother and said she remembered reading the Bible with the rest of your Children before breakfast Sunday morning.” Three days later Henry wrote his father again. “I have to claim your congratulations—the question is proposed and answered in the affirmative. Thus ends the negotiation…”      

     Frances Miller and William Henry Seward were married by Rev. Lucius Smith in 1824 at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Auburn. At the widower Judge’s invitation the newlyweds moved into the large family house with Judge Miller’s elderly mother, and his sister. Henry couldn’t say no. There’s no explanation as to who Henry’s “little girl” was. Was this Henry's pet name for Frances or a Seward family servant (slave) that accompanied young Henry to Auburn? Slavery was still legal in New York State. The bride wore white.