Carrollton 28 June 1832
My Dear Brother Henry
You ask me to "believe you to be (your)
my affectionate Brother", (this is the closing lan-
guage of your last letter). Believe it! I do
believe it; and such are the proofs contained in
that letter, that [ i ] t were treason against brotherly
Love, to disbelieve your affection for me. No,
never, never again: time has been when I
thought you so swallowed up of the sucesses of
your profession, that I thought you indifferent
to the love of your friends, this was my folly,
and now I see and confess and lament it.
It may be true, it is true, that "there is nothing
true but heaven" but the pure friendship some-
times formed in this world, are Heaven begun
while here below: and though misfortunes beset
us and disappointments vex our spirits & wea us
sour us toward the world, there is still happiness
left us if we merit it; and joy sufficient may
be secured us against suicide & misanthropy.
Yes it is true, I have communicated but
little of the progress made in the settlement
of my affairs here, and the reason is, but
little has been effected. The prospect at
one time seemed very flattering that I
should succeed, the minds of my creditors
were, by degrees brought to the point I wished
or nearly so, when a brother of one, failed
in business and involved him, to whom I am
indebted, in such a way that he believed it

[left Margin] My dear wife

x

Person

Name: Marcia Seward Birth: 1794-07-23 Death: 1839-10-28

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is in Jacksonville

x

Place

Name:  City:  Jacksonville County:  Morgan County State:  IL Country:  US

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, who were she here, would
join me in sending love immeasurable to sister Frances

x

Person

Name: Frances Seward Birth: 1805-09-24 Death: 1865-06-21

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and all
our friends
there.

to be impolitic to diminish the list of his
credits & effects, by wiping off the large sum
I owed him. I am therefore almost with
out hope of doing any thing more. It is
therefore more than probable that I shall
bring your five notes, so obligingly sent me
and lay them in your hands during the
month of November; and thank you a thousand
times for the good will you shewed in making
them for me. Should however a better
destiny await me here, I may use them or
some of them & will let you know.
My S. School operations this year will
be small compared, with what we expected.
The border war calls away our teachers &
the shortness of crops leaves our people too
poor to defray even the slight expenses of
this cheap blessing. Shall we go ahead al
a little.
Yesterday a Mr Hayden of Auburn in-
quired if I were any thing to Col Seward
of that place. Here is another evidence
of the happy faculty ^you possess^ of making pleasant im-
pressions upon your acquaintances & of attach-
ing them closely to you. This man would
compass sea and land to befriend you, has
shewn me much civility on your account,
as well as on Washingtons account, whom
he knew in the Rensalaer school. Do
you know that I saw the evidences & fruits
of this facinating manner in you years ago
& have been led to try & merit, in consequence

[left Margin] Let me hear from you once more while in the west
Your very affectionate Brother B.J. Seward

of it, some of the esteem which I see the mul-
titude so willing to bestow upon you, & I tell
you of it here to pave the way for asking
you, to teach me more fully how I shall
obtain this favour.
John Sweezy has been over from Kentucky to see & pay us a visit, he is a dear good
man, has a dear good old wife, but they
are both Jacks[ on ] -men. It is our hope
that the late veto will kill off their idol
& then their minds may return to reason.
Our friends & relatives here are all well
except myself, my health remains infirm
and I sometimes fear that I am never again
to enjoy stable & firm health
as I used to. But on
this subject as on all others
"the will of the Lord be done.
Is Fanny Tuthill still with you? tell her that
we miss her pen out of Goshen; & for our
sakes please furnish her with a sheet of
letter paper & tell her that Hillsboro is our
head quarters. Tell her also that I saw
a gentleman a few days since directly from
Mobile who is well acquainted with George and
who gave me an excellent character of him.
He thinks George is doing well.
We are getting awfully anxious to return
to our children, and what will come after
that you shall hear when I get back:
in the mean time should anti masonry success
in New York, what can that enable me to
do toward supporting my family & educating
my little boys, think against I come.

Carrollton Ills
July 29th
Col Wm H Seward
Auburn
New York
B.J. Seward
28 July 1832