Biography

The daughter of celebrated American statesman William H. Seward and his wife, the former Frances Adeline Miller, "Fanny" Seward was a delicate young woman who aspired to be a writer, keeping detailed journals of her life in New York and Washington political circles. Afflicted with tuberculosis, her frail health was broken during a confrontation with Lewis Powell, a co-conspirator of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth, during the attempt on her father's life on April 14, 1865. The traumatic event left her father severely wounded and seriously injured several members of the Seward family and their household, including her mother, who suffered a heart attack and died less than two months later. Fanny herself died at age 21 the following year. She was subsequently interred in the Seward Family plot, joining her mother, her paternal grandfather, and a baby sister who had died before her birth. This infant had originally been a namesake of Mrs. Seward like Fanny, but her name was listed as Cornelia when her remains were transferred to Fort Hill in the mid-1860's, perhaps to avoid confusion (transcriber note, cef: this is untrue. Cornelia was always Cornelia, she was referred to as such in all of the letters written about her when she was alive). In any case, Frances Street in Auburn, NY, one of four streets forming a city block memorializing the Seward family, was inspired by the name that came to be borne by many Seward descendants. Fanny was survived by her grieving father and her three brothers, Augustus, Frederic, and William, all of whom were eventually buried here. Her monument is in need of restoration, as the wreathed marble cross which formerly adorned its capstone was recently broken off by vandals and lost.