(See CORNELIA SEWARD, Fort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, NY.)
Original burial site of "infant daughter of W.H. Seward". Listed as "Frances" in church burial records, the 5-month-old baby was the child of celebrated American statesman William H. Seward and the namesake of his wife, nee Frances Adeline Miller, and his sister, Cornelia, who had introduced the couple to each other. The infant's maternal parents were the distinguished local jurist Elijah Miller and the former Hannah Foote. Born during the summer of 1836, the baby girl was the third of the Sewards' five children, joining siblings Augustus, age 10, and Frederic, age 7. She was interred here in St. Peter's Churchyard, Auburn, during the first week of the new year 1837, her brief life having been cut short by smallpox. Two years later a fourth child, William, was born to the Sewards, and in 1844, their fifth child---a second daughter who lived into adulthood---was given Mrs. Seward's name. (Unlike today, newborns of past eras were often given the first names of siblings who had predeceased them in early childhood, causing speculation that the Sewards' second daughter was her mother's second namesake.) Upon the opening of Auburn's Fort Hill Cemetery in 1851, Mrs. Seward's father, Judge Miller, purchased a family plot in the cemetery, and was the first Seward relative to be buried there. The remains of the infant girl buried in St. Peter's churchyard were later moved to Fort Hill, probably after the untimely deaths of her mother and sister in the 1860's. Listed as "Cornelia" on the Fort Hill roster, it also gives the child's age as simply "5", an omission that may account for the discrepancy between older records and the incorrect age of 5 "years" on the 20th Century replacement capstone on her grave in Fort Hill. In any case, Frances Street--one of four streets in the city forming a block honoring the Seward family--was inspired by the first name shared by Mrs. Seward and many of her descendents.
NOTE: The St. Peter's burial roster gives "Frances" as the name of the Sewards' infant daughter formerly interred here, and there is no gravestone. I changed her Findagrave listing from "Frances" to "Cornelia Frances" at the request of Christopher Allen Seward, Jr., Findagrave member #50258052 on Sept. 17, 2020. --Nikita Barlow
Original burial site of "infant daughter of W.H. Seward". Listed as "Frances" in church burial records, the 5-month-old baby was the child of celebrated American statesman William H. Seward and the namesake of his wife, nee Frances Adeline Miller, and his sister, Cornelia, who had introduced the couple to each other. The infant's maternal parents were the distinguished local jurist Elijah Miller and the former Hannah Foote. Born during the summer of 1836, the baby girl was the third of the Sewards' five children, joining siblings Augustus, age 10, and Frederic, age 7. She was interred here in St. Peter's Churchyard, Auburn, during the first week of the new year 1837, her brief life having been cut short by smallpox. Two years later a fourth child, William, was born to the Sewards, and in 1844, their fifth child---a second daughter who lived into adulthood---was given Mrs. Seward's name. (Unlike today, newborns of past eras were often given the first names of siblings who had predeceased them in early childhood, causing speculation that the Sewards' second daughter was her mother's second namesake.) Upon the opening of Auburn's Fort Hill Cemetery in 1851, Mrs. Seward's father, Judge Miller, purchased a family plot in the cemetery, and was the first Seward relative to be buried there. The remains of the infant girl buried in St. Peter's churchyard were later moved to Fort Hill, probably after the untimely deaths of her mother and sister in the 1860's. Listed as "Cornelia" on the Fort Hill roster, it also gives the child's age as simply "5", an omission that may account for the discrepancy between older records and the incorrect age of 5 "years" on the 20th Century replacement capstone on her grave in Fort Hill. In any case, Frances Street--one of four streets in the city forming a block honoring the Seward family--was inspired by the first name shared by Mrs. Seward and many of her descendents.
NOTE: The St. Peter's burial roster gives "Frances" as the name of the Sewards' infant daughter formerly interred here, and there is no gravestone. I changed her Findagrave listing from "Frances" to "Cornelia Frances" at the request of Christopher Allen Seward, Jr., Findagrave member #50258052 on Sept. 17, 2020. --Nikita Barlow
(See CORNELIA SEWARD, Fort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, NY.)
Original burial site of "infant daughter of W.H. Seward". Listed as "Frances" in church burial records, the 5-month-old baby was the child of celebrated American statesman William H. Seward and the namesake of his wife, nee Frances Adeline Miller, and his sister, Cornelia, who had introduced the couple to each other. The infant's maternal parents were the distinguished local jurist Elijah Miller and the former Hannah Foote. Born during the summer of 1836, the baby girl was the third of the Sewards' five children, joining siblings Augustus, age 10, and Frederic, age 7. She was interred here in St. Peter's Churchyard, Auburn, during the first week of the new year 1837, her brief life having been cut short by smallpox. Two years later a fourth child, William, was born to the Sewards, and in 1844, their fifth child---a second daughter who lived into adulthood---was given Mrs. Seward's name. (Unlike today, newborns of past eras were often given the first names of siblings who had predeceased them in early childhood, causing speculation that the Sewards' second daughter was her mother's second namesake.) Upon the opening of Auburn's Fort Hill Cemetery in 1851, Mrs. Seward's father, Judge Miller, purchased a family plot in the cemetery, and was the first Seward relative to be buried there. The remains of the infant girl buried in St. Peter's churchyard were later moved to Fort Hill, probably after the untimely deaths of her mother and sister in the 1860's. Listed as "Cornelia" on the Fort Hill roster, it also gives the child's age as simply "5", an omission that may account for the discrepancy between older records and the incorrect age of 5 "years" on the 20th Century replacement capstone on her grave in Fort Hill. In any case, Frances Street--one of four streets in the city forming a block honoring the Seward family--was inspired by the first name shared by Mrs. Seward and many of her descendents.
NOTE: The St. Peter's burial roster gives "Frances" as the name of the Sewards' infant daughter formerly interred here, and there is no gravestone. I changed her Findagrave listing from "Frances" to "Cornelia Frances" at the request of Christopher Allen Seward, Jr., Findagrave member #50258052 on Sept. 17, 2020. --Nikita Barlow
Original burial site of "infant daughter of W.H. Seward". Listed as "Frances" in church burial records, the 5-month-old baby was the child of celebrated American statesman William H. Seward and the namesake of his wife, nee Frances Adeline Miller, and his sister, Cornelia, who had introduced the couple to each other. The infant's maternal parents were the distinguished local jurist Elijah Miller and the former Hannah Foote. Born during the summer of 1836, the baby girl was the third of the Sewards' five children, joining siblings Augustus, age 10, and Frederic, age 7. She was interred here in St. Peter's Churchyard, Auburn, during the first week of the new year 1837, her brief life having been cut short by smallpox. Two years later a fourth child, William, was born to the Sewards, and in 1844, their fifth child---a second daughter who lived into adulthood---was given Mrs. Seward's name. (Unlike today, newborns of past eras were often given the first names of siblings who had predeceased them in early childhood, causing speculation that the Sewards' second daughter was her mother's second namesake.) Upon the opening of Auburn's Fort Hill Cemetery in 1851, Mrs. Seward's father, Judge Miller, purchased a family plot in the cemetery, and was the first Seward relative to be buried there. The remains of the infant girl buried in St. Peter's churchyard were later moved to Fort Hill, probably after the untimely deaths of her mother and sister in the 1860's. Listed as "Cornelia" on the Fort Hill roster, it also gives the child's age as simply "5", an omission that may account for the discrepancy between older records and the incorrect age of 5 "years" on the 20th Century replacement capstone on her grave in Fort Hill. In any case, Frances Street--one of four streets in the city forming a block honoring the Seward family--was inspired by the first name shared by Mrs. Seward and many of her descendents.
NOTE: The St. Peter's burial roster gives "Frances" as the name of the Sewards' infant daughter formerly interred here, and there is no gravestone. I changed her Findagrave listing from "Frances" to "Cornelia Frances" at the request of Christopher Allen Seward, Jr., Findagrave member #50258052 on Sept. 17, 2020. --Nikita Barlow
Inscription
infant of W. H. Seward
Gravesite Details
Baby Frances' lifespan of 5 months can be verified by William H. Seward's letters during the years 1836-37, and by the entry in the St. Peter's Church, Auburn burial roster dated January 1837.
Family Members
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