Frances Adeline Miller Seward was born in 1805, the daughter of Judge Elijah Miller and Hannah Foote Miller. She married New York attorney William Henry Seward on October 20, 1824 after meeting through his sister, a classmate, in 1821. In his lifetime, William served as a senator in the New York legislature, Governor of New York, a senator from New York and United States Secretary of State under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. The couple raised five children: Augustus Henry Seward (1826-1876), Frederick William Seward (1830-1915), Cornelia Seward (1835-1836), William Henry Seward, Jr. (1839-1920) and Frances Adeline "Fanny" Seward (1844-1866). Some years after his wife's death, in 1870, William formally adopted his companion Olive Risley Seward (1841-1908). On April 14, 1865, William H. Seward and three of her children, Frederick, Augustus and Fanny, were injured in an assassination attempt on her husband in their house. The man responsible for this ordeal was Lewis Powell a.k.a. Lewis Paine, an associate of John Wilkes Booth who had shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln the same day. She was at her New York home at the time and came to Washington to find blood on the walls, floors and furniture. People were running about giving medical attention to victims. This put Frances into a state of shock and worry about her family. She thought that Frederick would die of his injuries, although he survived. She died on June 21, 1865 of a heart attack. The events of April 14 are said to have hastened her death. Afterwards she became depressed and was said to have lost the will to live.
| Preceded by Dolly Newell Marcy | First Lady of New York 1839–1843 | Succeeded by Catharine Lawyer Bouck |
