Frances Miller married William Seward in 1824. Her father was retired judge Elijah Miller. Seward was a young lawyer in Judge Miller’s practice. The judge required the couple to live in his house, which became known as The Seward House after his death. Frances was deeply committed to the abolitionist movement. In the 1850s, she opened their home as a safe house to fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. Frances, whose health was fragile, stayed at home in Auburn during most of William Seward’s political career. She died in 1865, shortly after her husband was nearly assassinated in Washington on the night of Abraham Lincoln’s murder. This small sculpture of Frances Seward was commissioned as a memorial. It was placed next to her coffin in the Seward House Drawing Room just prior to her funeral. It is still in place, 150 years after her death. It depicts her reading a book, a favorite pastime. The sculptor based the work on a photograph. She was a diligent reader, and my close-up image emphasizes that point.