Hours
Regular Hours
Feb 1 to June 30
and mid-Oct to Dec 31,
Tues - Sat 11 am - 4 pm
Extended Summer Hours
July 1 to mid Oct,
Tues - Sat 10am - 4pm,
Sun 1pm - 4pm
Closed major holidays.
Visits
Call us to organize a tour for your group or class.
Admission
Adults - $6.00
AAA/Senior Citizens - $5.00
Students with ID - $2.00
Children under 12 - Free
Circle of Friends - Free
Timeline of William Seward's Life
and Achievements
| 1801 | Born May 16 in Florida, Orange County, New York | |
| 1816 | Joins sophomore class at Union College in Schenectady, New York | |
| 1819 | Teaches for six months in Georgia | |
| 1820 | Graduates from Union College and prepares himself for the law | |
| 1821 | Accepted to the New York State Bar | |
| 1823 | Becomes a junior partner in the Auburn, New York, law firm of Judge Elijah Miller | |
| 1824 | October 20, marries Frances Miller and moves into Miller home on South Street | |
| 1825 | Meets Thurlow Weed, a Rochester newspaper editor. Weed and Seward become life-long friends | |
| 1830 | Elected to four-year term in the New York State Senate as an Anti-Masonic Party candidate | |
| 1833 | Visits Europe with his father, Samuel Swazey Seward | |
| 1836 | Serves as land agent for the Holland Land Company in Westfield, New York | |
| 1838 | Elected the first Whig Party governor of New York and serves two consecutive two-year terms | |
| 1846 | Defends William Freeman using the insanity plea | |
| 1849 | Becomes U.S. Senator by vote of the New York State legislature | |
| 1850 | Delivers the "Higher Law" speech in Senate during debate on California's admission into the Union | |
| 1854 | Re-elected to the United States Senate and helps to form the new Republican Party | |
| 1850s | Uses Seward House as a stop on the Underground Railroad | |
| 1859 | William and Frances transfer seven acres of land in Auburn to Harriet Tubman for her home | |
| 1860 | Loses the presidential nomination to Abraham Lincoln at the Republican Convention in Chicago | |
| 1861 | Accepts appointment as Secretary of State to President Lincoln | |
| 1865 | Attacked in his bed by Lewis Powell, a follower of John Wilkes Booth, on the night of President Lincoln's assassination. | |
| 1865 | Mourns death of Frances Seward at age 59 | |
| 1865 | Remains in President Andrew Johnson's cabinet as Secretary of State | |
| 1866 | Shocked by death of youngest daughter, Frances "Fanny" Seward, at age 21 | |
| 1867 |
Negotiates the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million
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| 1869 | Retires from the State Department | |
| 1869 | Visits California, Alaska and Mexico | |
| 1870 | Travels around the world from July 1870 to September 1871 | |
| 1872 |
Dies in Auburn on October 10th
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