Florida 9^th Feb 1837
My dear Henry
Your Melancholy letters to
Mama and myself have been Recd[ . ]
We mourn with you at the great &
solemn loss to your and ourselves.
How uncertain are all things here below
and still we are bound to be thankfull
that the hand of the destroyer was
stayed here – other valuable lives
mought have been taken. In the
severe conflagration of Auburn
your property there must have
been saved as it were by a mire-
cal. May the Lord preserve you &
the remainder of your feeling
family from future death and
disasters. Capt John Seward has
lately suffered immensely with
a mortification in one of his hands
but is now geting Convalessent.
You will probably recollect
that Charles Smith and myself were
Executors of Caleb Smith Des^t. That Charles
purchased and gave his Bond & Mortg.
to me as one of the Exect. That the
Western Heirs come down evens by me
paid off, Recpts &c taken, that those
payments by me & from my funds
were charged to the Estate of Caleb
Smith on my day book & regularly
posted into my Ledger. Subsequently
Charles sold lands made payment,
which was credited to the Estate and left
a balance due me for the money, so
advansed of between 2 & 300 Dol in 1822[ . ]

Charles Smith who paid some small
amounts to the western firms and
had money of me, with him and
me there was also an Acct opened &
running for years. And various
balances struck one of which in which
he took up a bond of his of $810 you
attended to yourself. Charles Smith
has since Deceased leaving a balance
due me of from 4 to 500 Doll. on the
running and between him & Mr John
Curtiss Aministered – an order has been
made by the Surrogate & the real Estate
sold. I present this bal. of my payment
to Western Heirs & from my Ledg. and
the bal. of my remaining Acct against
Charles – as am^ts due me on Charles bond
and Mortg. And now the point I wish
to present to you is (and strange to tell)
that the surrogate admit my bal. on Charles
acct with Int. say $500 to be correct, but
totally objects to the bal. of Legures &c paid
by me to the heirs at the Solicitation of
Charles to the amount of say $450 prin.
& Int. ^as^ coming in, and says I cant recover
it. When I have Receipts from the heirs for
Every Cent in your hand Writing and
your entry of every item on my day book
and regularly posted into my Ledger of that
date to the amt. of $1472.29
with Sundry Credit 1222.65 } $229.64 bal
Interest from 1822.
Now you will percieve that this acct
was paid by me at the request of Charles
Smith and to be accounted for out of

His bond and Mort. given to me as Exct
of Caleb Smith Dest. Now my object in
making this statement is to take your
opinion as soon as possible what course
I ought to take. Shall I submit to this
Whim of his. Shall I send the Bonds and
Mortgage together with the Statements
to you to be collected and settled or will
you advise with some Attorney.
My acct and vouchers are all plain
and Correct and I have no [ disposion ]
to submit to so much injustice but
the truth is In my feeble state of health
I was not able to attend to business of
this description. I shall await your
answer. Unless he cites me before
him and compells proceedings.
We are as well as usual[ . ] I am
confined to the house pretty much.
Ma has had the Rheumatism bad but
is better. I have sold the Snook lot farm
put out the Summer Ville. Put cows
on Round Hill. We are anxiously
hoping your business may call you
to New York when the River opens.
I find my dear Henry it is daily
more necessary for you to be here
often. I tried to intest J. when here
but his whole soul is ingaged in his
S.S. Agency. When you come again
which I hope will be soon we had better
select some competant person who you
can confer with (write soon)
Affectionately yours
S S Seward
WH Seward Esq

Florida
Feb 13
William Henry Seward Esq
Westfield
Chatauqua Co
NY
hS.S. Seward
Feb 9. 1837