Letter from William Henry Seward to Samuel Sweezey Seward, March 19, 1822

  • Posted on: 7 July 2017
  • By: admin
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Letter from William Henry Seward to Samuel Sweezey Seward, March 19, 1822
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transcriber

Transcriber:spp:lmd

student editor

Transcriber:spp:obm

Distributor:Seward Family Digital Archive

Institution:University of Rochester

Repository:Rare Books and Special Collections

Date:1822-03-19

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Letter from William Henry Seward to Samuel Sweezey Seward, March 19, 1822

action: sent

sender: William Seward
Birth: 1801-05-16  Death: 1872-10-10

location: New York, NY

receiver: Samuel Seward
Birth: 1768-12-05  Death: 1849-08-24

location: Florida, NY

transcription: lmd 

revision: crb 2016-12-02

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Page 1

New York March 19th, 1822
Dear Father —
So much time has elapsed since I heard
from any of the Family that I begin to feel
solicitous about the health of my Friends —
I have been busy today and have only time
now to communicate to you some proposals
of importance which I have lately received
from my worthy and substantial friend Ogden
Hoffman Esq
Birth: 1793-05-03 Death: 1856-05-01
In a letter received from
him on Monday last he tells me that Mr
Duer
Birth: 1782-10-07 Death: 1858-08-08
will resign to him on the first of May
next his office and his business — Benton
Birth: 1796 Death: 1849-07-29
has
offered to purchase One half of the business
and continue with Hoffman — but Hoffman
with a view to a partnership with me
says he will get the concern alone — The offer
which he makes me is as liberal as I could
wish — From the day I take my license
(next October) One half of the profits of all
the business of the establishment — excepting Chan-
cery practice of which I may have One third
till I get my license as Solicitor — After that an
Page 2

equal division in that branch of the business
One Fourth of the Costs if he succeeds in
becoming Attorney for the Bank in that busi-
ness — And Counsel fees to be arranged hereafter
I have said that I thought this a
liberal offer — It is so because it is giving me
an equal share in all the business which
I could possibly have if I were alone in
business — And a handsome compensation
for my labor in such business as is more
peculiarly his own — To all this I have no
doubt my Father would readily yield his
approbation — But there is one question which
is a preliminary — Mr Hoffman very justly
thinks that if he extends to me so much friend-
ship he of course has a right to a recipro-
city — And therefore wishes that I should re-
turn to Goshen and commence the business
with him at once on Mr Duers leaving it
apparently as a Clerk but in fact as one who
has an interest in the business — The greatest
difficulty will be in setting off with the
concern — and it therefore is an act of justice
Page 3

in me to lend my assistance to those labors
of which I wish to share the profits
I submit to your good judgement whether
the actual experience in my own business would
not be equal to my improvement here — espe-
cially as what I would lose in actual experience
I could make up in reading — And Mr H— of-
fers some small compensation for the
sacrifice which he supposes that I shall
make by leaving Mr Anthon’s
Birth: 1784-05-14 Death: 1863-03-05
Office — New
York I need not say is agreeable to me
but when my convenience
interferes with my per-
manent advantage I am willing to
act as prudence directs — I do not know
what deduction Mr Anthon would make
from my fee if I left him probably One
half — I shall wait your answer for a
few days before I answer Mr Hoffman’s let-
ter upon the subject — My Love to the fam-
ily and particularly to Mother
Birth: 1769-11-27 Death: 1844-12-11

Your &c
Wm. Henry Seward
Page 4

Saml. S. Seward Esq
Post Master Florida
Orange Co
NEW YORK
MAR 20
FREE
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Stamp

Type: postmark

Hand Shiftx

Samuel Seward

Birth: 1768-12-05 Death: 1849-08-24
Wm H. Seward
19 March 1822