John Seward, son of John and Mary Swezey Seward, b. 10 June 1765, Hardyston, Sussex Co., NJ, d. April 1845, Hillsboro, Montgomery Co., IL, m. Mary Butler, 12 June 1785, First Presbyterian Church, Goshen, Orange Co., NY. Mary, b. 10 September 1767, d. 2 October 1841, Hillsboro, Montgomery Co., IL. John and Mary are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Hillsboro, Montgomery Co., IL. Their son, Obadiah, and daughter, Emaline, died during their residence at Snufftown and were buried in the old Seward burial ground. Dr. Samuel removed the members of the Seward family, in 1838, from the old family burial ground to the cemetery at Florida, Orange County, New York.

John Seward Jr. is on the Tax Lists of Roxbury Twp., Morris Co., NJ. He has 93 acres in 1789 and 1790.

1793 New Jersey State Militia Census, Vernon Twp., Sussex Co., NJ: Soward, Jno.

John Seward, Jr., was Justice of the Peace many years and Commissioner of Deeds - some of the old deeds dating back to 1790, bear his name.

9 April 1804, The first annual town meeting was held at the house of John Seward, Jr., lately occupied by Mrs. Hilah Seward.

The New Jersey Assembly in 1804 passed an act to gradually abolish slavery within the state. The act provided that every child born of a slave after the fourth of July of that year was to be free, but should remain the servant of the owner of the mother, as if bound out by the Overseer of the Poor, until the age of twenty-five years, if a male, or twenty-one years, if a female.  All slave births were to be recorded by the county clerk. The records are copies from a manual which is part of the county clerk’s files in Newton, NJ.  Liamans, boy, b. Sept. 11, 1804, to [unstated], owned by John Seward, Hardiston Tp.

John was commissioned [Lieutenant] Colonel of his father’s own regiment, the 2nd Sussex, 25 November 1809, and was detailed to command the regiment in the War of 1812; he commanded it at General Training Day at Old Snufftown, New Jersey, previous to the War of 1812. During the War of 1812, the Second Regiment of New Jersey Detailed Militia was stationed at Paulus Hoeck, NJ, and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Seward.

1815. Power of attorney: Joseph Bloomfield of Burlington Co., NJ, appointed John Reily as attorney to convey title to S19, T2, R3, to Col. John Seward of Sussex Co., NJ. Signed Joseph Bloomfield. Witn: Thos. Adams, Stogdale Stokes.

10 November 1815, mortgage, John Seward as above to Joseph Bloomfield as above, 320 acres, west half of S19, T2, R3. Consideration $2560. Signed John Seward. Witn: M. G. Wallace, James McBride, Danl. Millikin, J. P.

1815. Deed: Joseph Bloomfield of NJ to John Seward, Sussex Co., NJ, S19, T2, R3. Signed Joseph Bloomfield by John Reily, atty. Witn: M. G. Wallace, James McBride, Danl. Millikin.

13 November 1815, deed, Butler Co., OH, John Seward of NJ to John B. Seward late of Sussex Co., NJ, Cosideration $640, S19, T2, R3. Signed John Seward. Witness: Nancy Coursen, Archibald Talbot.

The first court of Montgomery county (Illinois) was held at the home of Joseph McAdams. The grand jury selected to serve at this first term of the circuit court included John Seward. The county commissioners’ court was held in the spring of 1821, and consisted of John Beck, John Seward and John McAdams as county commissioners.

[Christiana Holmes Tillson, A Woman’s Story of Pioneer Illinois, 1919] After their wedding, the Tillsons went to Illinois. When they reached their destination, they discovered that their house was not finished, and they received an invitation from Colonel John Seward to stay at his home until the new house was completed. “We arrived at the Sewards’, three miles from our place, about sunset. Mrs. Seward, a dear, good woman, and Harriet, now Mrs. Wm. H. Brown of Chicago, were the only members of the family at home. Before our evening meal was ready the Colonel with his boy, John, arrived from Vandalia. [Vandalia was then the capitol of Illinois.] Israel Seward, Jr., with his wife and niece, Sally Slayback, had taken a house there to board members of the legislature, leaving their two older children, William and George, with their grandfather. The old Colonel was all smiles and gave me a most cordial welcome, as had also Mrs. and Miss Seward. He was a very tall, lank man. It was the twenty-eighth of November [1822] when we arrived at Colonel Seward’s, and I had a more homelike feeling than for many weeks. We had a clean, comfortable meal, Mother Seward and Harriet each performing their part in the domestic duties, while the Colonel talked politics and discussed the affairs of the state. Their house was about the size of ours, but had not been divided by any partitions. On the opposite side from the fireplace were two beds, standing foot to foot: there was a square frame over each, from which were suspended curtains that went around the front and foot of each bed. The curtains were arranged to leave about a foot of space between the bed and the curtain, to which we could pin our dresses, and by inexpansiveness could stand within the curtain and feel that we had all the privacy of a dressing room. One of the beds was for the Colonel and his wife and we had the other, while Harriet slept in a small bed, which during the day, was rolled under the Colonel’s. After breakfast Friday, Mr. Tillson left on business planning to return Saturday night. I had a pleasant, quiet day with Mrs. Seward and Harriet. Before we had finished our evening meal Mrs. Butler Seward came to call on me. She lived about a quarter of a mile from the Colonel’s, in the same grove. As they had other company at the Colonel’s she invited Harriet and myself to return with her and pass the night, so we went, Harriet arising while it was yet dark to go home and assist her mother, while I remained to breakfast. Saturday night your father came up, bringing the carriage, and said he would take us all to preaching the next day. Sunday morning, December 2, was cold and pinching: winter had commenced in earnest. We rode about two miles to a log cabin which, during week days, was the schoolhouse of the village ... When we arrived the service had just commenced: a movement was made to give Harriet and myself a seat by the fire ... The preaching had commenced at ten A. M., and it was not until between four and five o'clock that we were released from the rant. Colonel Seward was always pleasant to me, and after we were in the carriage starting for St. Louis, he came to say he was sorry we could not have stayed longer, and very confidentially told us that next week Mr. Brown and Harriet were going to be married. I had suspected that something was brewing, but Mrs. Seward and Harriet had hinted nothing. ... The winter of 1824, the brick house at the county seat - Hillsboro - was commenced, and our arrangements made for renting the farm. The house was to be built by contract - a one story brick house. The reason of our giving up our abode at the farm, where your father had expected to remain, was a dispute that had been going on between Colonel Seward and the county commissioners about the county seat. It had been located on the west side of Shoal Creek, and adjoining Colonel Seward's farm and but a mile from our house and had been named Hamilton, after Hamilton, Ohio, Colonel Seward’s former place of residence. Things worked out smoothly for a while, until the misunderstanding with the Colonel. Then there was a petition to the legislature and a new location. The county seat was changed from the east to the west side of the creek.”

5 February 1873, Hillsboro Democrat, Montgomery Co., IL (from an article on early settlers by A. H. H. Rountree): John Seward, the other of our first county commissioners, settled with his son at Seward’s Grove. Israel Seward and Butler Seward were his sons. Mrs. Burnap and Mrs. Glenn, wife of James Glenn, and Mrs. Dan Seward and Mrs. W. H. Brown of Chicago were his daughters. He was an uncle of the late Hon. W. H. Seward. His son Israel Seward left a large family, among them are: William, George, Clarence of Butler; Henry of New Orleans; Charles of Minnesota; Frank and Edward of near Butler; Mrs. Cowdy of St. Louis; Mrs. McGowan of Butler, his daughters. Israel Seward for many years kept a public inn on the Springfield Road, made a large farm, and at one time built a steam flouring mill, saw mill and carding mill on his place about 1841. In his old age he went to the California gold rush and made his pile there and then returned home and died two years ago. He was a man of great energy and decision of character; he owned the first span of mules ever driven about Hillsboro; he owned the first jack we ever saw. Butler Seward settled first on the Burnap place close to the Springfield Road, then removed to Chicago where both he and his wife died. He left a daughter Mrs. Dr. Herrick and a son Oscar Seward.

“Toast to the Butler Pioneers” by Mary Grace “Mayme” (Bryce) Ware, Thanksgiving, 1937. President of the Alumni Association, Honorable Toastmaster, Members of the Board of Education, Comrades in the Alumni and guests: “Tell us a story, Grandma, tell us a story about long, long time ago, please, Grandma!” “Well, if you children will get quiet and settle down, Grandma will try to tell you a story.” Once upon a time in the state of Ohio, there lived a man by the name of John Seward. He was married, had a wife and several children, some of whom were  married and had children of their own, so he was “Grandpa John” and of course his wife was “Grandma.” He was a farmer, industrious and a good manager. His son, Israel had inherited his father's good traits but he was young and ambitious, so one day he said to his father, “Father, I hear that over west in the new state that was just admitted into the Union last year they are giving land away. They tell me that a man can get on a horse in the morning and ride around in a circle all day, and the government will give him a grant to all the land within that circle. I would like to get in on this free or cheap land proposition while I am young.” They all agreed it might be a good plan, so made their preparations to move after harvest. Grandpa (Col. John Seward, Jr.) and Grandma (Mary Butler Seward), their son Israel, his wife (Margaret Slayback Seward) and baby boy (William A. Seward), 15 months old. They did not have trucks to load their goods in as we have, but they got their wagons in good repair and covered with nice new white canvas ready for their long journey from their old home in Ohio to their new home somewhere in Illinois. They did not have hard roads in those days nor hardly any laid out roads, but had to follow Indian trails or buffalo paths, and so, with the poor roads and the slow traveling of the oxen, they made very slow progress, but they kept on bravely traveling west, day by day, across the wilderness of Ohio and Indiana and the vast prairies of Illinois. One day they came to the top of a high hill, and they stopped to let the oxen rest, and they got out to look around. They looked south and they saw a broad valley. They looked west and they saw heavy timber. Then north and saw acre after acre of rolling prairie land and northeast more timber. And they said, “Right here is where we will settle. Plenty of land, plenty of timber for fuel and it seems plenty of water.” Now do you children know where that hill was? Well, it was just south of our town, up on the hill where Malinda Jane lives. There was an old two-story house over northwest of where Malinda lives and they moved into it and lived for several years. It was in October 1819, 118 years next October when they settled there and they named the hill Seward’s Hill and the grove nearby Seward’s Grove. That is where we used to have our picnics, in Seward’s Grove. And when in 1855 the town was laid out they named it Butler because that was the name of the county in Ohio from which they had moved. They were very busy getting ready for winter, getting up wood and making their house comfortable, and when spring came they were very very busy putting in their crops. They did not have tractors nor gang plows, nor discs, nor combines like Daddy has, but they did the best they could with the tools they had and were very happy. They liked it so well here that they wrote back to their relatives telling them what a delightful place to the west, so year by year some of them did come and locate near by and soon the whole settlement was filled with aunts, uncles and cousins and a number of their old neighbors moved here too. One who came with his family was Mr. George Burnap, who had married a sister of Uncle Israel Seward and these two brothers-in-law began buying stock, as their sons were now old enough to look after the farm work. As the country was so sparsely settled, it took quite a while to round up their stock and get it together. Now you think they drove it to Butler and loaded it on the freight train, don't you? No, they couldn't do that for there was no railroad here then. The railroad was built in 1854, 35 years after they had settled on Seward's Hill. Uncle Israel was so pleased to have it, but he could only hear the rumbling of the train through the trees as it went gliding over the track, but he wanted to see it. So he called his sons and they came with their axes and cut down a large number of trees, making a wide open space so he could enjoy watching the trains go by. So, because they had no railroad, Uncle Israel and George Burnap drove their stock on foot to market in St. Louis - cattle, hogs, and sometimes turkeys. When they were taking turkeys they would stop at a grove in the evening and let them fly up in the trees to roost. In the morning, shoo them down and go on with 200 or 300 of them. Mr. Burnap and Uncle Israel did right well with their stock buying, so decided to build new homes. Mr. Burnap built the west part of the “ell” of what is now Mrs. Chisholm's home. He was her grandfather, you know. And Uncle Israel built where Malinda Jane now lives. He built a big house, a long house with lots of bedrooms upstairs and long porch along the whole front of the house and around the roof of the porch was a railing so they could sit up there too. They needed a big house, for there were Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle Israel and his wife, who was called Aunt Peggy (Margaret). They had had 11 children, one died when small, but ten grew to men and women, 2 girls and 8 boys. Imagine how much noise 8 boys in one house could make. One of the daughters married a man in St. Louis (Mathew Coudy), the other a carpenter in Butler who afterwards had a store and had the Post Office in his store for several years. One of the sons went to the war (Civil War) and news came back. I can remember ... I was a little girl ... of hearing them say, “Jimmie Seward was such a good boy” and all were so sorry he had to die. Another son left home while he was young, went to New Orleans where he married and went into business, but afterwards moved to Colorado where he died. Uncle Israel always wanted to give or help his boys so each could have a farm. But one son said, “No farm for me! I want to be a merchant”, so his father helped him buy a store. So that left five boys who wanted to be farmers. Shall I tell you where those farms were? One was where Mr. Cline lives, one the Frisbie Hoes farm, one where the Henry boys own, one the Garrett farm where Mr. Orpin lives and one where Mrs. Ida Brown lives. So Mr. and Mrs. Seward could sit on their porch and see the farms where their five boys lived. Now, wasn't that nice. There were children in all those homes. So, of course these children must have schooling. They did not have then what we call the Public School System, so when you sent a child to school the parents had to pay the teacher out of his own pocket. They called these subscription schools. In 1849 they built the first school house out of logs on some of the Seward land west of Butler. Uncle Perry Williamson taught some year in that school house. One of the first teachers was Miss Mary Burnap, granddaughter of Mr. John Seward. After she had taught a year or two, she did just like Mary Louise. She got married, so they had to find another teacher, so her sister, Miss Camilla Burnap (Jenkins) taught. Then she married Mr. Jenkins and they lived and raised their family in the house her father had built. They had two sons and five daughters so you may be sure there was always something doing in that house with all those young folks. It was the dandiest home in which to have parties, for Aunt Camilla always loved having the young folks come to her home. Several of her daughters were teachers, two of them taught in the Butler School and their Granddaughters taught here too. Miss Camilla (Birdie) Jenkins and Miss Margaret Chisholm (Gaylor). We do not have Seward descendants on our teaching force today, but our graduate today is a great great great grandson of John Seward and one of John Seward’s great great granddaughters is married to a man who is president of our school board and perhaps in a few years one of their daughters who are great great great granddaughters may be teaching in our school. When there were too many children to be accommodated in the log school house, a frame school house was built on the same site on which our present school house stands. In 1857, John McGowan (husband of Israel’s daughter Cornelia) built his house. First one room, then years afterward another room was added. But I want to tell you about a term of school in this one room. They only had five months of school as the children were needed at home. I have an old schedule giving the names and attendance of those who went to this school taught by Mr. Charlie Parks, 75 years ago. There were 45 boys and 37 girls, a total of 82 in a one room taught by one teacher. For these five months he received $150. I find among this long list of names only one whom I know to be living and that is Mrs. Cannon, who was then Illinois Berry, aged 5. They held Sunday school in this school house. In August, 1858, a minister from Hillsboro and an officer in the church, Dr. Washburn (Hattie Turner’s grandfather) came over and organized a church and later a church was built and on July 3, 1864 the Presbyterian Church was dedicated. Among the first or charter members of this church were Mr. and Mrs. Israel Seward, their son, William, who was the baby boy when they moved here. Mrs. Martha Burnap, sister to Uncle Israel; Mrs. Mary McReynolds, great grandmother to Mrs. Grotts; Mrs. Minerva Steese (or Steele or Steere), grandmother of Mrs. John L. Dryer; Mrs. Sarah Ware, grandmother of George V. Ware and my father, Mr. Bryce, who had moved here from Ohio in 1856. Mrs. Israel Seward, whose name was Margaret, was always called Aunt Peggy. She was truly a pioneer woman. Busy as she must have been with her large family, she made a home where she entertained not only her friends and neighbors, but the strangers who came within their gates. Travelers passing through the country were made welcome. Abraham Lincoln, when he was carrying the mail from Vandalia to Springfield, often ate a meal or spent a night at her home. Mr. Israel Seward and his two sons, William and George, at different times carried the mail from Hillsboro to Jacksonville. But then went on horseback, not in a car like our mail carrier now drives. But they did not have so much mail in those days. Aunt Peggy always wore a white cap, only on Sundays she put on a black silk one. In pioneer days there were not as very many doctors and a trained nurse had never been heard of. The neighbors helped each other in times of sickness. Once when Aunt Peggy was sent for, to visit a family who were sick, she went to the chicken house, caught a chicken, chopped off its head, dipped it into a pail of hot water and started for the home where there was sickness, plucking the feathers from the chicken, scattering them on the way in haste, to have it ready to prepare broth for the sick and cook the rest for the family. She was always full of cheer and scattered sunshine all along her life’s pathway. The keynote of her life was kindness. [Note: “Aunt Peggy” was the first woman member of the Hillsboro Presbyterian Church when it was formed in March 1828. Her husband, Israel, joined the church the following July 1829. - M. Grotts] Now I can see that the littlest of you are getting sleepy, so Grandma must quit, but before you go to sleepy eye town, let us give a toast to the pioneers. So here’s to the Pioneers, who founded our town, who built and established our churches and schools, who were honest, upright honorable, Christian men and women, and who made of our community, a community known far and wide for its friendly neighborliness. And now shall we close our eyes for a minute while we say our goodnight prayer. Our dear Father, we do so thank Thee that Thou didst lead these pioneers to the top of this hill, and we thank Thee for their true-hearted lives and we pray Thee to help each one of us to do our part in carrying on the task which they began, that of making Butler the best and the happiest place in all the world to live. Help us to be good children. In Jesus name. Now good-night children. Happy dreams!

Children of John and Mary Butler Seward:

i. Frances (Fanny) Seward, b. 25 April 1787, d. 23 August 1824.

ii. Nancy Seward, b. 8 November 1789, d. 6 October 1865.

iii. John Butler Seward, b. 18 August 1792, d. 2 August 1859.

iv. Israel Seward, b. 3 September 1795, d. 27 August 1869.

v. Jane Seward, b. 1 November 1797.

vi. Martha Maria Seward, b. 28 March 1800, d. 1865.

vii. Obadiah Seward, b. 13 September 1802, d. 26 April 1812.

viii. Emeline Seward, b. 26 November 1806, d. 29 April 1812.

ix. Harriet Seward, b. 20 April 1807.

Israel Seward, son of John and Mary Butler Seward, b. 3 September 1795, Vernon, Sussex Co., NJ, d. 27 August 1869, m. Margaret Slayback, 30 October 1817, Hamilton, Butler Co., OH. Margaret, b. 27 March 1797, Lexington, KY, d. 15 June 1877, Butler, Montgomery Co., IL. Israel and Margaret are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Hillsboro, Montgomery Co., IL.

Israel was a drummer boy in the same regiment as his father during the War of 1812. He migrated with his father to Hamilton, Ohio in 1815. He would have been twenty years old when he arrived in Hamilton, and being adventurous, learned the business of river boating on the Ohio. This is where he met George Burnap, who eventually would marry Israel’s sister, Martha Maria. He and George would buy goods and travel the river all the way to New Orleans, selling their wares. But in 1819, he gave this up to accompany his father to settle in Montgomery County, Illinois. I’ve read they came by oxen and wagon. Like his father, he apparently sold his Revolutionary War land patents and used this money to buy land in Montgomery County. His name is on many, many old deeds in this area. He accompanied John Tillson, Jr., to the legislature in Vandalia to establish the new county of Montgomery in 1821 and was appointed the first probate judge of Montgomery County as well as the first school commissioner. They settled in Blooming Grove and opened a tavern. It has been verified that Lincoln stayed in this tavern on his trips from Vandalia to his home in Springfield. This log cabin tavern was on the east side of the present Route 127, at Blooming Grove. He was also a farmer. Israel opened a steam flouring mill, saw mill and carding machine on his place in 1841. He owned the first span of mules ever driven about Hillsboro, if not in the whole county. [A. H. H. Rountree, Reminiscences]

Hamilton County Courthouse, Cincinnati, Ohio, Marriage Book Vol A-1, record #45: Married, on the 30th day of October, 1817, Israel Stewart [sic] and Margaret Slayback. By John Thompson, Minister of the Gospel.

Israel Seward and John Butler Seward bought many Public Domain Land Tracts in Montgomery Co., IL.

Israel and his brother-in-law, John Burnap, went into business together buying stock. Since the railroad did not come to the area until 1854, they drove the cattle, hogs and sometimes turkeys to Market at St. Louis. In December 1820, Israel Seward, John Tillson, Hiram Roundtree and Eleazer Townsend went with a petition to the legislature, then in session at Vandalia, asking that a new county be formed, north of Fayette and Bond, their lands being within the new county. The petition was granted, and in Spring 1821, Israel was appointed a probate judge of the new Montgomery Co., IL.

10 March 1828, Rev. John M. Ellis met several people of Hillsboro and vicinity, at the house of John Tillson, Jr. and formed a church, to be known by the name of the “Presbyterian Church of Hillsboro”. John Tillson, Jr., was received on certificate, and Mrs. Margaret Seward on examination. It thus appears that this church began with two members.

Israel was one of the first stockholders of the Hillsboro Academy, which opened on the first Wednesday of November 1837. In 1847 it became Hillsboro College, and in 1852 moved to Springfield and became Illinois State College. The building in Hillsboro then became the property of the common schools, and was used by the city as the high school. Later it became a horse barn.

Mr. Seward erected a mill, operated by steam, about one mile south of the present village of Butler in 1839. This venture, being upon rather a large scale, did not prosper, and Mr. Seward soon found himself in financial embarrassment. Mr. Seward was not the man to let a matter of this kind discourage him, and when the gold fever of 1849 swept over the country Mr. Seward, in company with others, made the overland journey to that western country, and there, in the “new Eldorado”, he amassed considerable fortune, and be it said to his credit he returned to Illinois and paid all his outstanding obligations. He disposed of the old mill which had been his undoing, and once more stood among his fellow men free from the obligations that had, in a measure, clouded his former good name. In later years the mill was torn down and the machinery taken to Butler. [Jacob L. Traylor, Past and Present of Montgomery County Illinois, 1904]

Israel Seward and his wife “Aunt Peggy” had a farm on the brow of a hill between Butler and Hillsboro. Their place was a stage and mail stop on the Vandalia-Springfield Route, and there was a combination inn where travelers refreshed themselves and stage drivers replaced tired horses for fresh ones for the stage run. Abraham Lincoln often stayed there overnight. It was told that one time he drove up in an old rattle trap buggy and without saying a word got out and began to unhitch his horse. Israel and Peggy also owned a tavern in Vandalia where the state capitol was at this time. Later Israel, with his wife and niece, Sally Slayback, took a house there in Springfield to board members of the legislature, leaving their two older children, William and George, with their grandfather.

1850 Census, Weaverville, El Dorado Co., CA, Israel Seward, 55, NJ, hotel keeper, gold trader, $2000; Clarence, 19, IL, clerk. [Apparently Israel went on a little adventure during the California Gold Rush, taking Clarence, but leaving the rest of the family.]

1850 Census, Montgomery Co., IL, Margaret Seward, 51, KY, $4000; Charles, 28, IL, farmer, $400; Jane [wife of Charles], 22, IN; James, 16, IL; Francis, 14, IL; Cornelia, 10, IL; Edward, 7, IL.

1860 Census, Montgomery Co., IL, Israel Seward, 65, NJ, farmer, $16,000 + $2000; Margaret, 62, KY; Clarence, 28, IL; James, 25, IL; Edward, 17, IL.

[William Henry Perrin, History of Montgomery County, 1880] Butler Grove Township, Israel Seward moved from Hamilton County, Ohio, in the year 1819, and located his home upon what is known as “Seward’s Hill”, about one half mile south of the village of Butler. Mr. Seward was a noble type of the pioneer, a man of more than ordinary powers of intellect, and a devoted Christian. Though dead, he still lives in the influence which he formerly exerted upon the community that he was instrumental in founding. William Seward, a son, was born in Indiana one year before the family moved to Illinois. He was for a number of years mail carrier between the cities of Hillsboro and Jacksonville. His whole life has been identified with the history of the township and he is justly considered one of the most prominent citizens. A daughter of Mr. Seward, Mrs. McGowan (Cornelia Louisa), lives in the village of Butler, where she has resided the greater part of her life. Isreal Seward was a cousin of the late William H.

22 June 1877, Hillsboro Democrat, Margaret Seward, Wife of Israel. Another of the old residents of Montgomery county has passed away. One by one the men and women who laid the foundation of the social and political fabric of the great State of Illinois are dropping out of our midst. Margaret Slayback was born in the State of Kentucky, but removed at an early age to Ohio, where she was united in marriage with Israel Seward. They soon removed to this state and settled upon the old and well-known homestead near Butler, Illinois, where they lived till the death of Mr. Seward, several years ago. Since that time, Mrs. Seward has been living with her children, spending most of her time with her daughter, Mrs. McGowan, of Butler. She had enjoyed fair health for a lady of her age, and when taken with her last sickness no one had any suspicion of its fatal character till a few hours before her death. She was sick but a short time. She quietly breathed her last at the residence of her son-in-law, Mr. McGowan, in Butler on the 15th of June. Her funeral took place from the Presbyterian Church in Butler, of which she was a member, and her remains were deposited by the side of her husband in Oak Grove Cemetery in this city. Mrs. Seward was seventy-nine years of age in last April. She was the mother of ten children, all of whom arrived at full age, and nine of whom are yet living. There are few living among us who have witnessed a greater change in the condition of society in Illinois, or seen more of that major growth which raised this State since 1819 from the feeblest to the fourth in rank in a union of 31 states. Mrs. Seward always took great delight in reciting the privations and planning of the pioneer times. Before the days of railroads her house was noted stopping place for the prominent men of the day, in traveling to and from the capitol. Lincoln and Wm. H. Seward, the latter of whom was a first cousin of her husband, slept at affirmed times under her roof.

8 September 1905, Montgomery News, by “Old Bill Loper”. Israel Seward and his wife “Aunt Peggy”, whose pictures appear at the bottom of the first page, are two historical characters of Montgomery county. John Seward, Israel Seward’s father, was one of the first county commissioners of this county. He was an uncle of the Hon. W. H. Seward, President Lincoln’s Secretary of State. Israel was a man of great energy and decision of character, and was a progressive man. He owned the first span of mules ever driven about Hillsboro if not in the whole county, and he and his brothers used the first span of horses driven with check lines ever used in the county. He kept a “tavern” on the Springfield road just south of Butler, at which Lincoln, Douglas, and many other men who afterward became distinguished, used to stop. He died in 1871, leaving his widow, “Aunt Peggy”, surviving him several years. “Aunt Peggy” was a well known woman, loved and revered by all who knew her. She was very charitable and used to ride for miles to relieve cases of destitution that needed immediate help. She hastily killed a chicken, and mounting her horse, picked the chicken as she rode to the place where relief was administered. There are many living today who remember her whole-souled hospitality, her matronly dignity and her uniformed kindness to everyone. Peace to the ashes of these old pioneers!

Israel Seward was one of the earliest pioneer settlers of Butler Grove township, and was head of the Seward family, members of which now reside in all parts of this county. He was a son of John Seward, a pioneer settler of Montgomery county and one of the first county commissioners, and was an uncle of the Hon. William H. Seward, New York statesman, who served under Abraham Lincoln as secretary of state. Israel Seward’s father owned the first team of mules ever in this county, and he drove the first team of horses ever driven in this county with check reins. He conducted a tavern on the Springfield road, now known as route 127, which extends from Hillsboro to Raymond. His tavern was located south of Butler and Lincoln stayed there often. The Seward family homestead today is known as the Roberson place, near Butler. [Montgomery County News, late 1800s]

The Montgomery News, Hillsboro, IL, March 7, 1938: Descendants of Pioneers Visit Here - Mr. and Mrs. Horace Coudy of St. Louis are in Hillsboro for a vacation stay and they are making their home while here at the residence of former County Superintendent of Schools John H. Grigg and Mrs. Grigg, in Tillson Place. Mr. Coudy, a retired business man of St. Louis has never lived in Hillsboro but his ancestors were pioneer settlers at Hamilton, the town which preceded Hillsboro, about 1821 and was located west of here and which was abandoned when the present site of Hillsboro was chosen as the county seat, in 1823. The mother of Mr. Coudy was Caroline Seward, one of the daughters of Colonel Israel Seward, who came here from Ohio and whose family before that was from New York. Colonel Israel Seward and his wife, “Aunt Peggy” Seward, and their children, who settled on the present Butler hill, south of Butler, were the grandparents of Horace Coudy. They came to this county before it was a county and built their large log cabin in a grove of trees north of the present Jenkins or Chisholm farm, south of Butler, previous to 1821. The grove was called “Seward's Grove” and their house still stands today, with additions and clapboarding to turn it into a large two-storied modern-looking house called “the Walker place” for a good many years, now “the Roberson place”. Colonel Israel Seward and his wife kept an inn, where lawyers, legislator and other travelers between Springfield and the then-capital, Vandalia, stopped overnight. One of their sons, the first George Seward in the county, was the second mail carrier in the county. Abraham Lincoln, Springfield attorney and Illinois legislator, slept in the home later on in history, going to Vandalia from Springfield, on horseback. Mrs. Margaret Seward outlived her husband and eventually moved to Hillsboro to make her home, in the red brick house north of the Courthouse which once was “the Starr hotel” and now is a rooming house owned by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Harkey. Mrs. Margaret Seward was one of the founders and first two members, the other having been John Tillson of Hillsboro, of the Hillsboro Presbyterian church, in March 1828. The church’s 110th anniversary is to be observed this month.

Children of Israel and Margaret Slayback Seward:

i. William A. Seward, b. 17 August 1818, d. 30 July 1888.

ii. George Carson Seward, b. 11 October 1820, d. 12 January 1897.

iii. Charles Orville Seward, b. 23 April 1822, d. 28 February 1901.

iv. Henry Starr Seward, b. 29 November 1824, d. 5 November 1894.

v. Mary Caroline Seward, b. 17 January 1827, d. 26 October 1923.

vi. Sarah Maria Seward, b. 17 July 1829.

vii. Clarence Slayback Seward, b. 5 December 1831, d. 28 September 1916.

viii. James Glenn Seward, b. 19 May 1834, d. 25 September 1864.

ix. Francis H. Seward, b. 13 September 1836.

x. Cornelia Louise Seward, b. 6 August 1840, d. 1 September 1916.

xi. Edward W. Seward, b. 12 March 1843, d. 9 December 1922.