Seward Mansion Timeline
1789 (July 30) -- Samuel and Rebecca Wills purchased the property from Joshua Newbold.
1798 -- Samuel and Rebecca's daughter Anna inherited the property.
1799 -- Anna married Abraham Cooper from Chester.
1825 -- Anna and Abraham passed the property on to their children, Nathan and Beulah Ann Cooper.
1825 -- Beulah married Henry Seward, a cousin of William H. Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State.
1857 -- Beulah and Henry acquired ownership of the property.
c.
1858 -- the mansion built. The mansion had 9 large
rooms, a grand staircase at its center, chandeliers, ornate mantels and
a wrap-around porch. Architecturally, it is an example of 18th century stone construction in a mid-Victorian style. Rosewood farm was known for its prize winning livestock.
1920s -- the property served as an airstrip.
1939 (November 30) -- the 270 acre property remained in the Seward family until this time.
1939
-- the Maier brothers purchased the property and created the pond bearing their name and used the property as a vegetable farm.
1970 -- the property was sold to developers, but the land was never further developed.
1996 -- Mt. Olive Township purchased the property.
2005
-- Mt. Olive Township began emergency stabilization of the Seward
Mansion, after the back of the house began to further collapse.
The property is a Designated Landmark. |
Additional Notes
Henry Seward and his wife Beulah Ann Cooper were distant cousins. Their relatives were from the near by town of Chester, NJ.
Henry's father was a physician in Goshen, NY. Henry worked
as a banker in Goshen before removing to Chester, NJ.
Beulah Ann Cooper was also a Seward. Her grandmother was
Mehitable Seward (married, Nathan Cooper) daughter of Obadiah Seward
that settled land in Chester, NJ.
Mehitable (Hetty) was the mother of Abraham Cooper, Beulah's father.
Henry Seward was the grandson of Daniel Seward, Mehitable's youngest brother. Even though he grew up in the Goshen, NY
area, Henry rebuilt his great grandfather Obadiah's house, in Chester,
NJ and built and large stone barn that is now a nursing home there on
Hwy 24.
Below is a link to an album that belonged to ancestors of Henry and Beulah Seward:
http://millergenealogy.googlepages.com/photoalbum
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