In January 1882, he traveled to China as a missionary and was stationed in Huangxian in North China, where he met his first wife, Ida Tiffany; she died two years later.
C.W. and Ann Seward along with William and Effie Sears and Laura Barton were the only missionaries that remained loyal to Lottie Moon during a doctrinal dispute with Tarleton Perry Crawford that led to dividing the Southern Baptist North China Mission.