Seton, Elizabeth Ann

Seton, Elizabeth Ann founder of the Sisters of Charity in the United States, was born in New York city, Aug. 28, 1774. She was the daughter of Dr. Richard Bayley, and in her twentieth year married William Seton, whom she accompanied to Italy in 1803. Upon his death, in Pisa, in 1804, she returned to New York and entered the Roman Catholic Church, March 14, 1805. Left, by her husband's misfortunes, without resources, she opened a school in Baltimore in 1805-08. With her sisters-in-law, Harriet and Cecilia Seton, she took the veil as Sister of Charity, Jan. 1, 1809, at Emmettsburg, Md. (being the first members of that order in the United States). A conventual establishment was opened at Emmettsburg, July 30, 1812, with "Mother Seton" as superior-general. She died at Emmettsburg, Jan. 4, 1821. See White, Life of Eliz. A. Seton (N.Y. 1853; 5th ed. Baltimore, 1865); Seton [Rev. Robert], Memoir, Letters, etc., of E.A. Seton (N.Y. 1869, 2 vols.). SEE SISTERS OF CHARITY.