Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Sarah Peter

Philanthropist, b. at Chillicothe, Ohio, U.S.A. 10 May, 1800; d. at Cincinnati, 6 Feb., 1877. Her father, Thomas Worthington, was Governor of Ohio, 1814-18, and also served in the United States Senate. On 15 May, 1816, she married Edward King, son of Rufus King of New York, who died 6 Feb., 1836; and in October, 1844, she married William Peter, British consul at Philadelphia, who died 6 Feb., 1853. During her residence at Philadelphia she founded, 2 Dec., 1850, the School of Design for Women. Returning to Cincinnati she spent most of her remaining years as a patron of art, and in works of charity and philanthropy. She became a convert at Rome in March, 1855, being instructed there by Mgr Mermillod. The foundations of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, the Sisters of Mercy, the Little Sisters of the Poor in Cincinnati, and other institutions owed much to her generosity. In 1862 she volunteered as a nurse, and went with the sisters who followed Grant's army in the south-west after the battle of Pittsburg Landing.

KING, Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Sarah Peter (Cincinnati, 1889); Catholic Telegraph (Cincinnati), files; Freeman's Journal (New York), files.

THOMAS F. MEEHAN