Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/363

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

Seaton, William Winston, born in King William county, \'irginia, a descendant of Henry Seaton, who came to \'irginia at the end of the seventeenth century. His mother, whose maiden name was Winston, was a cousin of Patrick Henr>'. He was educated by Rev. James Ogilvie, the Earl of Finlater, a Scotchman, who conducted an academy in Richmond. When eighteen years of age he engaged in politics, and became assistant editor of a Richmond paper. He next edited the Petersburg "Republican," but soon pur- chased the **Xorth Carolina Journal," pub- lished at Halifax, then the capital of the state. When Raleigh became the capital, he removed thither and connected himself with the "Register," edited by Joseph Gales, Sr., whose daughter he married. In 1812 he moved to Washington and joined the "Na- tional Intelligencer," in company with his brother-in-law, Joseph Gales, Jr., which partnership lasted till the death of the latter in i860. From 1812 till 1820 Messrs. Seaton and Gales were the exclusive congressional reporters as well as editors of their journal, one taking charge of the proceedings in the senate and the other in the house of repre- sentatives. The "Register of Debates" was considered a standard authority. After the death of Mr. Gales, Mr. Seaton was sole editor and manager of the "National Intelli- gencer" until it was sold, a short time be- fore his death. In 1840 he was elected mayor of Washington, and held that office twelve successive years. With Mr. Gales, he published "Annals of Congress : Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States from March 3, 1798, till May 2^, 1824" (forty-two volumes, Washington, 1834-56) ; "Register of Debates in Congress from 1824-1837," (fourteen volumes in

twenty-nine, 1827-37) ; and "American State Papers, selected and edited by Walter Lowne and M. St. Clair Clarke" (^twenty- one volumes, 1832-34).

Rogers, James Blythc, born in Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, February 11, 1802, son of Patrick Kerr Rogers, who was a gradu- ate of the University of Pennsylvania in 1802, and in 1819 was elected professor of natural philosophy and mathematics at Wil- liam and Mary, where he remained until his death. James Blythe Rogers was educated ai William and Mar>' College, and, after siudpng medicine with Dr. Thomas E. r»ond, received the degree of Doctor of Med- icine from the University of Maryland in 1822. He subsequently taught in Baltimore, but soon afterward settled in Little Britain, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and there practiced medicine. Later l>e returned to Baltimore and became superintendent of a chemical factory, devoted himself to the study of pure and applied chemistry-, and became professor of that branch in Wash- ington Medical College, Baltimore, also lec- turing on the same subject at the Mechanics* Institute. In 1835 he was called to the same chair in the medical department of Cincin- nati College, where he remained until 1839, spending his vacations in field work and chemical investigations in connection with the geological survey of Virginia, then under the charge of his brother William. In 1840 he settled in Philadelphia, and be- came an assistant to his brother Henry, then slate geologist of Pennsylvania. In 1841 he was appointed lecturer on chemistry in the Philadelphia Medical Institute. He was elected professor of general chemistry at the Franklin Institute in 1844, and in 1847 suc-

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