Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/303

 SEARS

SEAWELL

admitted to the diaconate in 1864, and advanced to the priesthood in 1865 ; and held rectorships in Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, 1864-85. He was married to Adeline, daughter of James T. and Sophia (Knight) Harris of Wyo- ming, R.I. . Jan. 2, 1866. He was professor of rhet- oric and English literature in the University of Vermont, 1885-88 ; librarian. 1886-88 ; associate professor of riietoric, Brown university, 1890-92, and in 1892 associate professor of rhetoric and oratory, and of American literature in 1895. He received the lionorary degree of A.M. from Trinity in 1887, and L.H.D. in 1892. He is the author of : The History of Oratory ( 1 896) ; Th e Occasional Ad- dress, Its Composition and Literature (1897); Pinn- ciples and Methods of Literary Criticism (1898) : " An Historical Introduction to the ' Library of Modern Eloquence ' " (1901 ) ; American Literature in the Colonial and National Periods (1902), He is also the author of various pamphlets and reviews.

SEARS, Robert, publisher, was born in St. John, New Brunswick, June 28, 1810. He was a son of Thacher Sears, one of the loyalists who after the Revolution were obliged to leave the United States. Robert Sears learned the trade of printer, and at the age of twenty-two removed to New York city and established a printing-office A few years later he began publishing subscription books. These being illustrated, gave an impetus to the art of wood-engraving in that city. He was one of the first of American business men to ad- vertise on a large scale, and he spent thousands of dollars therefor. His publications included a De- scription of the Russian Empire, Illustrations of the Bible, Bible Biography, Wonders of the World, and a Pictorial History of the United States. He died in New York, June 5, 1891.

SEATON, William Winston, journalist, was born in King William county, Va., Jan. 11, 1785 ; son of Augustine and Mary (Winston) Seaton ; grandson of George and Elizabeth (Hill) Seaton and of Samuel Winston, and a descendant of Henry Seaton, who came from Scotland in 1690, to Gloucester county, Va., where he married Eliza- beth Todd. His mother was a cousin of Patrick Henry. He received his early education at an academy in Richmond, Va., and in 1803 entered upon an active political career, in the same year accepting the position of assistant editor of a Richmond journal. He also became editor of the Petersburg Republican ; bought out the North Carolina Journal from the publishers at Halifax, in 1807, and upon his removal to Raleigh. N.C., soon after, identified himself with the Register, edited by Joseph Gales, to whose daughter Sarah he was married in 1809. In connection with his b;other-in-law, Joseph Gales. Ji-., Mr. Seaton con- ducted the National Intelligencer at Washington, D. C., 1812-60. During the first eight years of their

partnership, Seaton and Gales were the only pub- lishers who made any attempt to report congres- sional matter, the responsibility being divided equally betiveen them. In 1824, Mr. Seaton, as captain of the Washington Guards, was appointed chairman of the committee authorized to proceed to Baltimore. Md., to welcome Lafayette and to escort him to Washington, D.C. He was mayor of Washington, 1840-50, having pi-eviously declined the office in 1820 and 1834 ; was a delegate to the Whig national convention at Baltimore. Md., May 1, 1844 ; served as a private in Capt. John Davidson's regiment, in the defence of Wash- ington, in April, 1861, and retired as editor of the Intelligencer. Dec. 31, 1^04. He was a founder of the Unitarian church in Washington. D.C. ; vice-president of the American Colonization society from its inception in 1816, and in 1847 was actively influential in the relief of Ireland. He died in Washington. D.C, Dec, 31, 1864.

SEAVER, Ebenezer, representative, was born at Roxbury, ]Mass., July 5, 1763 : son of Ebenezer (1721-1785) and Mary (Weld) Seaver : grandson of Ebenezer (1687-1773) and Margaret (Heath) Seaver ; great-grandson of Joshua (1641-1730) and Mary (widow of Joseph Pepper) Seaver. and greats-grandson of Robert (who came from Eng- land in the Mary and John, 1634) and Elizabeth (Ballard) Seaver, He was graduated at Harvard. A.B., 1784, A.M., 1787 ; became a farmer, and was prominent in town politics in Roxbury. being chairman of the board of selectmen and familiarly called the "father of the town." He was mar- ried Dec. 22, 1788, to Elizabeth Clap of Dorches- ter. He was a representative in the general court of Massachusetts, 1794-1802, a Democratic representative from Roxbury district, in tlie 8th-12th congresses. 1803-13, and in 1812 he was defeated as a War Democrat for tiie 13th congress. He was in favor of the embargo and advocated the war of 1812. He was a member of the coji- vention which amended tlie state constitution in 1820, and in 1839 he withdrew from public life. He died in Roxbury, Mass.. March 1, 1844.

SEAWELL, Molly Elliot, author, was born in Gloucester county, Va., Oct. 23. 1860; daughter of John Tyler and Frances Elizabeth (Jackson) Seawell ; granddaughter of John Boxwell and Marie Henry (Tyler) Seawell, and of William and Molly Elliot (James) Jackson ; great-niece of President John Tyler, and a descendant of Henry Seawell, founder of the family in Virginia, who settled at Seawell's Point on Hampton Roads, in 1627, and whose land patent (No. 166 in the colony of Virginia) is in record at the land office in Richmond. Va, After lier father's death, she re- moved to Washington, D.C. In 1890. her boys" story " Little Jarvis" won a prize of $500 offered by the Youth's Companion, and in 1895 her