William Winston Seaton (January 11, 1785 – June 16, 1866) was an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and the thirteenth

Mayor of Washington, D.C. The mayor of the District of Columbia is the head of the executive branch of the government of the District of Columbia, in the United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce district laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed ...

Life

He was born in

King William County King William County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,810. Its county seat is King William. King William County is located in the Middle Peninsula and is included in the Greater R ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. From 1812 until 1860 he was, with his brother-in-law

Joseph Gales Joseph Gales Jr. (June 15, 1786 – July 21, 1860) was an American journalist and the ninth mayor of Washington, D.C., from 1827 to 1830. He was the only Mayor born outside the United States or the American colonies. Early life Joseph Gales Jr ...

, proprietor of the ''

National Intelligencer The ''National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser'' was a newspaper published in Washington, D.C., from October 30, 1800 until 1870. It was the first newspaper published in the District, which was founded in 1790. It was originally a Tri- ...

'' at

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

From 1812 until 1820 the two were the only reporters of

congressional A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

proceedings In academia and librarianship, conference proceedings is a collection of academic papers published in the context of an academic conference or workshop. Conference proceedings typically contain the contributions made by researchers at the confere ...

. Their ''Annals of Congress, Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States from 3 March 1798, till 27 May 1824'' (42 volumes, 1834–1856), and their ''Register of Debates in Congress from 1824 till 1837'' (29 volumes, 1827–37) are sources of the utmost importance on the history of the times. Sarah Weston Seaton with Her Children Augstine and Julia

Sarah Weston Seaton with Her Children Augstine and Julia

In 1809, he married Sarah Weston Gales (1790–1863), the daughter of newspaper publisher

Joseph Gales Sr. Joseph Gales (4 February 1761 – 21 July 1841) was an American journalist, newspaper publisher and political figure. He was the father of the younger Joseph Gales. Life in Britain Gales was born in Eckington, Derbyshire, in England to Timothy ...

and novelist

Winifred Gales Winifred Marshall Gales (10 July 1761 – 26 June 1839) was an American novelist and memoirist. Gales was born in 1761 in Newark-upon-Trent, England, the daughter of John Marshall. She wrote the first novel published by a resident in North Carol ...

. Sarah spoke French and Spanish, and did occasional work for the ''National Intelligencer'' as a translator; they had 11 children.

Mayor of Washington D.C.

Seaton served on the Washington Board of Aldermen from 1819 to 1831, and was elected Mayor of Washington in 1840. However, Seaton was a Whig — the

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

formed in opposition to the policies of the Democrats who then controlled both the Congress and the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...

. Federal officials were so distraught at Seaton's election that the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

introduced legislation that would abolish the city's charter; thanks to petitions from District citizens and sympathetic Senators, the bill was tabled after three readings. During his 10 years as mayor, Seaton was instrumental in the development of the city's public education system and in numerous civic improvements, including telegraph and gas lines as well as the construction of the first waterworks.

Founding of
St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square is an historic Episcopal church located at Sixteenth Street and H Street NW, in Washington, D.C., along Black Lives Matter Plaza. The Greek Revival building, designed by Benjamin Latrobe, i ...

To supply this great need the residents in what was known as the First and Second Wards of Washington-lying between Georgetown and Sixth Street-in the year 1814 took decided measures to procure the erection of a church in the part of the city referred to. The persons who seem to have been most actively engaged in this work were Thomas H Gillis, James Davidson, Lund Washington,

Peter Hagner Peter Hagner (October 1, 1772 – July 16, 1850) was a clerk in the accounting office of the United States War Department, 1793–1817, and Third Auditor of the United States Department of the Treasury from 1817–1849; he served during the adminis ...

John Graham (diplomat) John Graham (1774 – August 6, 1820) was an American politician and diplomat. He was born in Dumfries, Virginia and graduated from Columbia University in 1790. He moved to Kentucky and served in the Kentucky legislature. From 1801 to 1803 he se ...

, John Peter Van Ness, Joshua Dawson, William Winston Seaton, John Tayloe III, Thomas Munroe, James Thompson,

James H. Blake James Heighe Blake (11 June 1768 – 29 July 1819) was an American physician, and the third mayor of Washington, D.C., elected by the council of aldermen in 1813 and serving until 1817. Birth Born on June 11, 1768, to Joseph Blake and Mary Heig ...

, David Easton and Joseph Gales, Jr.

Societies

During the 1820s, Seaton was a member of the prestigious society,

Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences The Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences (1816–1838) was a literary and science institution in Washington, D.C., founded by Dr. Edward Cutbush (1772–1843), a naval surgeon. Thomas Law had earlier suggested of such a socie ...

, who counted among their members former presidents

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

and John Quincy Adams and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions.

Later life

Seaton died in 1866 of

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. There are three main types of skin cancers: basal-cell skin cancer (BCC) ...

and was interred at

Holmead's Burying Ground Holmead's Burying Ground, also known as Holmead's Cemetery and the Western Burial Ground, was a historic cemetery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was founded by Anthony Holmead in 1794 as a p ...

in Washington, D.C. He was later disinterred, and moved to an unmarked grave at Congressional Cemetery.

References

Sources

''William Winston Seaton of the 'National Intelligencer' '' By Josephine Seaton
* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seaton, William Winston American male journalists Mayors of Washington, D.C. Burials at the Congressional Cemetery 1785 births Seaton, William, Winston People from King William County, Virginia Burials at Holmead's Burying Ground 19th-century American politicians Journalists from Virginia Historians from Virginia