{{Short description|American journalist (1785–1866)}} {{Infobox person | name = William Winston Seaton | image = William Winston Seaton - Brady-Handy.jpg | image_size = 200px | image_caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1785|01|11}} | birth_place = [[King William County, Virginia]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1866|6|16|1785|01|11}} | death_place = [[Washington DC]] | resting_place = [[Holmead's Burying Ground]] Later disinterred and moved to [[Congressional Cemetery]] | known_for = Mayor of Washington D.C., Founded [[St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square]] | spouse = {{marriage|Sarah Weston Gales|1809}} | children = 11 | relatives = [[Joseph Gales]] (brother-in-law)<br>[[Joseph Gales Sr.]] (father-in-law)<br>[[Winifred Gales]] (mother-in-law) | occupation = Printer/Publisher/Reporter [[National Intelligencer]], Mayor of [[Washington D.C.]] | module = {{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes | honorific_prefix = | office = [[List of mayors of Washington, D.C.#Mayors of the City of Washington (1802–1871)|13th Mayor of the City of Washington, D.C.]] | status = | term_start = June 8, 1840 | term_end = June 10, 1850 | predecessor = [[Peter Force]] | successor = [[Walter Lenox]] | party = [[United States Whig Party|Whig]] }} }}
'''William Winston Seaton''' (January 11, 1785 – June 16, 1866) was an American [[journalist]] and the thirteenth [[mayor of Washington, D.C.]]
==Life== William Winston Seaton was born in [[King William County, Virginia|King William County]], [[Virginia]]. His mother's maiden name was Winston and was a cousin of [[Patrick Henry]]. He studied under Reverend James Ogilvie at an academy in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]. At the age of 18, he became an assistant editor for a paper in Richmond. He was an editor for the ''Petersburg Republican'' and then purchased the ''North Carolina Journal'' based in [[Halifax, North Carolina|Halifax]]. After [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]] became the state capital, he became connected with the ''[[Raleigh Register]]'' and its editor [[Joseph Gales Sr.]]<ref name="virginia">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_TykSAAAAYAAJ_2/page/n325/mode/2up |title=Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography |author=[[Lyon Gardiner Tyler]] |volume=2 |year=1915 |page=310 |via=[[Archive.org]] |access-date=2024-09-09}}{{Open access}}</ref> In 1812, he moved to [[Washington, D.C.]], and joined with his brother-in-law [[Joseph Gales]], proprietor of the ''[[National Intelligencer]]'' at [[Washington, D.C.]].<ref name="virginia"/> From 1812 until 1820 the two were the only reporters of congressional proceedings. 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.<ref name="virginia"/> After the death of Gales in 1860, he was sole manager and editor of the ''National Intelligencer''.<ref name="virginia"/>
[[File:Sarah Weston Seaton with Her Children Augstine and Julia.jpg|thumb|Sarah Weston Seaton with her children Augustine and Julia, painted by [[Charles Bird King]] around 1815]] In 1809, he married Sarah Weston Gales (1790–1863), the daughter of newspaper publisher Joseph Gales Sr. and novelist [[Winifred Gales]]. Sarah spoke French and Spanish, and did occasional work for the ''National Intelligencer'' as a translator; they had 11 children.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://npg.si.edu/blog/sarah-weston-seaton-and-washington-dc-around-1815|title=Sarah Weston Seaton and Washington, DC, Around 1815|work=facetoface|publisher=National Portrait Gallery|first1=Brandon|last1=Fortune|first2=Ellen|last2=Miles|access-date=2018-12-23}}</ref>
==Mayor of Washington D.C.== Seaton served on the Washington Board of Aldermen from 1819 to 1831, and was elected [[List of mayors of Washington, D.C.|Mayor of Washington]] in 1840. However, Seaton was a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] — the [[political party]] formed in opposition to the policies of the [[U.S. Democratic Party|Democrats]] who then controlled both the Congress and the [[President of the United States|presidency]]. Federal officials were so distraught at Seaton's election that the [[United States Senate|Senate]] 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]]== 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]], [[John Graham (diplomat)]], [[John Peter Van Ness]], Joshua Dawson, William Winston Seaton, [[John Tayloe III]], Thomas Munroe, James Thompson, [[James H. Blake]], David Easton and [[Joseph Gales|Joseph Gales, Jr]].
==Societies== During the 1820s, Seaton was a member of the prestigious society, [[Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences]], who counted among their members former presidents [[Andrew Jackson]] and [[John Quincy Adams]] and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions.<ref name="rathbun">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MY-5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA118 |title=The Columbian institute for the promotion of arts and sciences: A Washington Society of 1816-1838. |first=Richard |last=Rathbun |access-date=2010-06-20|year=1904 |publisher=Bulletin of the United States National Museum, October 18, 1917}}</ref>
==Later life== Seaton died in 1866 of [[skin cancer]] and was interred at [[Holmead's Burying Ground]] in Washington, D.C.{{sfn|Ridgely|1908|page=259}} He was later disinterred, and moved to an unmarked grave at [[Congressional Cemetery]].
== References == {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *[https://books.google.com/books?id=HbS_o_QDgfgC&pg=PA13 ''William Winston Seaton of the 'National Intelligencer' '' By Josephine Seaton] *[https://chestofbooks.com/reference/American-Cyclopaedia-14/William-Williams-William-Woollett.html Chest of Books] *{{cite book|last=Ridgely|first=Helen West|title=Historic Graves of Maryland and the District of Columbia, With the Iappearing on the Tombstones in Most of the Counties of the State and in Washington and Georgetown|location=New York|publisher=Grafton Press|date=1908|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=81odAAAAMAAJ&q=Anthony+Holmead+cemetery&pg=PA258}} * {{NIE|wstitle=Seaton, William Winston}}
== External links == * {{Find a Grave|9514197}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before = [[Peter Force]]| title = [[List of mayors of Washington, D.C.|Mayor of Washington, D.C.]] | years = 1840–1850| after = [[Walter Lenox]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seaton, William Winston}} [[Category:19th-century mayors of Washington, D.C.]] [[Category:American male journalists]] [[Category:Burials at the Congressional Cemetery]] [[Category:1785 births]] [[Category:1866 deaths|Seaton, William, Winston]] [[Category:People from King William County, Virginia]] [[Category:Burials at Holmead's Burying Ground]] [[Category:Journalists from Virginia]] [[Category:Historians from Virginia]]