Dr. Valentine Seaman1,2,3,4,5,6

M, b. 2 March 1770, d. 3 July 1817
Dr. Valentine Seaman - This portrait hangs in a room just off the board room of the New York City Hospital. It was painted by Lewis T. Ives.
     Valentine was born on Friday, 2 March 1770 at Queens County, Long Island, New York. He was the son of Willett & Elizabeth Searing Seaman. Valentine's father offered him many inducements to go into business with him. Medicine, however, was too strong of an allurement and Dr. Benjamin Rush [a signer of the Declaration of Independance] had gained a pupil. After graduation, hereturned to the City and & to Anna. He married Anna Ferris on 7 May 1794 in a Quaker ceremony at Flushing Meeting House, Flushing, Queens County, Long Island, New York. They made their home & raised their family on Beekman Street across from the Old Brick Church. It was a large home surrounded with gardens and vineyards. It was here that they lost their first child, Betsy, to smallpox. This tragedy induced Valentine to visit Dr. Edward Jenner in England, the result of which brought Valentine home with the serum & a close friend for life. Thus, his son became the first white child vaccinated in this country. Controversey was raised over the use of the vaccine and almost cost Valentine his medical career. After much debate and effort on the part of Valentine, he was finally given permission to vaccinate his own family and volenteers from the poor house. He was the first to have a class of women to instruct in the care of mid-wifery, writing a book for the instructon & guidance; this was at Alma House in New York. He also published an account of Yellow Fever which prevailed in 1791 & 1800; this may yet be found in the medical repository. In 1800 & 1811, he and others formed a medical institution associated with Queens College in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was an active member of the Manumission Society for the liberation of slaves & their protection. His health began to decline about a year before his death from consumption in 1817. Dr. Seaman's protrait hangs proudly in the board room of New York City Hospital where he was their first operating surgeon. Both Valentine & Anna belonged to
the Society of Friends. Valentine made his will 2 August 1815 at New York City, New York County, New York.

I, Valentine Seaman, of the city of New York, physician, do make and publish this my last will & testament in manner & form following. That is to say: first I order & direct, that my funeral expenses and all my just debts be paid & my dues collected as soon after my death as can convientlly be done.
Secondly, I authorize & empower my executor hereinafter named, and the survivors & survivors of them, at their discression, to sell & dispose, in fee simple absolutely of all such of my real estate as I now hold in common with my brothers & sisters, John Seaman, Willett Seaman, Benjamin B. Seaman, Mary Thurston & Rachael Seaman, and with any or either of them; to give good &
sufficient conveyences in the law for the same; to compromise & compound with any & all my debters; & to refer to arbitration any & all disputes & contraversies, that shall or may arise in the settlement of my estate.
Thirdly, I order & direct that the proceeds of my personal estate together with the avails of such part of my real estate as may be soldby virtue of the authority above given, and the rents & profits of the residue thereof, as the same shall be received, be put out & kept at interest on good real security and that out of such interest & income my belovedwife Anna Seaman be supported; and my children, William F. Seaman, James V. Seaman, John F, Seaman, Valentine Seaman, Percival, Willett Seaman, Marianna Seaman, Anna Seaman & Elizabeth Seaman, repectively, be supported & educated until they shall respectively at the age of twenty-ibe years.
Fourthly, it is my will & I heeby direct that as my children above named shall respecitvely arrive at the age of twenty-one years that they each be paid out of my out of my estate or from such income & interest as aforesaid,be from time to time put outand kept at interest such security as aforesaid, until the youngest of my surviving children shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years, and shall have received his or her legacyas aforesaid. And that then what shall remain of all my estate real & personal be divided among my said wife, if she shall then be living,and such of my said children as shall then be living, and the lawful isssue, if any there shall be, of such of mysaid children as shall then have deceased, [equallyto be divived among said issue if these shall then be more than one] share and share alike; and when so divided to be and remain to them, their heir & assigns forever; - hereby meaning and -------------, that the issue of any such of my said children,as shall have died previous to the time of such general distribution, shall receive the shalre or proportion thereof, that his, heror their parentswouldhave received, if living, snf noymore: also, I declare my intention to be the before mentionedappropriationsfor the support of my said wife, shall be in heirand in bar of herdower, right in title of dower, and of all other claimed upon my estate. And I further declaremy will and intentionto be, that the above mentioned legacy of five thousand dollarsto be paid to my children respectively, as they shall arrive at the age of twenty oneyears,shall not be paid to the issue of anyone of my childrenwho shall have died under the age of twenty-one years: but that only such of my said childrenwhoshall attain to that age, shall respectively at such agebe authorized out of my estate the said sum of five thousand dollars, previous to thegeneral divisionand distribution of the above mentioned.
And lastly, I hereby nominate ---- & appoint my eldest son, William F. Seaman, and my brother-in-law, William B. Thurston and my kinsman, SamuelHicks of the cityof New York, merchant Executors of this my last will & testament. In witness thereof I have there unto set myhand and seal this 22 day of the sixth month in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifteen.
Valentine Seaman
Signed, sealed, published, and declared
by the above named Valentine Seaman as
and for his last will and testament in the
presence of us who havehere unto subscribed
our namesas witnesses of therequest of the
said testatorand in his presence and in the presence of each other. Isaac Burr, Rob C. Cornell, Benjamin Clark


2.7 Valentine departed this life on Thursday, 3 July 1817 in Throgs Neck, Westchester County, New York, at the family home "Grove Farm". He died of consumption in the front room of his home. He was buried at the Friend's Cemetery on North Street. "Friends" [Quakers] did not have headstones to mark their graves. A few years later, all the graves there were moved to a location adjoining the Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Valentine's son spent much time and money trying to locate his father's remains but to no avail. Valentine was laid to rest in a grave unknown.8 He was buried at New York City in the Friend's Burying Ground on North Street. His body was removed, along with his famiy members, several years later to the Brooklyn Cemetery, next to the Greenwood Cemetery. The practice among the Quakers was not to mark the graves. His son, John, took great pains in trying to locate his grave, as well as his siblings who were buried there. and finally he was allowed to place stones upon their graves.9 He His estate was not to be settled until after his youngest child reach the age of 21 years.

Family

Anna Ferris b. 8 Dec 1771, d. 5 Nov 1854
Children

Citations

  1. [S5] William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Volume III: page 281 - Anna, d/o Valentina & Anna Seaman, b. 3/18/1812 m. ___ Ferris, [H] dismissed 12/1843; Eliza, d/o Dr. Valentine & Anna Seaman, b. 5/9/1815, m. ___ Leggett, dismissed 7/5/1837.
    Volume III, page 282 - Dr. James V., s/o Valentine & Anna Seaman, b. 3/1/1799; John F. [changed name from Walter], s/o Dr. Valentine & Anna Seaman, b. 3/22/1801; Mary Ann m. ___ Middlebrook, d. 10/16/1831; Percival, s/o Dr. Valentine & Anna Seaman; Dr. Valentine, s/o Henry & Hanna Seaman, b. 4/2/1770, d. 6/27/1817, m. New York 5/07/1794 Anna Ferris, d/o John & Anna Ferris/ b. 12/8/1771, d. 11/05/1854, ch. __ d. 3/23/1796, William F. [Dr.] 2/3/1797, James V. [Dr.] b.3/1/1797, Walter [changed to John F.] b. 3/22/1801, Valentine [Dr.] 9/30/1802, Percival b. 10/11/1804, Willet J. b. 6/9/1808, Mary Anna b. 4/20/1810, Anna b. 3/18/1812, Eliza b. 5/9/1815; Dr. Valentine, s/o Valentine & Anna Seaman, b. 9/3/1802, d. 3/29/1899, m. 1838 Anna Amelia Ferris, d/o Elijah & Amelia Ferris; Willet J., s/o Dr. Valentine & Anna Seaman, b. 7/10/1820; Dr. William F., s/o Dr. Valentine & Anna Seaman, b. 2/3/1797, d. 1/12/1827, m. Elizabeth H. ___, ch. William F. d. 3/26/1825 age 10 months, Sarah H. b. 11/26/1825.
  2. [S2] Getroit Genealogical Society, Marriage Valentine Seaman & Anna Ferris, 1794.
  3. [S18] Mary Thomas Seaman, The Seaman Family of America, pages.
  4. [S19] Dr. John Shrady, Contributions to the Medical History of the City of New York, Dr. Valentine Seaman was a prominent physician and surgeon of New York City. President of the Medical Society which was the forerunner of the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons.
  5. [S44] Minnie Goodnow, Goodnow's History of Nursing




    , pages 129-130 The family of Dr. Valentine Seaman, of New York, holds that he was the first person to found a school for nurses. His son says, "In 1798 Dr. Seaman introduced the first regular school for trained nurses, from which other schools have since been established." He had about twenty-four pupils, and gave them a course of lectures in anatomy, physiology, care of children, and midwifery. In 1800 a synopsis of these lectures was published. The report of the New York Hospital for 1882 says: "As long ago as the early part of the present century Dr. Valentine Seaman, connected with this hospital as attending surgeon up to his death in 1817, was in the habit of giving regular instruction to the nurses by lectures and otherwise. Thus early was foreshadowed the more elaborate system which has recently taken shape in the modern training- school."
  6. [S45] James Joseph Walsh, History of Medicine in New York, pages 295-296 - To Dr. Valentine Seaman, one of the attending physicians of New York Hospital, is due the honor of having conceived and initiated the first system of instruction for nurses on the American continent. This fact is commemorated by an inscription below his portrait in the hospital which contains the words: "In 1798 he organized in the New York Hospital the first regular training school for nurses, from which other schools have since been established and extended their blessings throughout the Community." In connection with the Maternity Department of the New York Hospital, Dr. Seaman, who was far ahead of his time in liberality of view, organized a course of lectures, some twenty-four in number, for nurses, including outlines of anatomy, physiology, and the care of children. The three concluding lectures of this course have been preserved in a small volume called "Midwives' Monitor and Mothers' Mirror," published by Isaac Collins in 1800.
  7. [S10] Elizabeth Seaman Leggett, Journals of Elizabeth Seaman Leggett.
  8. [S57] His daza Seaman Leggettughter - Eli, Dr. Valentine Seaman, In telling of her father's death, Eliza wrote - "Doctor Valentine Seaman, my most revered father, died of consumption lingering I think my mother said it was twelve years. Over work, over study, in his 43th year he died in Beekman Street, Number 21, New York, in the large front bedroom - in the same room in which I was born. Always my heart has ached to feel that I do not remember him; yet my sister Marianna said that my father said to her, "I give this little sister to thee," so she always was so kind."
  9. [S20] Eliza Seaman Leggett, Journal of Eliza Seaman Leggett, Eliza tells of her father's burial. She says that there were no markers at the time put on the site of a Quaker.