Sarah Peter

Sarah Anne Worthington King Peter (10 May 1800, Chillicothe, Ohio - 6 February 1877, Cincinnati) was an American philanthropist.

Life

Her father, Thomas Worthington, was Governor of Ohio, from 1814–18, and also served in the United States Senate. On May 15, 1816, she married Edward King, son of Rufus King of New York, who died 6 February 1836; in October, 1844, she married William Peter, British consul at Philadelphia, who died 6 February 1853.

During her residence at Philadelphia, she founded on December 2, 1850, the Philadelphia School of Design for Women now Moore College of Art and Design. Today, Moore College of Art & Design annually enrolls more than 500 women in its undergraduate BFA program. She worshiped at St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia at Third and Pine during this time. Returning to Cincinnati, she spent most of her remaining years as a patron of art, and in works of charity and philanthropy.

She became a Catholic convert at Rome in March, 1855, being instructed there by Mgr Mermillod. The foundations of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, the Sisters of Mercy, the Little Sisters of the Poor in Cincinnati and other institutions owed much to her generosity. In 1862, she volunteered as a nurse, and went with the sisters who followed General Grant's army in the south west after the Battle of Pittsburg Landing.

References

• King, Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Sarah Peter(Cincinnati, 1889);
• Catholic Telegraph (Cincinnati), files;
• Freeman's Journal (New York), files.

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