Dr. FitzWilliam Sargent (1820-1889)

He was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and trained as a physician. He moved with his family to Philadelphia in 1830 where he practiced as an eye surgeon. In 1850, he married Mary, daughter of John Singer, a prosperous Philadelphia merchant. Four years later (1854), he took his wife to Europe to recover from the loss of their eldest child, Mary, who died aged three years old. He reluctantly agreed to her wishes to remain in Europe and resigned his position in Philadelphia. He was an unwilling expatriate, but accompanied his wife as they roamed through Europe living off their inherited investments. They were the parents of seven children of whom three (including their celebrated son, the painter and portraitist John Singer Sargent) lived to adulthood.