ii8 



fulfilled the object and purpose for which it was 

 passed. In his private life he has been a liberal 

 supporter of the Society, and as General Agent of 

 the White Star Line ungrudgingly and effectively 

 aided its charitable work by granting free passages, 

 at the request of the Chairman of its Executive 

 Committee, to those of its beneficiaries, who. from 

 failing health and inability to gain a livelihood here, 

 were desirous of returning to friends in the old 

 country. He was elected President of the Society 

 in 1885, and was re-elected to the same office in the 

 following year. 



WILLIAM SETON. 



William Seton, the first Assistant Vice-President 

 of the Society 1 786-1 787, and Vice-President 1788 

 -1 79 1, the representative of an ancient Scottish 

 family, was born in Fifeshire, April 24th, i 746, and 

 died in the City of New York, June 9th, 1798. 



He first visited America in or about the year 

 1758, and settled there permanently in 1763. He 

 was a member of the New York Chamber of Com- 

 merce in 1765, the year of its foundation, and was a 

 founder as well as one of the first officers of the 

 Bank of New York in 1784. 



As a Loyalist he suffered during the Revolution- 

 ary War, and was the last Notary Public appointed 

 by the Crown in his adopted city. When the war 



