VAIL FAMILY

Thomas Hubbard Vail, 1812-1889, was the first Episcopal bishop of Kansas, and the first bishop to be consecrated west of the Mississippi River. In 1865 THV founded the Episcopal Seminary, the first institution for higher education of women west of the Mississippi, in Topeka, Kansas. Later renamed the College of the Sisters of Bethany, the school was absorbed into Washburn College in the 1930s. THV was one of seven bishops who in 1866 protested against the southern bishops' secession during the Civil War. THV was married twice: to Mrs. Frances Sophia Vose, and in 1867 to Ellen Ledlie (Bowman) with whom he founded Christ's Hospital in Topeka.

Ellen Ledlie (Bowman) Vail, 1828-1894, was the daughter of Samuel Bowman, assistant bishop of Pennsylvania, and of Susan (Sitgreaves); she was graduated from St. Mary's Hall, Burlington, New Jersey, in 1844. EBV served as Matron of the College of the Sisters of Bethany. The Vails had two children, Samuel Bowman Vail, 1868-1878, and Ellen Sitgreaves (Vail) Motter, 1870-1952. EBV became blind in 1879 at the age of fifty-one.

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