Medical doctor F.W. (FitzWilliam) Sargent (1820-1889) lived and worked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania until 1854, whereupon he and his wife, Mary Newbold Singer, traveled to Europe and eventually settled in Paris. The Sargents traveled seasonally with their children to sea and mountain resorts in Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland. His eldest child is the painter John Singer Sargent.