Reverend Louis William Dubourg, S.S., (1766-1833) had desired to expand educational programs for girls in Baltimore since 1797. He met Elizabeth Bayley Seton about 1806 in New York and invited her to that city where she served for one year as school mistress. She established (1808) a small boarding school for girls beside the Sulpician institution Saint Mary's College & Seminary on Paca Street. This plan enjoyed the enthusiastic support of John Carroll (1735-1815), first bishop of the United States and first archbishop of Baltimore (1789-1815). Carroll's primary concern was to provide educational opportunities for lay leaders and to develop native clergy for the Catholic Church in America.

The Sulpician priests of Baltimore offered to assist Elizabeth in formulating plans that would be beneficial to the welfare of her children. They expected women to join Elizabeth in forming a sisterhood modeled on the French Daughters of Charity under their direction. Elizabeth entrusted such a project to Divine Providence. In a letter of February 20, 1809, to Rose Stubbs of New York, Elizabeth explained that she would be forming apostolic women who “choose to lead a Religious life devoted to the education of poor children in the Catholic faith . . . [with] the prospect of receiving many [spiritual] daughters.” Describing her vision of mission to Julia Sitgreaves Scott of Philadelphia in a letter dated March 23, 1809, Elizabeth exclaimed enthusiastically about “the joy” of her “soul at the prospect of being able to assist the Poor, visit the sick, comfort the sorrowful, clothe little innocents, and teach them to love God!” Two days later on March 25 Elizabeth pronounced vows of chastity and obedience to Bishop Carroll for one year in the lower chapel at Saint Mary's after which the Archbishop bestowed the title “Mother” on her.

The Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's. The Sulpicians actively recruited the first candidates who joined the germinal community named at Baltimore between December 1808 and June 1809. Among them were the Misses Cecilia O'Conway (1788-1865), Anna Maria Murphy-Burke (c.1787-1812), and Mary Ann Butler (1784-1821) all of Philadelphia; Susan Clossey (1785-1823) of New York; and Catherine (Kitty) Mullen (1783-1814), and Mrs. Rosetta (Rose) Landry White (1784-1841), a widow, of Baltimore. Elizabeth's youngest sisters-in-law arrived from New York and accompanied her to Emmitsburg in June 1808. Cecilia Seton (1791-1810), was already a convert and by September that year Harriet Seton (1787-1809) was also received into the Catholic Church.

Samuel Sutherland Cooper, (1769-1843), a wealthy convert and seminarian at Saint Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, wished to address the needs of poor persons. Cooper donated $6961 to purchase 269 acres of land from Robert Fleming for Mother Seton and her new community. Cooper designated the property, near Emmitsburg in Frederick County, Maryland, for education, care of the elderly, and employment training. Initially Elizabeth considered naming the community the Sisters of Saint Joseph but in recognition of the Vincentian tradition, expanded its title to be the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's.

When the women arrived at their destination repairs were still incomplete on their new home, the former Fleming farmhouse, constructed c.1750. Reverend John Dubois, S.S., (1764-1842), founder of Mount Saint Mary's College and Seminary, surrendered his cabin on the mountain for the sisters' use until their dwelling was habitable.

Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's. The community of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's was founded July 31, 1809, at the Stone House in Saint Joseph's Valley near Emmitsburg, Maryland, and from there launched their apostolate of education and charity, trusting all to Divine Providence. The Provisional Regulations for Saint Joseph's Sisters (1809) was the primitive governing documents of the new community. In mid-February 1810 the sisters moved into the newly constructed Saint Joseph’s House (the White House). There eighty-six candidates joined the new sisterhood during Elizabeth's lifetime. The women were courageous in their mission despite the ravages of illness and premature death, which first claimed her sisters-in-law, Harriet and Cecilia Seton, then her oldest and youngest daughters, Anna Maria (1795-1812) and Rebecca (1802-1816). Elizabeth also buried eighteen young Sisters of Charity during the twelve years she lived in Saint Joseph's Valley.

Graced with unswerving faith, Mother Seton remained undaunted by difficulties and challenges in her pioneer role in the American Church. Many trials were unsettling to the new community in its first years, including abrupt changes in Sulpician superiors, decisions about its model of government and relationship to the French Daughters of Charity, and determinations about a rule of life.

Under the guidance of Archbishop Carroll and the Sulpicians, Mother Seton and the early members of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's shaped the first native sisterhood in the United States, creating a truly American community. Despite their humble beginning, the American Sisters of Charity launched multi-faceted ministries and became trailblazers in many fields, especially in education. They established the first free Catholic school for girls staffed by sisters in the United States (Emmitsburg, 1810). As the prototype of the Catholic school, Saint Joseph's Academy and Day School laid the foundation for a national network of quality Catholic education through the parochial school system, which developed later in the century. After Mother Seton's death the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's also began the first Catholic hospital in the United States (Saint Louis, 1828).

The second Sulpician superior of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's, Reverend John Baptiste David, S.S. (1761-1841), commissioned (1810) Benedict Joseph Flaget, S.S., (1763-1851), bishop-elect of Bardstown, Kentucky, to obtain French Daughters of Charity during his trip to Paris. David's goal was for the French sisters to establish themselves at Emmitsburg and train the American women in the Vincentian way of life, incorporating them as members of the Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. Mother Seton expressed her grave concerns about the implications of David's plans in a letter May 13, 1811, to Archbishop Carroll. “What authority would the [French] Mother they bring have over our Sisters (while I am present) but the very rule she is to give them? - and how could it be known that they would consent to the different modifications of their rule which are indispensable if adopted by us . . . How can they allow me the uncontrolled privileges of a Mother to my five darlings? - or how can I in conscience or in accordance with your paternal heart give up so sacred a right.”

When Flaget returned to the United States the political situation in France at the time and Napoleonic policies prevented the French sisters from leaving Bordeaux. Carroll, referring to the original plan, reminded David in a letter of September 17, 1814: “At the very institution of Emmitsburg, though it was strongly contended for its being entirely conformable to and the same with the Institute of Saint Vincent de Paul, yet this proposal was soon and wisely abandoned” (Hanley, 3:295).

John Carroll approved The Regulations for the Society of the Sisters of Charity of America (Emmitsburg, 1812). Mother Seton and Dubois modified the original French rule to address the urgent needs of the Church in early nineteenth-century America. Their rule was based on a manuscript copy of the Alméras edition of the Common Rules of the Daughters of Charity (Paris, 1672), which Flaget had brought when he returned to America.

The Sisters of Charity responded to the urgent need for female education in America and initially made it their primary ministry. The Regulations for the Society of the Sisters of Charity of America exhorted the sisters “to honor the Sacred Infancy of Jesus in the young persons of their sex whose hearts they are called upon to form to the love of God, the practice of every virtue and the knowledge of religion, whilst they sow in their minds the seeds of useful knowledge (§1).” In contrast to the American rule, the French Common Rules of the Daughters of Charity  made no distinction between boys and girls. After reviewing the proposed draft by Dubois, Mother Seton wrote Archbishop John Carroll September 5, 1811, “the rules proposed are nearly those we had in the original manuscript of the Sisters in France-- I never had a thought discordant with them as far as my poor power may go in fulfilling them.” The American rule is the root foundational document of the majority of the congregational members of the Sisters of Charity Federation.

Article Four of The Constitutions of the Sisters of Charity in the United States of America (1812) specified membership criteria and outlined stipulations regarding parental obligations of widows with minor children. In the same letter to Carroll, Mother Seton expressed her sentiments about the exemption granted her as a mother with five dependent children, then 10-16 years old. “The constitutions proposed have been discussed by our Rev. Director [Dubois] and I find he makes some observations on my Situation relative to them but surely an Individual is not to be considered where a public good is in question-- and you know I would gladly make every sacrifice you think consistent with my first and inseparable obligations as a Mother.”

On July 19, 1813, eighteen Sisters of Charity pronounced private, annual vows for the first time. They committed themselves to “Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience to God and our Reverend Superior General until the 25th of March next” and engagement in “the corporal and spiritual service of the poor sick . . . [and] the instruction of those committed to our charge.” The vow day was the feast of the Annunciation each year.

Mother Seton seemed pleased to give progress reports to Antonio Filicchi on the missionary efforts of the Sisters of Charity in Philadelphia and New York and at Mount Saint Mary's College and Seminary near Emmitsburg. In October 1814 she first sent Sister Rose White, accompanied by Sister Susan Clossey and Sister Theresa Conroy (1780-1823), on mission to Philadelphia to manage Saint Joseph's Asylum, the first Catholic orphanage in the United States. The next August, Sister Bridget Farrell (1765-1847), Sister Ann Gruber (1779?-1840), and a novice, Sister Anastasia Nabbs (1788-1823), began supervision of the infirmary and domestic services at Mount Saint Mary’s near Emmitsburg. In August 1817, Sister Rose White, Sister Cecilia O’Conway, and Sister Felicitas Brady (1784-1883) launched the New York Catholic Benevolent Society, which became the New York City Orphan Asylum (later Saint Patrick's Orphan Asylum).

Reverend Simon Bruté, S.S., (1779-1839, later first bishop of Vincennes, Indiana, 1834-1839), first came to Mount Saint Mary’s (1811). He became chaplain to the Sisters of Charity and spiritual director for Mother Seton. Bruté guided the inculturation of the Vincentian charism among the Sisters of Charity, advising Mother Seton to read and translate the lives of Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac and their spiritual writings.

Elected the first Mother of the new community, Elizabeth Bayley Seton remained in office until her death January 4, 1821. The following were her successors: Mrs. Rosetta Landry White (Mother Rose 1821-1827; 1833-1839); Miss Mary Decount (1786-1870, Mother Mary Augustine 1827-1833); Mrs. Eugénie Mestezzer Clark (c.1790-1855, Mother Mary Xavier 1839-1845); and Mrs. Mary Catherine Hall (1829-1872, Mother Mary Etienne 1845-1850, first visitatrix, 1850-1855, of the Daughters of Charity after the union of the Emmitsburg community with France).

The Society of Saint-Sulpice which had directed the community remained involved in its government through 1849. The Sulpician superiors general included Reverend Louis William Dubourg, S.S., (superior, June-September 1809); Reverend Jean-Baptiste David, S.S., (superior 1809-1811); Reverend Jean Dubois, S.S., (superior, 1811-1826); Reverend Louis Regis Deluol, S.S., (1787-1858, superior 1826-1829, 1841-1849); and Reverend John Francis Hickey, S.S., (1789-1869, superior 1829-1841).

Change. By 1830 the sisters had begun the care of young male orphans on an emergency basis. As a result of recurring problems, however, the council at Emmitsburg made several unsuccessful attempts to limit the age and length of time boys would be in care, but they finally concluded (1845) that the sisters would no longer have boys in their institutions. This decision paved the way for conflict between Louis-Regis Deluol, Sulpician superior general of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's, and John Hughes (1797-1864), archbishop of New York. The result was the withdrawal of thirty Sisters from Emmitsburg to establish an independent congregation of diocesan right, the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul of New York.

Deluol, fearing that the New York separation could set a precedent for other bishops, continued his pursuit of a union between the French Daughters of Charity and the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's. These efforts were also precipitated by directives (1829 and 1845) from Sulpician major superiors in Paris that the Sulpicians in America divest themselves of any ministry not directly connected with their mission of formation and education of candidates for the priesthood.

The Sulpicians had been making overtures about uniting the American Sisters of Charity with the French Daughters of Charity since 1816 when Dubois had written to Reverend Antoine Garnier, S.S., superior general (1827-1845), expressing his interest in contacting the Congregation of the Mission to explore the possibility of the union. In 1836 Samuel Eccleston, S.S., (1801-1851) archbishop of Baltimore (1834-1851), requested Reverend John Timon, C.M., (1797-1867, provincial in the United States, 1835-1846; later bishop of Buffalo) to encourage the Vincentian superiors in France for the same purpose, but to no avail.

John J. Chanche, S.S. (1795-1852), bishop of Natchez, personally delivered (1848) a petition, which he signed along with the archbishop of Baltimore, Deluol, and Mother Etienne Hall. Addressed to Reverend Jean-Baptiste Etienne, C.M., (1801-1874, superior general 1843-1874), the petition appealed for union between the Emmitsburg community and the French Daughters of Charity. After meeting with Reverend Mariano Maller, C.M., (1817-1892), visitor of the Vincentian province of the United States (1846-1850), Deluol wrote in his diary April 26, 1849, that a decision had been made to unite the Emmitsburg community with the Daughters of Charity in France in order to obtain the assistance of the Congregation of the Mission [Vincentian priests] for the Community.

The Emmitsburg Council Minutes, however, mention neither negotiations by the Sulpicians nor consultation with the sisters themselves. In her formal request to Father Etienne, C.M., June 19, 1849, Mother Etienne Hall stated that the pending union was “the wish of the kind and venerable Superior [Deluol] who for so many years has labored at the welfare of our Community, and he it is who at this present time continues to make all the efforts in his power to bring about the union so important and so necessary for us.” The earliest reference to the union with France occurs in The First Council Book after arrangements had already been finalized: “On this day [March 25, 1850] the renewal of the Vows has taken place . . . The Sisters have used the same Formula which is used yearly by the Daughters of Charity throughout the world . . . have . . . consummated the Union with the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul” (§ 324). Almost one hundred years later the Daughters of Charity of the United States convened the first meeting of the Conference of Mother Seton's Daughters, which later became the Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentian and Setonian Tradition.