Jesse Appleton (November 17, 1772November 12, 1819) was the second president of
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...
and the father of
First Lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...
Jane Pierce
Jane Means Pierce (née Appleton; March 12, 1806 – December 2, 1863) was the wife of Franklin Pierce and the first lady of the United States from 1853 to 1857. She married Franklin Pierce, then a Congressman, in 1834 despite her family's misgiv ...
.
Early life
Appleton was born on November 17, 1772 in
New Ipswich, New Hampshire
New Ipswich is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,204 at the 2020 census. New Ipswich, situated on the Massachusetts border, includes the villages of Bank, Davis, Gibson Four Corners, Highbridge, New ...
. He was the son of Francis Appleton (1733–1816) and Elizabeth (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Hubbard) Appleton (1730–1815).
He graduated from
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
in
Hanover, New Hampshire
Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of Eng ...
in 1792.
Career
After graduating from Dartmouth, Appleton taught at several institutions including
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
and then worked at a parish in
Hampton, New Hampshire
Hampton is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 16,214 at the 2020 census. On the Atlantic Ocean coast, Hampton is home to Hampton Beach, a summer tourist destination.
The densely populated central part ...
. In the early 19th century, he received the honorary degree of
Doctor of Divinity
A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity.
In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...
from both Dartmouth and
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. In 1807, he was appointed president of Bowdoin, where he remained until he died of tuberculosis in 1819. A congregationalist minister and prominent Christian lecturer, Appleton was notably determined to make Bowdoin students more pious. He worked at the school, right before it reached its full prominence in the 1820s, when
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
, and
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...
attended.
He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 1810,
and was elected a member of the
American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...
in 1813.
Personal life
![First ladies-pierce](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/First_ladies-pierce.jpg)
He married Elizabeth Means (1779–1844). Elizabeth was the daughter of
Stewartstown, County Tyrone
Stewartstown is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, close to Lough Neagh and about from Cookstown, from Coalisland and from Dungannon. Established by Scottish Planters early in the 17th century, its population peaked before the ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
born Robert Means (1742–1823) and Mary McGregor (1752–1838). His wife's sister, Mary Means (1777–1858), was married to
Jeremiah Mason
Jeremiah Mason (April 27, 1768 – October 14, 1848) was a United States senator from New Hampshire.
Early life
Mason was born in Lebanon, Connecticut on April 27, 1768. He was a son of Jeremiah Mason (1729/30–1813) and the former Elizabet ...
on November 6, 1799. Together, Jesse and Elizabeth were the parents of five children who survived through infancy, including:
* Mary Means Appleton (1801–1883), who married John Aiken (1797–1867)
* Frances Appleton (1804–1839), who married famed Bowdoin professor
Alpheus Spring Packard, Sr. (1798–1884) who edited ''The Works of Rev. Jesse Appleton, D.D., with a Memoir of His Life and Character'' in 1837.
*
Jane Means Appleton (1806–1863), who would become First Lady to President
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...
on November 19, 1834.
[Marquis Who's Who, Inc. ''Who Was Who in American History, the Military''. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1975. P. 14 ]
* William Appleton (1808–1830), who died unmarried.
* John Appleton (1814–1817), who died young.
Appleton died on November 12, 1819 in
Brunswick, Maine
Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...
. He is interred at
Pine Grove Cemetery in Brunswick.
Descendants
Through his daughter Mary, he was the grandfather of William Appleton Aiken (1833–1929), who in 1861 married
Eliza Coit Buckingham (1838–1924), and Mary Appleton Aiken, who in 1868 married
Francis H. Snow (1840–1908), a professor and chancellor of the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
who became prominent through the discovery of a
fungus
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...
fatal to
chinch bugs and its propagation and distribution.
Through his daughter Frances, he was the grandfather of four boys and one girl, including
William Alfred Packard
William Alfred Packard (August 26, 1830 – December 2, 1909) was an American classical scholar, born at Brunswick, Maine.Staff report (1909)De Mortuis.''Annual report - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching'' He was the son of the e ...
(1830-1909), an 1851 alumnus of Bowdoin,
Alpheus Spring Packard Jr. (1839–1905), a Civil War surgeon, entomologist who corresponded with
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
, Charles A. Packard, George Packard, and Frances Appleton Packard.
Through his daughter Jane, he was the grandfather of Franklin Pierce, Jr. (1836–1836), who died young, Franklin "Frank" Robert Pierce (1839–1843), who died at age four from
epidemic typhus, and
Benjamin Pierce (1841–1853), who died two months before Pierce's inauguration as president when the passenger car of the train they were traveling in broke loose and rolled down an embankment.
References
;Notes
;Sources
*
*
External links
*
Jesse Appleton Collectionat Bowdoin Library (with biographical information)
* Jesse Appleton
Lectures, delivered at Bowdoin college, and occasional sermons 1822 (at
Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
)
Jesse Appleton, ''An address, delivered before the Massachusetts Society for Suppressing Intemperance: at their anniversary meeting, May 31, 1816'', 1816.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton, Jesse
1772 births
1819 deaths
Appleton family
People of colonial New Hampshire
People from New Ipswich, New Hampshire
Amherst College faculty
Dartmouth College alumni
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the American Antiquarian Society
Presidents of Bowdoin College
Burials at Pine Grove Cemetery (Brunswick, Maine)