Nathan Appleton (October 6, 1779July 14, 1861) was an American merchant and politician and a member of " The Boston Associates".

Early life

Appleton was born in

New Ipswich 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 ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, the son of Isaac Appleton (1731–1806) and his wife Mary Adams (1741–1827). Appleton's father was a church deacon, and Nathan was brought up in the "strictest form of Calvinistic Congregationalism". Appleton was also the cousin of William Appleton (1786–1862) and

James Appleton Brigadier General James Appleton (February 14, 1785 – August 25, 1862) was an American abolitionist, early supporter of temperance, and politician from Maine. Early life Appleton was born on February 14, 1785 in Ipswich, Massachusetts on a f ...

(1785–1862). His paternal grandparents were Elizabeth Sawyer (1709–1785) and Isaac Appleton Jr. (1704–1794), the son of Isaac Appleton (1664–1747), who was the son of

Major Samuel Appleton Samuel Appleton (1625 – May 15, 1696) was a military and government leader in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay. He was a commander of the Massachusetts militia during King Philip's War who led troops during the Atta ...

(1625-1696), and Priscilla Baker, granddaughter of Lt. Gov. Samuel Symonds. He was educated in the

New Ipswich Academy New Ipswich Academy (also known as New Ipswich Appleton Academy) was an historic private academy in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, which operated from 1789 to 1968, then re-opened privately from 1969 to 1974. History The New Ipswich Academy was char ...

. He then entered

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 1794, however, that same year he left college to begin mercantile life in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts, working for his brother

Samuel Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...

(1766–1853), a successful and benevolent man of business, with whom he was in partnership from 1800 to 1809.

Career

In 1813, Appleton co-operated with

Francis Cabot Lowell Francis Cabot Lowell (April 7, 1775 – August 10, 1817) was an American businessman for whom the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, is named. He was instrumental in bringing the Industrial Revolution to the United States. Early life Francis Cabot ...

, Patrick T. Jackson, Paul Moody and others in introducing the

power loom A power loom is a mechanized loom, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving during the early Industrial Revolution. The first power loom was designed in 1786 by Edmund Cartwright and first built that same year. ...

and the manufacture of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

on a large scale into the United States, establishing a factory at

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, th ...

, in 1814. The Waltham mill employed the first power loom ever used in the United States. This proving successful, he and others purchased the water-power at Pawtucket Falls, and he was one of the founders of the Merrimac Manufacturing Company. The settlement that grew around these factories developed into the city of Lowell, of which in 1821 Appleton was one of the three founders. In a pamphlet entitled ''The Origin of Lowell'', Appleton wrote of the mills: "The contrast in the character of our manufacturing population with that of Europe has been the admiration of most intelligent strangers. The effect has been to more than double the wages of that description of labor from what they were before the introduction of this manufacture". In 1818, Appleton purchased 300

shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...

of the

Suffolk Bank Suffolk Bank was a private clearinghouse bank in Boston, Massachusetts, that exchanged specie or locally backed bank notes for notes from country banks to which city-dwellers could not easily travel to redeem notes. The bank was issued its corpor ...

, a clearinghouse bank on State Street in

Political career

Appleton was a member of the general court of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

in 1816, 1821, 1822, 1824 and 1827. In 1831-1833 and also 1842 he served in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, in which he was prominent as an advocate of protective duties. He was also a member of the Academy of Science and Arts, and of the

Massachusetts Historical Society The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154 Boylston Street in Bost ...

. He published speeches and essays on currency, banking, and the tariff, of which his ''Remarks on Currency and Banking'' (enlarged ed., 1858) is the most celebrated, as well as his memoirs on the power loom and Lowell. 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 1842, and 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 1854.

Personal life

Appleton married Maria Theresa Gold (1786–1833) on April 13, 1806. Two months later, he hired the artist

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Charles Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washi ...

to paint portraits of the newlyweds. The couple had five children: *

Thomas Gold Appleton Thomas Gold Appleton (March 31, 1812April 17, 1884), son of merchant Nathan Appleton and Maria Theresa Gold, was an American writer, an artist, and a patron of the fine arts. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow became his brother-in-law after marrying A ...

(1812–1884) * Mary "Molly" Appleton (1813-?), who married British colonial governor

Robert James Mackintosh Robert James Mackintosh (1806-1864), son of Sir James Mackintosh and his second wife, was a British colonial governor. As Governor of Antigua, he was the viceroy in the Leeward Islands colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory ...

* Charles Sedgwick Appleton (1815–1835) * Frances "Fanny" Elizabeth Appleton (1817–1861), who married the poet

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 ...

in 1843. * George William Appleton (1826–1827), who died in infancy. The Appletons attended Federal Street Church. Maria Theresa Appleton died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

in 1833. Nathan Appleton remarried on January 8, 1839, to Harriot Coffin Sumner (1802–1867), the daughter of Jesse Sumner, a Boston merchant, and Harriot Coffin of Portland, Maine. They had three children: * William Sumner Appleton (1840–1903), the father of William Sumner Appleton Jr. (1874–1947). * Harriet Sumner Appleton (1841–1923), who married Union Army officer Greely S. Curtis * Nathan Appleton Jr. (1843–1906) He gave his daughter Fanny, who married

in 1843, a house in which her husband had rented rooms as a wedding gift (it is now known as the

Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site The Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site (also known as the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House and, until December 2010, Longfellow National Historic Site) is a historic site located at 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge ...

). He paid $10,000 for the home. Frances wrote to her brother Thomas on August 30, 1843: "We have decided to let Father purchase this grand old mansion", which was also a former headquarters of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. Nathan Appleton also purchased the land across the street, as Longfellow's mother wrote, "so that their view of the River Charles may not be intercepted". NathanAppletonGrave

Fanny Appleton died on July 10, 1861, after accidentally catching fire; her father was too sick to attend her funeral. Appleton died the next day in Boston on July 14, 1861. He is buried in the

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...

References

;Notes ;Sources * * * ;Attribution * Endnotes: ** **

External links