Sophia Amelia Peabody Hawthorne
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Sophia Amelia Hawthorne ( Peabody; September 21, 1809 – February 26, 1871) was an American painter and illustrator as well as the wife of author
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 ...
. She also published her journals and various articles.


Life


Early life

Sophia Amelia Peabody was born September 21, 1809, in
Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...
, and named after two of her aunts. Peabody's father was the dentist
Nathaniel Peabody Nathaniel Peabody (March 1, 1741 – June 27, 1823) was an American physician from Rockingham County, New Hampshire. He represented New Hampshire as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780. Nathaniel was born to Jacob Peabody i ...
, while her mother was the strong Unitarian Elizabeth Palmer. She had three brothers; her sisters were
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (May 16, 1804January 3, 1894) was an American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic de ...
and
Mary Tyler Peabody Mann Mary Tyler Mann ( Peabody; November 16, 1806 in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts – February 11, 1887 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts) was a teacher, author, and mother. She was the wife of Horace Mann, American education reformer and politician. E ...
, later
Horace Mann Horace Mann (May 4, 1796August 2, 1859) was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education. In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the Massachusetts Sta ...
's wife. Her sister Elizabeth educated Sophia, focusing on geography, science, literature and both American and European history; eventually, she learned to read in Latin, French, Greek and Hebrew; she knew some German, as well.McFarland, 26 Sophia's health had been questionable since infancy, and she was an occasional invalid. One possible cause was a fashionable treatment her dentist father prescribed for her
teething Teething is the process by which an infant's first teeth (the deciduous teeth, often called "baby teeth" or "milk teeth") appear by emerging through the gums, typically arriving in pairs. The mandibular central incisors are the first primary te ...
pains that included
mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...
. In later life, she was a frequent user of
calomel Calomel is a mercury chloride mineral with formula Hg2Cl2 (see mercury(I) chloride). The name derives from Greek ''kalos'' (beautiful) and ''melas'' (black) because it turns black on reaction with ammonia. This was known to alchemists. Calomel o ...
and
opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
to relieve her pain and migraines. When doctors pronounced Sophia had no discernible illness, she sought the "rest therapy". She left for Cuba on December 4, 1833, with her sister Mary.


Courtship

Sophia first met Nathaniel Hawthorne through her sister, Elizabeth. When the author came to visit once, Elizabeth is said to have reported, "He is handsomer than
Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
!" When she urged Sophia to come downstairs to meet him, she laughed and said, "If he has come once he will come again". After meeting her, Nathaniel wrote the tale "Edward Randolph’s Portrait", which included an artist character inspired by Sophia Peabody named Alice Vane. Sophia had originally objected to marriage, partly because of her health. They became secretly engaged by New Year's Day, 1839. Sophia gave two of her paintings to Hawthorne in 1840 on the first anniversary of their engagement. "Hawthorne valued the paintings so much that he hid them behind curtains to enjoy when he was alone".


Marriage and family

A wedding was scheduled for June 27, 1842, but was postponed when Sophia fell ill. On July 9, 1842, five years after first meeting, she and Nathaniel were married at 13 West Street in Boston, the Peabody bookstore where
Margaret Fuller Sarah Margaret Fuller (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850), sometimes referred to as Margaret Fuller Ossoli, was an American journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movemen ...
held some of her "conversations". The day before, Nathaniel wrote to
James Freeman Clarke James Freeman Clarke (April 4, 1810 – June 8, 1888) was an American minister, theologian and author. Biography Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on April 4, 1810, James Freeman Clarke was the son of Samuel Clarke and Rebecca Parker Hull, though h ...
asking him to oversee the ceremony. "I am to be married to Miss Sophia Peabody tomorrow; and it is our mutual desire that you should perform the ceremony", he wrote. Both were considered relatively old for marriage (she was 32 and he was five days past his 38th birthday), but the coupling proved happy for both of them. Immediately after their wedding, they rented and moved into
The Old Manse The Old Manse is a historic manse in Concord, Massachusetts, United States, notable for its literary associations. It is open to the public as a nonprofit museum owned and operated by the Trustees of Reservations. The house is located on Monume ...
in
Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...
. The next day, Hawthorne wrote to his sister, Louisa: "We are as happy as people can be, without making themselves ridiculous, and might be even happier; but, as a matter of taste, we choose to stop short at this point." Together the couple etched their impressions of their new married life in the glass of a window in the study using Sophia's diamond ring:
Man's accidents are God's purposes. Sophia A. Hawthorne 1843
Nath Hawthorne This is his study
The smallest twig leans clear against the sky
Composed by my wife and written with her diamond
Inscribed by my husband at sunset, April 3, 1843. In the Gold light.
SAH
On their first wedding anniversary, Nathaniel wrote to Sophia: "We were never so happy as now—never such wide capacity for happiness, yet overflowing with all that the day and every moment brings to us. Methinks this birth-day of our married life is like a cape, which we have now doubled and find a more infinite ocean of love stretching out before us." The Hawthornes' first child was born March 3, 1844, after a difficult 10-hour delivery. They named her Una, a reference to ''
The Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...
'' by
Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...
, to the disapproval of many family members. Sophia wrote in her journal, "It was a great happiness to be able to put her to my breast immediately and I thanked Heaven I was able to have the privilege of nursing her."
John L. O'Sullivan John Louis O'Sullivan (November 15, 1813 – March 24, 1895) was an American columnist, editor, and diplomat who used the term "manifest destiny" in 1845 to promote the annexation of Texas and the Oregon Country to the United States. O'Sullivan ...
served as her godfather and gave her a
Newfoundland dog The Newfoundland is a large working dog. They can be black, brown, or black and white. However, in the Dominion of Newfoundland, before it became part of the confederation of Canada, only black and Landseer (white-and-black) coloured dogs were ...
named Leo when she was two months old. Nathaniel wrote that fatherhood brought "a very sober and serious kind of happiness", and the family began to worry about money. Sophia also had a recurrence of her migraines after Una's birth. The family was soon kicked out of the Old Manse, left with only 10 dollars. They moved in with family on Herbert Street in Salem while Nathaniel awaited a government job appointment. In March, 1846, Sophia moved to 77 Carver Street in Boston to be closer to family and Dr. William Wesselhœft while pregnant with her second child. The couple's son Julian was born in Boston on May 22, 1846. His father wrote of the news to a sister, "A small
troglodyte A troglodyte is a human cave dweller, from the Greek 'hole, mouse-hole' and 'go in, dive in'. Troglodyte and derived forms may also refer to: Historiography * ''Troglodytae'' or ''Troglodyti'', an ancient group of people from the African Red ...
made his appearance here at ten minutes to six o'clock this morning, who claims to be your nephew". The family moved to
Lenox, Massachusetts Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The town is based in Western Massachusetts and part of the Pittsfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,095 at the 2020 census. Lenox is the site of Shakespeare & Company and T ...
, and it was there, in a red farmhouse they rented, that Sophia gave birth to her third child,
Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
. Two months prior to giving birth, Sophia claimed she instinctively knew it would be a girl and chose the name Rose.Miller, 343 She was born on May 20, 1851, about a month after the publication of ''
The House of the Seven Gables ''The House of the Seven Gables: A Romance'' is a Gothic novel written beginning in mid-1850 by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in April 1851 by Ticknor and Fields of Boston. The novel follows a New England family and their anc ...
''. Sophia went into labor early, before the
midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...
could arrive; Rose was delivered with the help of Sophia's father. Few of Sophia's letters from her courtship and early marriage survive. In June 1853, Nathaniel alludes to the destruction of his letters in his journal: "I burned great heaps of old letters and other papers, a little while ago, preparatory to going to England. Among them were hundreds of Sophia's maiden letters". The Hawthornes raised their children in a positive environment and did not believe in harsh discipline or physical punishment. Hawthorne in 1862 praised his wife: "She is the most sensible woman I ever knew in my life, much superior to me in general talent, and of fine cultivation." Sophia had a close friendship with
Annie Adams Fields Annie Adams Fields (June 6, 1834 – January 5, 1915) was an American writer. Among her writings are collections of poetry and essays as well as several memoirs and biographies of her literary acquaintances. She was also interested in philanthrop ...
, wife of the publisher
James T. Fields James Thomas Fields (December 31, 1817 – April 24, 1881) was an American publisher, editor, and poet. His business, Ticknor and Fields, was a notable publishing house in 19th century Boston. Biography Early life and family He was born in ...
. In 1863, Sophia wrote to her, "You embellish my life." Nathaniel Hawthorne died in May 1864, and Sophia was given the news by her sister,
Elizabeth Peabody Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (May 16, 1804January 3, 1894) was an American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic de ...
, who had been informed by
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 ...
. Pierce, a close friend of Hawthorne, had been at the author's side when he died in his sleep. Sophia wrote about her husband's death to Annie Fields: "My darling has gone over that Sapphire sea, and these grand soft waves are messages from his Eternal Rest." She moved to England four years later in 1868 with her three children.


Later life, death, burial, and reburial

After her husband's death, Sophia threatened to sue publisher James T. Fields for not paying enough in royalties from book sales. Fields blamed his recently deceased business partner
William Ticknor William Davis Ticknor I (August 6, 1810 – April 10, 1864) was an American publisher in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and a founder of the publishing house Ticknor and Fields. Life and work William Davis Ticknor was born on August 6, 1810, on th ...
for promising "to pay the highest rate of copyright it ever paid" but that no written contract existed. The two agreed to a compromise as, Sophia said, she preferred "peace to pence". Sophia became ill in February 1871, diagnosed with "typhoid pneumonia". She had difficulty breathing and was cared for by her daughters before dying on February 26. She was buried in
Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederic ...
in London on March 4. Una wrote to Julian that their mother's grave was "on a sunny hillside looking towards the east... We had a head and footstone of white marble, with a place for flowers between, and Rose and I planted some ivy there that I had brought from America, and a periwinkle from papa's grave. The inscription is—''Sophia, wife of Nathaniel Hawthorne''."Mellow, 586 Una died in September 1877 at the age of 33 and was buried alongside her mother in Kensal Green.
Julian Hawthorne Julian Hawthorne (June 22, 1846 – July 14, 1934) was an American writer and journalist, the son of novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sophia Peabody. He wrote numerous poems, novels, short stories, mysteries and detective fiction, essays, t ...
went on to be a moderately successful author writing about his father and other miscellaneous works. He died in 1934.
Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
went on to found the
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
order of nuns, the
Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne are a Roman Catholic congregation of religious sisters, who are a part of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. The Congregation was founded on December 8, 1900, by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, a daughter of the famed nov ...
, based in
Hawthorne, New York Hawthorne is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 4,586 at the 2010 census. History The village was originally known as Hammond's Mill ...
, where she died in 1926. Care for the graves of Sophia and Una fell to this organization. When the grave sites were in need of costly repair, it was suggested the remains be moved to the Hawthorne family plot in
Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...
. In June, 2006 the two were re-buried alongside Nathaniel in
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground at the Old Dutch C ...
. A funeral was held for the family's descendants with representatives from the Dominican Sisters, and a public ceremony was held at
The Old Manse The Old Manse is a historic manse in Concord, Massachusetts, United States, notable for its literary associations. It is open to the public as a nonprofit museum owned and operated by the Trustees of Reservations. The house is located on Monume ...
to mark the occasion.


Artwork

Sophia Hawthorne was a writer and a painter. Hawthorne's art began to evolve steadily after studying drawing in 1824; she further explored this discipline under the tutelage of Francis Graeter, the illustrator of
Lydia Maria Child Lydia Maria Child ( Francis; February 11, 1802October 20, 1880) was an American abolitionist, women's rights activist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. Her journals, both fiction and ...
's ''Girl's Own Book''. By 1832, Hawthorne was painting regularly—at first reproducing copies of existing artworks, and later executing landscapes of her own volition. Schriber, 120 In a letter to her sister Elizabeth in 1832, she wrote: Sophia Hawthorne's artistic endeavors were hampered not only by the restrictive expectations placed upon
women of the Victorian era A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...
, but also due to the objections of her husband who attempted to "colonize Sophia's talents, allowing her to hold the brush in order to paint ''his'' inner life rather than her own." Sophia briefly studied sculpture with Shobal Vail Clevenger and produced a bas-relief medallion portrait of her dying brother George Peabody and, shortly thereafter, a similar work of
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
's dead brother Charles. Later, she tutored her daughter Rose in art. During their courtship, Sophia created an illustration for Nathaniel's tale "The Gentle Boy". After completing it, Sophia asked him if it looked like the main character, Ilbrahim. He answered, "He will never look otherwise to me". The story was republished with Sophia's illustration as ''The Gentle Boy: A Thrice Told Tale'' in December 1838, subsidized by a Salem hostess named Susan Burley. The book was dedicated to Sophia, inscribed: "To Miss Sophia A. Peabody, this little tale, to which her kindred art has given value, is respectfully inscribed by the author". When Nathaniel moved to Boston, Sophia painted two landscapes to decorate his apartment. On January 2, 1840, he wrote to her, "You cannot think how much delight those pictures are going to give me... I never owned a picture in my life." He later asked her to illustrate a reissue of his children's book ''Grandfather's Chair''.Marshall, 417


Notes


References

*Cheever, Susan. ''American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau; Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work''. Detroit: Thorndike Press, 2006. Large print edition. . *Marshall, Megan. ''The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. . *McFarland, Philip: ''Hawthorne in Concord''. New York: Grove Press, 2004: . *Mellow, James R. ''Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times''. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980. *Miller, Edwin Haviland. ''Salem Is My Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne''. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991. . *Schriber, Mary Suzanne. ''Writing Home: American Women Abroad, 1830-1920''. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1997. . * Wineapple, Brenda. ''Hawthorne: A Life''. New York: Random House, 2003. .


External links


"The Wife and Children of Nathaniel Hawthorne" at ''Hawthorne In Salem''
*

*

* ttp://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/pfenb01.html ''Passages from the English Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne'' (1870) with Preface by Sophia Hawthorne*
Hawthorne joined by kin in final plot
, by Ken Maguire, The Associated Press. ''USA Today'', June 26, 2006 * *

, Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography
Sophia Peabody Hawthorne, The Online Books Page, University of Pennsylvania

Sophia Peabody Hawthorne Collection of Papers
in the
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
Digital Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawthorne, Sophia American expatriates in the United Kingdom 1809 births 1871 deaths American women painters American women illustrators American illustrators 19th-century American women artists Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery 19th-century American painters