View source for Thomas Gold Appleton

{{short description|American poet}}

{{Infobox person
| name               = Thomas Gold Appleton
| image              = Thomas Gold Appleton by Frederick P. Vinton.jpg
| alt                = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption            = Photograph of a 1912 painting of Appleton by [[Frederic Porter Vinton]]
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1812|3|31}}
| birth_place        = [[Boston, Massachusetts]], US
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1884|4|17|1812|3|31}}
| death_place        = [[New York (state)|New York]], US
| occupation         = {{hlist|Writer|artist}}
| father             = [[Nathan Appleton]]
| relatives          = [[Appleton family]]
| signature          = Appletons' Appleton Thomas Gold signature.jpg
}}
'''Thomas Gold Appleton''' (March 31, 1812{{snd}}April 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 Appleton's sister Frances.

==Biography==
Appleton was born on March 31, 1812, in [[Boston, Massachusetts]]; he would later joke that he just missed being born an [[April Fools' Day|April fool]].<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 58.</ref> He graduated from [[Harvard College]] in 1831 and in October 1838 was admitted to the [[bar association|bar]] in [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts]]; he set up his office on [[Tremont Row]].<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 197.</ref> He became known for his witticisms, one of which, the oft-quoted "Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris", is sometimes attributed to [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.|Oliver Wendell Holmes]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Appleton, Nathan|display=Appleton, Nathan s.v. Thomas Gold Appleton|volume=2|page=225}}</ref> Appleton and Holmes met in 1833 on their way to Paris.<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 144.</ref>

Appleton befriended the poet and professor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow during a trip to Europe in the 1830s; the two became close friends.<ref>Calhoun, Charles C. ''Longfellow: A Rediscovered Life''. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004: 121. {{ISBN|0-8070-7026-2}}.</ref> Later, back in Massachusetts, Appleton encouraged Longfellow to pursue his sister Frances Appleton.<ref>Thompson, Lawrance. ''Young Longfellow (1807–1843)''. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1938: 242.</ref> In fact, Frances took several years before she was convinced to marry Longfellow; in the meantime, Thomas Appleton maintained a good friendship with Longfellow.<ref>Calhoun, Charles C. ''Longfellow: A Rediscovered Life''. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004: 143. {{ISBN|0-8070-7026-2}}.</ref> When Appleton prepared for a trip to Europe, Frances implied that she would need company in his absence, suggesting she had consented to marriage.<ref>Calhoun, Charles C. ''Longfellow: A Rediscovered Life''. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004: 163. {{ISBN|0-8070-7026-2}}.</ref>  The couple's wedding in 1843 was held at the [[Nathan Appleton Residence|Appleton home]] in [[Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts|Beacon Hill]].<ref>Calhoun, Charles C. ''Longfellow: A Rediscovered Life''. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004: 165. {{ISBN|0-8070-7026-2}}.</ref> 
[[File:Thomas Gold Appleton, Boston Public Library.jpg|thumb|right|Bust of Thomas Gold Appleton at the Boston Public Library]]
Appleton spent much of his life traveling. As he wrote, "More and more the world needs, and learns to value, its vacation".<ref>Irmscher, Christoph. ''Longfellow Redux''. University of Illinois, 2006: 158. {{ISBN|978-0-252-03063-5}}.</ref> He visited [[Niagara Falls]] in 1842, for example.<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 228.</ref> On another vacation in the 1840s, Appleton met [[Horace Mann]] and took him dancing at the [[Champs-Élysées]] in Paris. He wrote to his brother-in-law, "You may conceive the length of face with which the leader of [[normal school|Normal instructors]] contemplated the [[can-can|Can-Can]]".<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 247.</ref> Also in Paris, Appleton developed an interest in [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]] and [[animal magnetism|mesmerism]].<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 248.</ref>

Attempting a career as an artist, Appleton was disappointed by his prospects. In a letter to his father in July 1844, he wrote:
{{blockquote|You know as well as I do, that my life, the life of an artist (and how alone am I, ashamed of the name) counts for nothing in this country... Do you suppose... I am fool enough to call myself a painter or a poet? The short and long of it is, that I have not any of the kind of talent needful to success here. It is a melancholy confession but true.<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 249.</ref>}}

In addition to art, Appleton tried his hand at poetry. The winter of 1842, he had been writing a tragedy in [[blank verse]]. Writing a tragedy was considered unusual by his friends, who knew Appleton for his humor, referring to him as "T. G. Appleton, the Boston wit".<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 231.</ref>

On his return to the United States, Appleton became a member of the board of trustees of the [[Boston Public Library]], a position he held from 1852 to 1856. He purchased a Greek Revival home near the [[Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site|Longfellows' home]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] on October 1, 1857. His sister Frances described it: "Although snug, it is very pleasing".<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 262.</ref>

His sister died after accidentally catching fire in July 1861;<ref>Arvin, Newton. ''Longfellow: His Life and Work''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1963: 138.</ref> Appleton was in [[Nahant, Massachusetts]] at the time and was very affected by her death.<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 303.</ref> He never had children of his own,<ref>Irmscher, Christoph. ''Longfellow Redux''. University of Illinois, 2006: 83. {{ISBN|978-0-252-03063-5}}.</ref> but set out to help care for his nieces and nephews.<ref name=Tharp334>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 334.</ref> He allowed the oldest of Longfellow's children, Charles, to borrow his [[yacht]] for a trip across the Atlantic Ocean in 1866.<ref>Wagenknecht, Edward. ''Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Portrait of an American Humanist''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966: 180.</ref> He took the girls on daily drives in his carriage, noting that they were "cheerful and happy" when they went out.<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 304.</ref>

Appleton sold his house in Cambridge on March 1, 1864, for slightly less than the $7,600 he had paid for it.<ref>Tharp, Louise Hall. ''The Appletons of Beacon Hill''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973: 306.</ref>

Appleton published some poems and, in prose, ''Nile Journal'' (1876), ''Syrian Sunshine'' (1877), ''Windfalls'' (1878), ''Chequer-Work'' (1879).<ref name="EB1911"/>

[[File:ThomasGoldAppletonGrave.jpg|thumb|right|Grave of Thomas Gold Appleton in Mount Auburn Cemetery]]
In April 1884, while in New York, Appleton developed [[pneumonia]]. The Longfellows came to see him and, though he was aware he would die, Appleton was cheerful. "How interesting all this is," he said. "It will be a new experience".<ref name=Tharp334/>

Appleton died on April 17, 1884. His friend Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote a memorial to him in ''[[The Atlantic Monthly]]'': "The city seems grayer and older since he left us, the cold spring wind coming from the bay, harsher and more unfriendly."<ref name=Tharp334/> He is buried in a family plot at [[Mount Auburn Cemetery]] in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

==Selected list of works==
*''Faded Leaves'' (1872)
*''Fresh Leaves'' (1874)
*''Nile Journal'' (1876)
*''Syrian Sunshine'' (1877)
*''Windfalls'' (1878)
*''Chequer-Work'' (1879)

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
*''Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume 1607-1896.'' Chicago: Quincy Who's Who, 1963.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* [https://uudb.org/articles/thomasappleton.html Thomas Gold Appleton] Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography
* [http://www.bpl.org/general/trustees/appleton.htm Biography of Thomas Gold Appleton] at the Boston Public Library
* {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Appleton, Thomas Gold|year=1900 |short=x |notaref=x}}
* {{cite BDA1906 |wstitle= Appleton, Thomas Gold |volume= 1 |page= 132 |short=1}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton, Thomas Gold}}
[[Category:1812 births]]
[[Category:1884 deaths]]
[[Category:Appleton family]]
[[Category:Artists from Boston]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:19th-century American painters]]
[[Category:American male painters]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery]]
[[Category:Poets from Boston]]
[[Category:19th-century American poets]]
[[Category:American male poets]]
[[Category:19th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in France]]
[[Category:Trustees of the Boston Public Library]]
[[Category:19th-century American male artists]]