James Appleton

{{Short description|American abolitionist and politician (1785–1862)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = General James Appleton

| image = James Appleton.png

| caption =

| office = Member of the Maine House of Representatives

| term = 1836–1839

| predecessor =

| successor =

| office1 = Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives

| term1 = 1813–1834

| predecessor1 =

| successor1 =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1785|2|14}}

| birth_place = Ipswich, Massachusetts

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1862|08|25|1785|2|14}}

| death_place = Ipswich, Massachusetts

| party = Federalist, Whig, Liberty

| parents = Samuel Appleton
Mary White

| spouse = {{marriage|Sarah Fuller
|November 15, 1807}}

| relations = William Appleton (cousin)
Samuel Appleton (cousin)
Nathan Appleton (cousin)

| children = 10

| relatives = Appleton family

| other_names =

| known_for =

| occupation = Publisher

| nationality = American

| signature = Signature of James Appleton.png

}}

Brigadier General James Appleton (February 14, 1785 – August 25, 1862){{cite web|title=MHS Collections Online: James Appleton|url=http://www.masshist.org/database/845|website=www.masshist.org|publisher=Massachusetts Historical Society|access-date=22 June 2017|language=en}} was an American abolitionist, early supporter of temperance, and politician from Maine.{{cite book|last=Appleton|first=Daniel Fuller|title=The Origin of the Maine Law and of Prohibitory Legislation: With a Brief Memoir of James Appleton|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QfQoAAAAYAAJ|access-date=23 May 2014|year=1886|publisher=National temperance society and publication house|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QfQoAAAAYAAJ/page/n19 15]–}}

Early life

Appleton was born on February 14, 1785, in Ipswich, Massachusetts, on a family farm that had been granted to his ancestor, Samuel Appleton, in 1636. His parents were Samuel Appleton (1738–1819) and Mary (née White) Appleton (d. 1834), daughter of Rev. Timothy White,{{cite book|last1=Hannan|first1=Caryn|title=Massachusetts Biographical Dictionary|date=2008|publisher=State History Publications|isbn=9781878592668|pages=26–27|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ntj6SFIEKoEC&pg=PA26|access-date=22 June 2017|language=en}} and his younger brothers were Timothy Appleton (1778–1857) and Samuel Appleton (1771–1852).{{cite web|last1=Dolan|first1=Susan Hill|last2=Campbell|first2=Rebecca Gardner|title=Generations of Appleton Family Portraits|url=http://www.thetrustees.org/assets/documents/places-to-visit/Of_Farms_and_Family_rev_01_07_14.pdf|website=thetrustees.org|publisher=The Trustees of Reservations|access-date=22 June 2017|location=Ipswich, Massachusetts|date=Fall 2013|archive-date=July 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721153814/http://www.thetrustees.org/assets/documents/places-to-visit/Of_Farms_and_Family_rev_01_07_14.pdf|url-status=dead}}

His paternal grandparents were Elizabeth Sawyer (1709–1785) and Isaac Appleton (1704–1794), the son of Isaac Appleton (1664–1747) and Priscilla Baker, granddaughter of Lt. Gov. Samuel Symonds. Appleton was also the cousin of U.S. Rep.William Appleton (1786–1862), merchant Samuel Appleton (1766–1853), and U.S. Rep. Nathan Appleton (1779–1861).

Career

Appleton fought in the War of 1812, commissioned July 3, 1813,{{cite book|last1=Webb|first1=Henry Randall|last2=Noble|first2=Henry Harmon|title=The Constitution and Register of Membership of the General Society of the War of 1812|date=June 1, 1908|publisher=The Order of the General Society {{!}} The Law Reporter Printing Co.|location=Philadelphia, PA|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S2sNAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA222|access-date=22 June 2017|language=en}} and earned the rank of Lieutenant colonel with the Massachusetts Militia and was later promoted to the rank of Brigadier general.{{cite web|title=Boston's Crusade Against Slavery - Houghton Library|url=https://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/exhibits/emancipation/case28.cfm|website=hcl.harvard.edu|publisher=Harvard University|access-date=22 June 2017|archive-date=December 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205173113/http://www.hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/exhibits/emancipation/case28.cfm|url-status=dead}} He commanded actions at Sandy Bay in September 1814 and Gallop's Folly in October 1814. Appleton lived much of his life in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and nearby Marblehead, Massachusetts, prior to moving to Maine.

=Massachusetts General Court=

In 1813 and 1814, at the age of 28, Appleton, a practicing lawyer, was elected to represent Gloucester as a Federalist to the Massachusetts legislature where he was an outspoken critic of the Missouri Compromise. In 1824, he was the official escort of the Marquis de Lafayette upon his visit to Boston. In 1832, he presented a petition to the Massachusetts legislature prohibiting sales of liquor in fewer quantities than thirty gallons.

=Maine politics=

In 1833, he moved to Portland, Maine, and was elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 1836. The following year, he was chairman of a committee to consider the license system. In 1837,{{sfn|Byrne|1961|pp=24–26}} he submitted a report on the evils of liquor that became the basis of the Maine Temperance Law of 1846.{{cite book | last = Byrne | first = Frank L. | year = 1961 | title = Prophet of Prohibition: Neal Dow and His Crusade | publisher = State Historical Society of Wisconsin | location = Madison, Wisconsin | oclc = 2126034}} The report was considered by Neal Dow to be the first official document in the history of Maine prohibiting the liquor traffic.

In 1839 and 1840, he was vice president of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

In the 1842, 1843, and 1844 gubernatorial elections, Appleton ran for Governor of Maine with the Liberty Party, an abolitionist political party.{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Reinhard O.|title=The Liberty Party, 1840-1848: Antislavery Third-Party Politics in the United States|date=2009|publisher=LSU Press|isbn=9780807142639|page=380|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i9zGGYTqJnsC&pg=PT380|access-date=22 June 2017|language=en}} In 1848, he was a Free Soil presidential elector supporting Martin Van Buren.

In 1861, during the Civil War, Appleton gave patriotic speeches defending the Union and in support of abolition.

Personal life

On November 15, 1807, he was married to Sarah Fuller (1787–1872), the daughter of Rev. Daniel Fuller and Hannah Bowers, of Gloucester. Together, they were the parents of:{{cite book|last1=Cutter|first1=William Richard|title=New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation|date=1913|publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company|url=https://archive.org/details/newenglandfamili01cutt_0|page=[https://archive.org/details/newenglandfamili01cutt_0/page/179 179]|access-date=22 June 2017|language=en}}

Samuel Gilman Appleton (1808–1873), who married Sarah Gardiner, daughter of Rev. Sylvester Gardiner, in 1839.
Sarah Fuller Appleton (1811–1884), who married Rev. Stephen Caldwell Millett in 1833.
James Appleton (1813–1884), who married Sarah Bristol Edwards, daughter of Samuel L. Edwards, in 1842.
Mary White Appleton (1815–1905), who did not marry.
Elizabeth Putnam Appleton (1818–1897), who married Shelton L. Hall in 1845.
Joanna Dodge Appleton (1821–1870), who married Peyton R. Morgan in 1843.
Hannah Fuller Appleton (1823–1903), who married Robert Helyer Thayer (1820–1888).
Daniel Fuller Appleton (1826–1904), who married Julia Randall (d. 1886), daughter of Nicholas P. Randall. After her death, he married Susan Cowles, daughter of John P. Cowles, in 1889.
Harriette Hooper Appleton (1828–1905), who married Rev. John Cotton Smith, rector of St John's Church, Portland, and later of the Church of the Ascension in New York City, in 1849.
Anna Whittemore Appleton (1831–); married Dr. Charles H. Osgood, in 1852.

He lived in Portland from 1833 until 1853 when his elder brother, Timothy Appleton, called him to help manage the family farm in Ipswich.{{cite web|title=Appleton Family Papers.|url=https://thetrustees.access.preservica.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2017/01/AFMSCOLL1_findingaid.pdf|website=thetrustees.access.preservica.com|publisher=The Trustees of Reservations, Archives & Research Center|access-date=22 June 2017|location=Sharon, MA|date=April 2008}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} He retired back to Ipswich, buying out his father's surviving heirs and became the sole owner of Appleton Farm in 1857. He died there in 1862.{{cite book|last1=Appleton|first1=William Sumner|title=A Rough Sketch of the Appleton Genealogy|date=1873|publisher=T.R. Marvin & Son|url=https://archive.org/details/roughsketchofapp00appl|page=[https://archive.org/details/roughsketchofapp00appl/page/26 26]|access-date=22 June 2017|language=en}}

=Descendants=

Through his son, Daniel, he was the grandfather of 36 including Francis Randall Appleton, a noted New York society man during the Gilded Age.

=Honors=

The Woman's Relief Corps gave a marker on Ipswich's North Green, named in honor of Appleton and in memory of the unknown soldiers and sailors of the Civil War.