William Appleton (November 16, 1786 – February 15, 1862) was an American businessman and politician from

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. He was a trader, shipowner, and banker, and served as a U.S. representative from Massachusetts from 1851 to 1855, and again from 1861 to 1862.

Early life

Appleton was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, the son of a minister, the Reverend Joseph Appleton, who died when he was nine.Robbins, Chandler (1863
''Memoir of Hon. William Appleton''
/ref> He attended schools 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 ...

Francestown, New Hampshire Francestown is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,610 at the 2020 census. The village of Francestown, population 201 in 2020, is in the center of the town. History Incorporated in 1772, Francestow ...

, and

Tyngsborough, Massachusetts Tyngsborough (also spelled Tyngsboro) is a town in northern Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Tyngsborough is from Boston along the Route 3 corridor, and located on the New Hampshire state line. At the 2020 census, the town popu ...

. At fifteen years of age he started work at a country store in Temple, New Hampshire. Three years later the owner took him into partnership, but a year after that he moved to Boston, Massachusetts.

Career

He worked for a store that bought and sold goods from the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

, and went into business for himself in 1807. In 1809, he bought a ship, and made several profitable trading voyages to Europe. After the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

, he expanded his shipping business and became one of the wealthiest men in Boston. In 1818, Appleton purchased 50

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 ...

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

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 ...

. In 1826, he retired from business, but maintained a counting-house.Baker Library, Harvard Business School
Notes on William Appleton and Company records
/ref> In 1832, he became president of the Boston branch of the

Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January 1836.. The Bank's formal name, ...

, and served until 1836. He was also at one time president of the Provident Institution for Savings. In 1841, he established William Appleton and Company in partnership with his son James and Samuel Hooper to conduct shipping and trading operations. They engaged in the

California hide trade The California hide trade was a trading system of various products based in cities along the California coastline, operating from the early 1820s to the mid-1840s. In exchange for hides and tallow from cattle owned by California ranchers, sailors ...

, and in commerce with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. He retired from the company in 1859. He was noted for benevolence toward public causes: he was president of

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

, to which he donated $30,000, and made other large donations.

Political career

In 1850, Appleton was elected U.S. Representative from Massachusetts's 1st district as a Whig. He was re-elected in 1852, this time from Massachusetts's 5th district, as districts had been redrawn after the 1850 Census. He was defeated for re-election in 1854, and lost again in 1856. In 1860, he was again elected Representative, as a Constitutional Unionist. He took his seat in 1861, but resigned in September, due to failing health. Appleton died five months after his resignation, on February 15, 1862, in Longwood, Massachusetts. He was interred in

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge and Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, west of Boston. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brah ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

Personal life

Appleton was married to Mary Ann Cutler (1794–1860), daughter of James Cutler (1767-1799) and Mehitable Sullivan (1772–1847). Mary Ann's maternal grandfather was James Sullivan, the 7th

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachuset ...

. Together, they were the parents of: * William Sullivan Appleton (1815–1836) * James Amory Appleton (1818–1843), who married Mary Ellen Lyman (1819–1875) * Sarah Elizabeth Appleton (1822–1891), who married

Amos Adams Lawrence Amos Adams Lawrence (July 31, 1814August 22, 1886) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and social activist. He was a key figure in the United States abolitionist movement in the years leading up to the Civil War and the growth of the E ...

(1814–1886), son of

Amos Lawrence Amos Lawrence (April 22, 1786 – December 31, 1852) was an American merchant and philanthropist. Biography Amos Lawrence was born in Groton, Massachusetts. Lawrence attended elementary school in Groton and briefly attended the Groton Academy. ...

* Francis Henry Appleton (1823–1854), who married Georgiana Crowninshield Silsbee (1824–1901), daughter of

Nathaniel Silsbee Nathaniel Silsbee (January 14, 1773July 14, 1850) was a ship master, merchant and American politician from Salem, Massachusetts. Early career Silsbee was the eldest child of Capt. Nathaniel and Sarah (Becket) Silsbee. At the age of fourteen, ...

and sister of

Nathaniel Silsbee, Jr. Nathaniel Silsbee Jr. (December 28, 1804 – July 9, 1881) was a Massachusetts businessman and politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and twice as the Mayor of Salem, Massachusetts, and was for many yea ...

* William Joseph Warren Appleton (1825–1877), who married

Emily Warren Emily Warren Schwartz (born August 25, 1992) is an American singer and songwriter signed to the label Prescription Songs. She is best known for the songs she has written for several high-profile pop artists, including Backstreet Boys, The Chai ...

(1818–1905), daughter of surgeon

John Collins Warren John Collins Warren (August 1, 1778 – May 4, 1856) was an American surgeon. In 1846 he gave permission to William T.G. Morton to provide ether anesthesia while Warren performed a minor surgical procedure. News of this first public demonstrati ...

* Edward H. Appleton (1827–1827) * Harriet Cutler Appleton (1828–1857), who married Franklin Gordon Dexter (1824–1903) * Hetty Sullivan Appleton (1831–1901), who married Thomas Jefferson Coolidge (1831–1920) * Charles Hook Appleton (1833–1874), who married Isabella Mason (1835–1869) His diaries were published in 1922 entitled ''Selections from the diaries of William Appleton, 1786-1862''. Appleton was the first cousin of U.S. Representative

Nathan Appleton 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 Hampshire, the son of Isaac Appleton (1731–1806) and his wife Mar ...

, and first cousin, once removed, of writer and artist Thomas Gold Appleton. William served as treasurer in cousin Nathan's Appleton Mills in

Lowell, MA Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as o ...

References

External links

*
William Appleton
at

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William Appleton & Company Records
at Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School. {{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton, William 1786 births 1862 deaths Appleton family People from Brookfield, Massachusetts Massachusetts Constitutional Unionists Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts Constitutional Union Party members of the United States House of Representatives Politicians from Brookline, Massachusetts 19th-century American politicians