Nathaniel Appleton (9 December 1693 – 9 February 1784) was a

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs it ...

minister in

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

. Appleton was born in

Ipswich, Massachusetts Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A resid ...

. He was educated at Harvard, taking his degree in 1712, studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

, and was ordained on October 9, 1717, succeeding William Brattle as Congregational minister in Cambridge. From 1717 to 1779 he was one of the corporation of Harvard University, and in 1771 was granted the degree of D.D. from the university; Harvard had given this degree only once, some eighty years before, to President Mather. In 1729, Appleton was recorded as owning an enslaved man named Pompey. During his long career, Appleton published sermons and occasional discourses, and died, aged 90, in

. Appleton and his son had close ties to present-day

Arlington, Massachusetts Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census. History European colonists settled the Town of Arlington in 1635 as a village ...

, then a section of Cambridge known as

Menotomy Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census. History European colonists settled the Town of Arlington in 1635 as a village w ...

, and according to a local historian the town's Appleton Street was named in their honor. As part of his employment as minister, he was given "a Lott of Land att Menotomy Called Bare Hill, about 40 acres," located near today's Route 2 and the Lexington border, and probably accessed by today's Appleton Street. (His son, also named Nathaniel Appleton, was a businessman who purchased 250 acres for a "country place" in Menotomy, setting out a circle of trees reflected in today's Park Circle. It was the son Nathaniel Appleton, 1731-1798, who wrote Considerations on Slavery (1767)).

Writings

* ''A Thanksgiving sermon on the total repeal of the Stamp-Act, preached in Cambridge, New-England, May 20th, in the afternoon preceding the public rejoicings of the evening upon that great occasion'' (Boston: Printed and sold by Edes and Gill, 1766)

References

* ''History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877, With a Genealogical Register'', Volume 2, by Lucius Robinson Paige, 1877, page 482.

External links

* 1693 births 1784 deaths American Congregationalists American slave owners Appleton family Harvard University alumni People from Ipswich, Massachusetts People of colonial Massachusetts {{massachusetts-stub

Writings

See also

References

External links