SAMUEL APPLETON, a descendant of John Appleton, who died in 1436, came to America in 1635, and settled at Ipswich, Ms. He was born at Little-Waldingfield, Suffolk, England, in 1586. He was admitted freeman in May, 1636, and was representative in 1637. He died in June, 1670, leaving five children. His son John, born at Little-Waldingfield in 1622, was a representative from Ipswich nineteen years, and a captain. He was fined and imprisoned during the administration of Edmund Andros, for resisting the principle of taxation without representation. He died in 1700, aged 78. He married Priscilla, daughter of Rev. Jesse Glover, by whom he had two sons, John born 1652, and Jesse born 1660, a merchant of Boston. John, for twenty years judge of probate for Essex, married Elizabeth, daughter of President Rogers, and died in 1739, leaving two sons, Nathaniel and Daniel, and three daughters. From Nathaniel, descended the Appletons of Portsmouth. Samuel Appleton, son of Samuel who emigrated to this country, was born at Little-Waldingfield in 1625, was representative, and in Philip's war in 1676, was commander-in-chief of the forces. He married, first, Hannah daughter of William Paine, and, second, Mary daughter of John Oliver. He had four sons and three daughters. One of the sons, Isaac, had one son Isaac, and six daughters. Isaac died in Ipswich in 1794. One of his sons, Isaac of New Ipswich, N. H., was the father of Samuel, Nathan and Ebenezer Appleton, eminent merchants of Boston. Another son, Francis, of New Ipswich, the father of President Appleton, died in January, 1816, aged 83.* He was esteemed a truly excellent man, pious from early childhood, of vigorous intellect, and of a remarkably calm, sober disposition. He was a farmer in quite ordinary circumstances. So contracted, indeed,

were his means, that his son, Jesse, was designed for a mechanic's trade, had not the kind intervention of a brother promised to aid him in procuring a liberal education. Ilis wife, the mother of the President, was a woman of strong mind and of devoted piety.

JESSE APPLETON was born at New Ipswich, N. H., Nov. 17, 1772. He fitted for college in the academy of his native town, and in 1788, at the age of sixteen, entered Dartmouth College. He early gave promise of uncommonly amiable and delicate feelings, and of a vigorous intellect.

* For further particulars of the Appleton family, see Farmer's Genealogical Register, p. 18.

In college, he sustained a high reputation as a scholar. Deficient in no department of the course, his preference was for those studies which address the taste. As a classical scholar and writer, he was regarded as inferior to no one in his class.* It appears that at this early period, he laid the foundation of those mental habits for which he was remarkable during his life. He passed, moreover, through the temptations of college without censure or reproach, always exhibiting that delicate sense of propriety and keen moral perception which characterized his mature years.

After he left college, he was employed, for nearly two years, as an instructor of youth at Dover and Amherst, N. H. In this occupation he was highly successful. His discriminating mind, his general loveliness of character, his delicate humor, and his engaging manners, made him the ornament of the social circle. He pursued his theological studies under the direction of the venerable and eminent Joseph Lathrop, D. D. of West Springfield.† His papers of this period, comprising dissertations on various topics of theology, give evidence that he was a diligent and successful student. Few pupils in theology have won the confidence and affection of an instructor to so high a degree as did Mr. Appleton; and few returned that interest with such unmingled respect and love. Dr. Lathrop did not conceal the high hopes which he cherished of the future usefulness and eminence of his pupil. Mr. Appleton maintained, until the death of his preceptor, an uninterrupted correspondence with him, consulting him freely on the many perplexing subjects relating both to doctrine and the pastoral relation, which present themselves in the labors and studies of an active minister.

Mr. Appleton began to preach in the summer of 1795, and such was the opinion then entertained of his talents and piety, that some clergymen in Massachusetts who did not consider him as agreeing fully in sentiment with themselves, strongly recommended him to certain vacant parishes, as a candidate for settlement. During the two years that he was a candidate, he preached in several towns both in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. From Leicester, Ms., and Hampton, N. H., he received earnest invitations to settle in the ministry. He thought it to be his duty to accept the call from the latter place. He was ordained at Hampton, on the 22d of March, 1797.‡

Introduced into a new and important station, he entered upon the discharge of its duties with earnestness and a deep sense of his accountability. He became at once a close, uniform and systematic student. He had indeed already laid the foundation of those admirable habits of study which he preserved through life. In the distribution of his time, he was strictly methodical; and nothing but unavoidable avocations was allowed to intrude upon the plans which he had formed. There was an order, a regularity in his various pursuits, that beautifully corresponded with the structure of his mind and the symmetry of his character. Theology was no less from inclination than a sense of duty, the principal object of pursuit; and he left abundant evidence, not only in the reputation which he acquired while in the ministry, but in his discourses, in his communications to the religious periodicals of the time, and in his private papers, that, unwilling to confine himself within the common range of the profession, he from the

Among his classmates were the Rev. Dr. Porter of Andover, Rev. Zephaniah Swift of Derby, Ct., Hon. William H. Woodward, Treasurer of Dartmouth College, Rev. Joel Baker of Granville, Rev. Jonathan Ward of Plymouth, N. H., etc.

† See American Quarterly Register, x. 403, and Rev. Dr. W. B. Sprague's Historical Sermon.

Thus Mr. Farmer, American Quarterly Register, vi. 239. In Prof. Packard's Life of President Appleton, the date is February, 1797. The preceding ministers at Hampton were Stephen Bachiler, Timothy Dalton, John Wheelwright, Seaborn and John Cotton, Nathaniel Gookin, Ward Cotton and Ebenezer Thayer.

first sought to explore the whole field of theological learning, not from motives of ambition, but rather from an ardent love of truth and a deep sense of his accountability for the use he made of the powers which had been given him, and of his means of improvement and usefulness. By the time he left Hampton, he was a theologian accomplished beyond his years.

Mr. Appleton was married in 1800 to Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. Robert Means of Amherst, N. H.* In her he found a friend worthy of the connection, which for nearly twenty years so happily subsisted between them. They had six children, three sons and three daughters. The youngest child, a son, was very suddenly taken from them, when three years old, in October, 1817. The eldest son, a graduate of Bowdoin College, while pursuing the study of the law, under the charge of Stephen Farley, Esq. of Cincinnati, Ohio, was seized by an attack of bilious fever, and died in October, 1830. Many cheering promises and fond hopes were thus suddenly cut off. The other children are still living. One of them is the wife of Prof. Alpheus S. Packard of Bowdoin College.

Mr. Appleton, while at Hampton, was a trustee of Phillips Academy, Exeter, and in that office manifested much activity. He was especially interested in the subject of theological education. While a parish minister, he directed the studies of several persons who were pursuing a course of theological education, and never failed of securing the highest respect and affection of his pupils. In 1803, he was one of the most prominent candidates for the chair of theology at Cambridge, an election in which the deepest interest was felt, and as the result of which Dr. Ware was chosen.

When Mr. Appleton entered on his ministry, he had not formed settled opinions on some topics of theology. In a discourse delivered February 22, 1807, he remarks: "In reviewing the ten years of my ministry, if any cause of self-congratulation is presented, there are abundant causes of self-reproach. I have, indeed, from the beginning, preached what I believed to be the leading truths of the Bible; and if I have, of late years, insisted more than formerly, on some of its peculiar doctrines, it is because the importance of these doctrines has risen in my apprehension." Some of the more abstruse and perplexing topics of our faith he does not appear to have discussed in his sermons. This is in part, doubtless, to be ascribed to his habitual caution in the expression of opinions, which were not the result of long, patient and profound reflection and investigation. As a preacher, he was entirely free from all display of learning or study of effect. His manner was chaste, dignified, earnest and very impressive. Most of his sermons were written while he was at Hampton. Though designed for the people of a secluded parish, they were prepared with great care and accuracy. He made it a rule to write but one sermon a week. Monday being devoted to pastoral visits, he was accustomed to begin his sermon on Tuesday and end it on Friday. He also meditated his prayers. He diligently stored his mind with a great variety of materials adapted to all the occasions of pastoral duty. Those who heard him conduct the public devotions, were impressed with the profound reverence, the elevation, fervor and copiousness which characterized them.

* Mr. Means was one of the most respected merchants in the State. He died Jan. 24, 1823, in the 81st year of his age. He was born in the province of Ulster, Ireland, Aug 28, 1742. He came to this country

in 1766, and acquired a large property. He married Mary, daughter of Rev. David McGregore of Londonderry. They had sons Thomas, David McGregore and Robert; and daughters, Mary, wife of Hon. Jeremiah Mason of Boston, Elizabeth, Nancy wife of Amos Lawrence of Boston, Jane and Mary Ann, who died in 1804 and 1824-5 Coll. New Hampshire Historical Society, p. 103.