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Elizabeth Haven Appleton
OCT. 16, 1815
NOV, 15, 1890
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1891
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Elizabeth Haven Appleton
OCT. 16, 1815
Nov. 15, 1890
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R O B E R T C L A R K E & C O.
1891
At the annual meeting of the Historical
and Philosophical Society of Ohio, Decem-
ber 1, 1890, I read a brief sketch of Miss
Appleton’s life. At the request of the
Society, this sketch, somewhat enlarged,
is now published.
EUGENE F. BLISS.
CINCINNATI,
APRIL 15, 1891.
MEMOIR.
Elizabeth Haven Appleton was born in England, at Waver-
tree, a suburb of Liverpool, October 16, 1815. Her father
was William Greenleaf Appleton, in the sixth generation from
that Samuel Appleton whose name first occurs in the records
of New England in the year 1636. Her mother was Ann
Hall Adams, a cousin of John Quincy Adams, sixth Presi-
dent of the United States. Of the Appleton family Mr. W.
H. Whitmore says in the American Genealogist, Albany,
1875 : “The Appletons rank among the few of our settlers
who were of the recognized gentry of England. Many of the
Massachusetts colonists were of gentle blood, but only as the
junior branches of such families. A few of the leaders in
the immigration were of position and importance at home,
and among these was Samuel Appleton. He was the fourth
son of Thomas Appleton, of Waldingford, who represented
a family which had been settled there from at least the year
1499. There is no question either as to the identity of the
emigrant or his pedigree. . . . The family has since
(5)
6 MEMOIR.
maintained its position and has furnished many able members
of the community.”
At the time of Miss Appleton’s birth her father was resi-
dent in Liverpool as agent or factor for several merchants of
Baltimore. He did not remain abroad very long, but, re-
turning to this country, he settled in Baltimore, where were
born his other five children. His eldest child received her
name, Elizabeth Haven, from her mother's mother, daughter
of Dr. Samuel Haven, minister at Portsmouth, N. H., for
more than a half-century. From Baltimore in 1829 her father
removed to Wheeling, and three years later in the fall of
1832 he came to Cincinnati, when his eldest daughter was
seventeen years old. Here he remained nearly two years.
He was engaged in the manufacture of white wax, having
left the East under the impression that the climate of the
Ohio Valley with its larger number of fine days would be
more favorable to his business. On account of the haziness
of our climate, however, he found that the total actinic force
of the sun was less here than in the East, this too before the
era of smoke. It may be interesting to observe that her
father's house, still standing, which Miss Appleton pointed
out to me several years ago, was in Bank street near the
canal, with garden and orchard running back to what is now
Dayton street. She has often spoken to me of walking to
town by the tow-path. Her cousin, Mr. Cranch, tells me that
to visit her father’s house in the evening was somewhat of
a daring feat, so fierce were the dogs to be encountered upon
the way.
In her education I think Miss Appleton was little influenced
MEMOIR. 7
by any school she attended; of her teachers I have heard of
only one, Caroline Lee Hentz, whose novels were in repute
forty years ago, and who for a time had a school for girls in
this city. I am not aware that Miss Appleton was in any way
much affected by her. For her education she was indebted
to herself alone.
In 1833 her mother died, and the care of the household
with its younger children fell upon Miss Appleton. The
sense of duty, always the strongest point in her character,
became at once apparent, and so far as she could she tried
to fill her mother's place. This was no easy task, but she
surprised her friends by her skill and tact. At this time she
was about eighteen years old. I have not learned why Mr.
Appleton left Cincinnati. Perhaps, disappointment in business,
or grief at the loss of his wife, or both combined, induced
him to go to Boston. There in 1835 he married his cousin,
Miss Greenleaf. In time there was friction perhaps between
the step-mother and the eldest daughter. At any rate about
the year 1840 Miss Appleton left home and for a year or two,
with Miss Abby Osgood as partner, taught school in New
Bedford, Mass.
In 1842 she was invited by Nathaniel Holmes Morison, of
Baltimore, to teach in his school for girls and with him she re-
mained until 1848. By a singular coincidence Mr. Morison's
death preceded Miss Appleton’s by ten hours only. What
other acquaintances she may have made in Baltimore I know
not, but Mrs. Mowatt, at the time a famous actress, became
her warm friend. Several years afterward Miss Appleton was
bridesmaid for Mrs. Mowatt at her marriage in Richmond to
8 MEMOIR.
Mr. Ritchie. During this visit she met Henry A. Wise, who
a year later was chosen governor of Virginia; he talked to
her upon the right of secession, when she exclaimed, “Why,
this is treason ſ” Miss Appleton was sincerely attached to
Mrs. Mowatt, but I am afraid the friendship of the actress
manifested more warmth than judgment.
I would not venture to say why Miss Appleton left Balti-
more. Possibly a tale written long subsequently for the At-
lantic Monthly, called “A Half-Life and Half a Life,” may
throw light upon this subject, but this is mere conjecture.
Between her life in Baltimore and her coming to Cincinnati
in 1849 a year was passed in the South, at Aiken, Georgia,
I believe.
At this time, and for many years afterward, Mr. Lyman
Harding had a school for girls in Cincinnati. In this school
Miss Appleton was a teacher for six years. In 1855 she
established a school of her own, which was continued till
1875. Usually she had a partner, but her own personalty
was so strongly impressed upon it that it was always spoken
of as “Miss Appleton’s School.” She was absent in Europe
during the school year of 1865–66, and was again abroad
after she finally gave up teaching ten years later. I have no
account of her labors in Mr. Harding's school, but in her
own more than four hundred pupils were first and last under
her instruction. Were the list to be published, the names of
all the families prominent in the city for the last forty years
would be found in it. What impression she made upon her
pupils is sufficiently shown by the proceedings of their meet-
ing, published in the appendix to this sketch of her life.
MEMOIR. 9
Mr. Horatio Wood, of Lowell, Miss Appleton's partner in
school for fourteen years, has, at my request, given me the
following account of his association with her :
“In September, 1861, I went to Cincinnati upon Miss Ap-
pleton's invitation to become her partner in the conduct of a
school for girls, already established by her, and I remained
with her until the school was given up in June, 1875. A
private school requires of its head business capacity as well
as skill in teaching, and Miss Appleton was an excellent
business woman—energetic, prompt, systematic, exact; she
had the faculty of accomplishing results by dint of fore-
thought and hard work with a moderate expenditure of
money. Still her frugality was not exercised at others' ex-
pense; teachers and others employed by her were well paid.
Her own obligations were promptly discharged, and if others
did not do as well by her, it was owing to no neglect or
weakness on her part.
The same sense of justice and the same fidelity to duty,
shown in Miss Appleton’s business dealings, governed her
conduct in the school-room. Her teaching was not the bare
hearing of lessons. She went to her class-room with a full
mind. In all the more advanced studies she gleaned from
every field open to her whatever would serve to illustrate or
explain the text-book, to interest or entertain her scholars.
‘How much Miss Appleton knows ' ' said the girls. If all
the books of extracts and of notes written out by her, all the
photographs and other material used by her in teaching logic,
literature, the history of various countries and of the fine
arts, could be seen together, one could form some conception
IO MEMOIR,
of her tireless energy. I think it was not until just after she
had started her own school that she made a serious study of
the French language so as to acquire an exact knowledge of
its grammatical rules and the ability to converse in it with
ease. She sat in the French classes of her school as a pupil,
and the teacher then employed by her, the scholarly Mr.
Brunner, once acknowledged to me that he had learned
much from her active presence of the efficient management
of a class. Indeed, listlessness, the bane of the mode of
teaching then in vogue, was hardly possible in her classes.
In all her dealings with her scholars and their parents, she
was simple and straightforward. There was nothing arti-
ficial, no assumption of moral or intellectual excellence;
above all she could never bring herself to cry her own wares.
When I first knew Miss Appleton, there were times when her
masterful will was unduly stimulated by the opposition or by
the inertness of others, but as time passed on, the rough
edges of her character were smoothed away and her excess
of strength became sweetness. She was never vindictive
and cherished no enmities. She was too sensible of human
weakness to resent long its manifestations. Very many of
her pupils after leaving her school became her warm friends,
and their kindly regard gave her great pleasure. Her affec-
tions were lasting and strong, stronger than many supposed;
through them came her sorest trials. To repeat, her most
striking characteristics were her sense of justice, her fidelity
to duty, and her physical and mental vigor.”
After her return from Europe, in 1876, she gave annually
in her own house a course of lectures upon some literary or
MEMOIR. II
artistic subject. In this way acquaintance with many old
pupils was kept fresh, and her influence was felt by others
who had not known her in their school days.
After her return from Europe, too, began her connection
with our Society. She was chosen librarian at the annual
meeting in December, 1876, and held this office for ten
years. The Society then occupied rooms upon the upper
floor of the College Building in Walnut street. In these
rooms were crammed so many books and pamphlets that
many of them were practically inaccessible. Here for nearly
nine years Miss Appleton was daily to be found, doing what
she might to record and make of use the constantly growing
stores of the Society, looking forward hopefully to the time
when we could have ample space in a building of our own.
This time came in June, 1885, when the property now occu-
pied by the Society was bought. I think she had already de-
termined to give up the librarianship at some early time, but
her ambition was now aroused; she would continue at her
post until all the books and pamphlets were catalogued and
arranged. When this task was brought to an end five years
ago, she resigned her office in the Society, but kept up her
interest and activity in it. For several years she passed one
day each week in the rooms here and was besides busy at
different times in several special departments of labor. So
much had she to do with the present arrangement of this
building that in these rooms, at least, almost without exag-
geration, we might apply to her the well-known epitaph:
“If you seek her monument, look about you.”
In Mrs. Perry’s “Sketch of the Women's Art Museum As-
I 2 MEMOIR.
sociation of Cincinnati,” will be found the record of Miss
Appleton's public labors for the culture of a taste for the fine
arts. As early as 1854, she was prominent in the somewhat
ambitious plans of Mrs. Peter “ of founding and maintaining
an academy of Fine Arts.” In July of that year, she appears
as one of the “Managers of the Ladies' Academy of Art in
Cincinnati.” I need not follow out the history of this society.
When the “Women’s Art Museum Association ” was formed
in 1877, Miss Appleton was chosen one of the two secre-
taries, a position she continued to hold until the dissolution
of the association nine years later. This long service of hers
in what became at last the Cincinnati Art Museum was touch-
ingly ended by that clause of her will by which she leaves to
the Museum five hundred dollars and such of her books and
pictures as it may choose.
In 1880 was published in this city Miss Appleton's transla-
tion from the French of Karl Robert: “Charcoal Drawing
without a Master.” But many years before, in 1854, she had
compiled a book called : “Insurrection at Magellan. Nar-
rative of the Imprisonment and Escape of Capt. Chas. H.
Brown,” etc. In the preface she remarks: “I can claim no
part [in this book] except that of collecting the facts from
different sources, of arranging and compiling them.” Later
with characteristic frankness she adds: “Capt. Brown is an-
swerable only for the facts; for whatever literary defects there
may be, I alone am responsible.” This book is well put
together. Miss Appleton so thoroughly enters into the sub-
ject that without the preface you would never think the work
written by another than Capt. Brown himself.
MEMOIR. I3
She contributed four articles to the Atlantic Monthly. The
first of these, “Our Talks with Uncle John,” appeared in
August, 1868. The scene is laid in Cincinnati and New-
port, and the local coloring is admirable. “A Venetian Ex-
perience,” June, 1867, was written the year after her first
visit to Europe. The latest of these magazine articles,
“What Five Years Will Do,” was in the November number
for 1868. It may be called a war-story. By far the most in-
teresting of these contributions was the 'second, published in
February, 1864. It is entitled, “A Half-Life and Half a
Life.” Nobody can read this carefully without gaining new
knowledge of Miss Appleton's depth of feeling and clear
sense of duty. I have already referred to it as throwing
light upon a certain portion of her life. The scene is for the
most part upon the Big Sandy River, where she had passed
the summer of 1863. This story has also been published in
the collection called “Atlantic Tales” or “Classic Tales.”
I will quote a few sentences from its closing paragraph :
“And now three months have passed, for two of which
I have been teaching. There are difficulties, yes, and
there is hard work; but I can manage the children. I have
the tact, the character, the gift, that nameless something
which gives one person control over others; and for the
studies, they are as yet a pleasure to me. I see how they
will lead me on to other knowledge, how I may bring into
form and make available my desultory reading, and there is
a great pleasure in the very study itself. And for the rest, if
my great grief is never out of mind, if it is always present to
me, at least I can put it back, behind my daily occupations
I4. MEMOIR.
and interests. I begin, too, to see dimly that there are other
things in life for a woman to whom the light of life is denied.
My heart will always be lonely; but how much there is to
live for in my mind, my tastes, my love for the beautiful!
No, I will not be unhappy; happy I suppose I can
never be, but I have strength and courage, and a will to rise
above this sorrow which once crushed me to the ground.
When I wrote the bitter words with which this record begins,
I wronged the kind hearts that are around me. I lacked
faith in that world wherein I have found help and comfort.”
All these tales will be found interesting by Miss Appleton's
friends, not so much for the stories themselves as for the
shrewd observations upon life, their pleasant sense of humor,
and above all by their recalling so many of her familiar ideas
and turns of expression.
After all it is not for what may be called Miss Appleton's
public acts that we admire her. These were but the mani-
festations of character that it is allowable to speak of; they
were a small part of what made her loved.
It never seemed to me that Miss Appleton had much in-
terest in the ordinary works of charity in which women are
engaged. She never opposed them, had in fact a sort of
sympathy with them, but, to repeat, she had no interest in
them. I think I have heard her regret this lack of interest
as costing her a resource. Last winter, for instance, she
cheerfully gave her lectures for the benefit of the Children's
Home, but I suspect she would have felt herself wonderfully
out of place in its board of management. This present year
her lectures would have been in aid of the Training School
MEMOIR. I5
for Nurses, but of her own accord she would never have vis-
ited the Hospital to see what was doing. Her interests were
intellectual, the societies which enlisted her sympathies looked
to the cultivation of the tastes and to the growth of mind.
She wished above all to help people to help themselves.
Many a young woman who felt she had her own way to make
in the world has been to her for advice. Her case would
have careful consideration and the advice would be frankly
given, though it might evidently be against the applicant’s
wishes, and the advice was given in a firm but kindly man-
ner. Miss Appleton had an abhorrence of shams and a keen
perception of them, a quick sense of the ridiculous and in-
congruous, but never willingly would she have hurt a per-
son’s feelings.
Her position as head of a prominent school made her ac-
quainted with many teachers, new-comers to the city, both
native and foreign. With these not advice only was needed.
She did her best for them. A gentleman, now professor in
an Eastern city, recently wrote to me: “Happy Miss Apple-
ton, death came unawares, and with gentle fingers sealed her
lips forever. For all that the news shocked and grieved me.
She was a friend to me when friends were few. Then the
idea that she might die never entered my mind. She lived
so quietly, so far from the tussle and fever of the madding
crowd, that it seemed she might go on and outlive the young-
est. I owe her a great deal.”
What is the great lesson to be derived from her life? Is it
not the worth of simplicity and the honest following of one’s
own ideas of the right? She came here in 1849 almost a
tº,
I6 MEMOIR.
stranger. Without the influence of family or of wealth, what
a position she made for herself, what a powerful factor she
was in the intellectual growth of our city. Without pre-
tense, without striving for effect, she walked the even path of
duty. To use the apt quotation of Mr. Goddard at her
funeral: “She hath done what she could.”
PUPILS’ MEETING.
The following invitation explains a meeting which was held
Thursday, February 19, at the rooms of the Historical So-
ciety:
“You are invited to be present at a meeting of the pupils of the
late Miss Appleton, to be held at the rooms of the Historical So-
ciety, 115 West Eighth street, Thursday afternoon, February 19, at
3 o'clock. 4.
“The object of this meeting is to give some public expression of
the sense of our indebtedness to her and of our sorrow at her death.
“We most sincerely hope you will be present.
“ALICE WILLIAMSON Bow LER,
“EMMA MENDENHALL ANDERson,
“SARAH METCALF PHIPPs,
“CLARA CHIPMAN NEwton, "
“KATHRINE SEYMOUR DODD.”
The meeting was called to order, and Mrs. Emma Menden-
hall Anderson, was chosen Chairman; Miss Kathrine Sey-
mour Dodd, Secretary.
The following Committee on Resolutions was then ap-
pointed: Mrs. Anna McDougal Lawson, Mrs. Julia Worth-
ington Anderson, Mrs. Alice Williamson Bowler, Mrs.
Florence Carlisle Murdock, Mrs. Emma Buchanan Holmes,
(17)
I8 PUPILS’ MEETING.
Misses Sarah Metcalf Phipps, Augusta Lawler Harbeson,
Clara Chipman Newton, Mary Aubery.
During the withdrawal of the Committee on Resolutions,
the Secretary read, by the kind permission of Mr. Eugene F.
Bliss, the sketch of Miss Appleton’s life, written by him and
read at the annual meeting of the Historical Society, Decem-
ber 1, 1890.
The committee appointed to draft resolutions on the death
of Miss Appleton reported as follows:
“Our loss is irreparable and the words from the pen of one of her
pupils express so well what we all feel that we beg to submit them
to the meeting as an expression from all our hearts:
“The pupils of Miss Elizabeth Havén Appleton earnestly desire
to express the debt of gratitude and heartfelt devotion which they
feel for their former teacher and friend; she is associated with the
earliest recollections of their childhood—that period of life which
every one recalls with such interest and affection. Apart from our
parents, there is, perhaps, no form which rises so vividly before us
as that of our beloved teacher.
“The sphere of teacher admits of such scope for influence, and
the teacher is such a factor in the moulding and shaping of our lives
that the value of such a mission can scarcely be computed. No one
could have been more gifted and better qualified to fulfil this noble
work than Miss Appleton. She had, to a rare degree, the faculty or
imparting knowledge and of awakening interest and love of study
in her pupils. By her admirable methods she not only trained the
mind for careful and serious thought, but by her instruction in art
and literature, she stimulated the imagination and cultivated an ar-
tistic appreciation tending toward that harmonious development
which makes life so full of interest and beauty.
“Her discrimination in dealing individually with pupils was re-
PUPILS’ MEETING. I9
markable, never descending to an impatient or angry word, but with
a direct, dignified, gentle reproof, she recalled a wayward or delin-
quent pupil to that sense of right doing to which she was so loyal,
and inspired a desire to live up to her own high standard of every walk
and work in life.
“But if we respected and revered Miss Appleton as our teacher,
still more did we love her as friend, counselor, and confidante.
Who can forget the picture of that cheery school-room where, at
the joyous recreation hour, Miss Appleton was no longer the
teacher but the centre of a group of happy girls, eager to confide
their little heart-secrets to an ear so willing and a heart so respon-
sive; who could have been more sympathetic, more tender and con-
siderate than our dear friend and teacher Our love for her grew
with our growth, and in mature and advancing years knows no
wavering or shadow of change.
“It is with sad hearts and tearful eyes that we offer this loving
tribute to her cherished and sacred memory.
“CINCINNAT1, February 19, 1891.”
ELIZABETH HAVEN APPLETON FUND.
Soon after Miss Appleton's death, the following circular
was sent to all her old pupils whose addresses were known :
“Among the pupils of the late Miss Appleton, there has been mani-
fested on every hand a wish to give enduring expression to their
grateful remembrance and appreciation of her power in the intel-
lectual growth of Cincinnati, of her wise and sympathetic counsel
as teacher and friend, of her noble and inspiring life.
“In affectionate memory of her we have decided to collect a fund,
to be given to the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio;
this fund, of which the income only shall be annually expended,
shall be known as “The Elizabeth Haven Appleton Fund for the
Purchase of Books.” This Society has been chosen on account of
Miss Appleton's well-known interest in it. She was for many years
its Librarian, afterward its Secretary, and at all times actively en-
gaged in its work.
“We cordially invite you to unite with us in raising the proposed
fund. Mrs. Louise N. Anderson has been appointed Treasurer, and
will receive such subscription as you may see fit to send. Mrs. An-
derson's address is No. 16, The Ortiz, Cincinnati.
“Yours, most sincerely,
“MRs. JoHN A. GANo, MRs. JAMES H. PERKINs,
“MRs. F. G. HUNTINGTON, MRs. A. How ARD HINKLE,
“Mrs. T. J. EMERY, Miss N EAve,
“MRs. W. W. SEELY, Miss D Avis,
“MRS. LOUISE. N. ANDERson, Miss KEYs,
“Committee.”
(20)
APPLETON FUND. 2 I
Liberal contributions were made in accordance with the
terms of the circular, and the Historical and Philosophical
Society of Ohio gratefully accepted the gift. At the present
date, April 15, 1891, this fund amounts to $2966.o.o.