Sophia Peabody Hawthorne
Sophia Amelia Peabody Hawthorne (1809–1871) was an American painter and writer, born in Salem, Massachusetts, to a family steeped in education and intellectualism. She was the third child of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, with her two older sisters also being notable figures in the intellectual landscape of the 19th century. Despite suffering from debilitating migraine headaches from a young age, Sophia made significant contributions to art, with her works housed in institutions such as the Essex Institute and the Massachusetts Historical Society.
In 1842, she married the renowned author Nathaniel Hawthorne, and they had three children together. Their life included periods in Cuba and Italy, and they maintained a rich joint journal practice, though her writings were less known until later publications revealed her contributions. Following Nathaniel's death in 1864, Sophia became more active in publishing, editing his notebooks, and sharing her own experiences through her journals. She spent her later years in Europe before her death from typhoid pneumonia in 1871. Sophia's legacy continues, with her papers preserved in several prominent libraries, reflecting her influence and the intertwined nature of her life with American literary history.
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Subject Terms
Sophia Peabody Hawthorne
Artist
- Born: September 21, 1809
- Birthplace: Salem, Massachusettes
- Died: February 26, 1871
Biography
Sophia Amelia Peabody Hawthorne grew up in Salem, Massachusetts, the third child of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, both of whom were teachers. Her father studied medicine and became a dentist and apothecary; her mother supplemented the family income with home schools. Her two older sisters, Elizabeth Palmer (1804-1894) and Mary Tyler (1806-1887) were prominent nineteenth century intellectuals; only one of her brothers, Nathaniel Cranch (1811-1881) survived past his youth.
From the age of twelve to thirty-one, Sophia suffered from crippling migraine headaches, but in spite of this disability produced paintings that are displayed at the Essex Institute and the Massachusetts Historical Society. In 1833, she and her sister Mary went to Cuba, where Mary served as governess to a plantation family. The Peabodys later bound Sophia’s letters to them into three volumes and circulated them as The Cuba Journal.
Nathaniel Hawthore admired her writing and copied several passages into his notebooks, but he did not meet Sophia until 1837. On July 9, 1842 they were married and then settled in Concord at the Old Manse. The couple jointly kept journals for the years 1842-1843 and 1844-1852, but only the passages written by Nathaniel were known until the publication of “A Sophia Hawthorne Journal, 1843-1844” (appearing in The Nathaniel Hawthorne Journal, 1974, 1975) and “Sophia Peabody Hawthorne’s American Notebooks” in 1996.
The couple had three children: Una (1844-1877), Julian (1846-1934), and Rose (1851-1926). In 1849, her husband was ousted from his position as surveyor of the Salem Custom House when the Whig Zachary Taylor was elected president. Sophia helped to support the family by painting lampshades and fire screens while Nathaniel devoted himself to completing The Scarlet Letter (1850).
His friend President Franklin Pierce appointed Hawthorne consul to Liverpool from 1853 to 1857; when James Buchanan was elected, Hawthorne resigned and the family spent the next year in Italy. In 1860, they returned to the United States and resided at the Wayside, a house they had purchased from Bronson Alcott. Nathaniel was in poor health and died on May 19, 1864, while on a rafting trip with Franklin Pierce.
At the urging of the publisher James Fields and to relieve financial problems, Sophia agreed to edit her husband’s notebooks in 1866. She published excerpts in The Atlantic Monthly and then edited them as books. In 1868, she moved the family to Dresden where her sister Elizabeth had located inexpensive housing and then in 1870 to London. She published her own notebooks on England and Italy in 1869; this 549-page work is composed of letters written in England and Scotland during her five years there and extracts from her Italian journal. Although she spent less than a year and a half in Italy, the journal is longer because it is filled with descriptions of her first visits to great works of art.
Sophia died of typhoid pneumonia on February 26, 1871, and was buried in Kensal Green. Most of her papers are preserved in the Berg Collection at the New York Public Library, Pierpont Morgan Library, and Boston Public Library.