The Biographical Dictionary of America/Appleton, Thomas Gold

APPLETON, Thomas Gold, author, was born in Boston, Mass., March 31, 1812, son of Nathan and Maria (Gold) Appleton. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1831, after which he spent many years in foreign travel. He was a noted connoisseur and a liberal patron of the arts, his gifts to the Boston and Cambridge museums and the Boston public library being especially munificent. His water-color sketches of scenes on the river Nile prove him an artist of talent, while his writings, in both prose and verse, are characterized by a graceful ease and elegance of style that lends a charm even to their charming subjects. A list of his publications includes: "A Sheaf of Papers" (1874); "A Nile Journal," illustrated by Engene Benson (1876); "Syrian Sunshine" (1877); "Windfalls" (1878); and "Chequer Work," a volume of tales and essays (1879). His "Life and Letters," prepared by Susan Hale, was published in 1885. He died in New York, April 17, 1884.