The New International Encyclopædia/Appleton, Nathan

APPLETON, Nathan (1779-1861). An American merchant, born at New Ipswich, N. H. He was in partnership with his brother Samuel in Boston. With others, he started the first power-loom for weaving cotton in the United States. He was one of the Merrimac Company whose enterprise founded the city of Lowell (q.v.). He served several terms in the Massachusetts Legislature; in 1830 and in 1842 he was a member of Congress, where he was one of the prominent advocates of a tariff for protection.