Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sophia Peabody
Author of The Scarlet Letter's Courtship and Marriage
Nov 5, 2009
No one thought of pretty, delicate Sophia as a match for the shy and handsome neighbour, author Nathaniel Hawthorne. But against all odds they met and fell in love.
Nathaniel Hawthorne — The Recluse of Herbert Street
Nathaniel Hawthorne was by nature a reserved and retiring man. He came by this naturally, as his entire family was rather reclusive. His mother shut herself off after the death of Nathaniel’s father, a sea captain, and seldom left her room.
After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1825, Hawthorne returned home to Salem, where he spent most of the next twelve years sequestered in an upstairs room on Herbert Street. He lived with his mother and sisters, who also led very quiet lives. To say that Hawthorne was a total recluse would be misleading. He had left college happy and well-adjusted and in the following years appeared to be at a crossroads. He did socialize a bit in the community, but his strongest desire was to concentrate on his writing. He focused most of his time and energy on that solitary endeavor.
His secluded lifestyle led to bouts of severe depression. After the publication of his first short stories, Hawthorne began to come out from his self-imposed isolation. Sophia’s sister Elizabeth befriended the emerging author, and this marked the beginning of Nathaniel’s friendship with the Peabody family.
Sophia Peabody — The Invalid of Charter Street
Sophia had started live as a lively, precocious girl, but she had always been plagued by severe headaches that sometimes left her bedridden. She sought relief through hypnosis, morphine, arsenic, and leeches. It is believed her mother encouraged her illness because she wanted a dependent daughter at home. It has been speculated that her symptoms may have been at least partly psychosomatic.
As Nathaniel became a frequent visitor to the house, the two secretly fell in love, but realized obstacles stood in their way. Nathaniel was not financially secure, and Sophia’s health condition prompted her sister Elizabeth to write a cautionary letter to Nathaniel telling him that Sophia was an invalid who would never be strong enough to marry.
Marriage of Sophia and Nathaniel
Soon, Sophia was faced with a choice — she could remain a pampered invalid or take a great risk and marry Nathaniel Hawthorne. She chose to marry. Though her overly-protective mother predicted disaster, Sophie’s health improved once she left home.
The two moved to Concord, where they rented the Old Manse. Sophia continued to thrive, even when her strength was tested by a miscarriage. Though the marriage was not without worries — mostly financial ones — the couple led a very contented life together. Nathaniel referred to her as “his Dove”. The couple went on to have three children. During their marriage, Nathaniel wrote his most famous works including The Scarlet Letter (1850), The House of the Seven Gables (1851), and The Blithedale Romance (1852). The couple lived in several different locations, their last home being The Wayside in Concord.
In 1864, Hawthorne died while on a trip with Franklin Pierce in New Hampshire. He was buried in Concord. Sophia moved to Europe, where she spent her remaining days editing her beloved husband’s journals. She died at the age of 61, and was buried in London in 1871.
Though the two are buried oceans apart, people come to Salem to pay homage to the couple whose romance defied all odds by visiting the town where they met.
Sources:
Gaeddert, Louann, A New England Love Story, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sophia Peabody, New York, NY. The Dial Press,1980.
ISBN 0803761538
Read More:
Nathaniel Hawthorne: American Master of Symbolism and Allegory
Jane Austen's Real Life Romances
The Ghosts in the Stories of Henry James
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