Hawthorne, Sophia Peabody (1809–1871)

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Hawthorne, Sophia Peabody (1809–1871)

American, one of the famous Peabody sisters, who edited her husband Nathaniel Hawthorne's notebooks for publication after his death. Born Sophia Amelia Peabody in Salem, Massachusetts, on September 21, 1809; died in London, England, of typhoid pneumonia in February 1871; daughter of Nathaniel Peabody (a dentist) and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1778–1853, a teacher and writer); sister of Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1804–1894) and Mary Peabody Mann (1806–1887, wife of Horace Mann); married Nathaniel Hawthorne (the novelist), in July 1842 (died 1864); children: Julian Hawthorne (b. 1846); Una Hawthorne (b. 1844); Rose Hawthorne Lathrop (1851–1926).

Born in 1809, Sophia Peabody was the youngest of three extraordinary daughters of Nathaniel Peabody, a dentist and homeopath from Salem and Boston, and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1778–1853), a teacher and writer. Her sisters were Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1804–1894) and Mary Peabody Mann (1806–1887). Sophia passed most of her youth as an invalid, suffering from piercing headaches which childhood surgery did nothing to alleviate. Spending most of her time alone in her room, Sophia, who remained cheerful and docile in the face of her adversities, studied art and languages diligently, learning to read Plato in Greek and the Old Testament in Hebrew. For a while during the early 1830s, she supported herself as a painter, doing portraits or copying masterpieces, but a severe illness forced her to break off this work and take a long convalescent trip to Cuba in 1834 with her sister Mary. Sophia enjoyed the heat: "When it is ninety-eight degrees, then I am comfortable."

The author Nathaniel Hawthorne was first friendly with Sophia's gregarious older sister Elizabeth, who admired his writings. But after he met Sophia in 1838, the two quickly fell in love and secretly became engaged. The Peabodys knew many of the leading figures of Boston literary society, including Bronson Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and, before meeting Hawthorne, Sophia had written of Emerson: "I think Mr. Emerson is the greatest man that ever lived.…He is indeed a 'Supernal Vision.'" Though Sophia and Nathaniel remained engaged, they separated for four years while he worked in the Boston custom house and saved his money; both had resolved to wait until her health improved before marrying. Their long separation gave rise to an eloquent and now famous series of love letters from both sides.

In 1842, Sophia married Nathaniel, whom she described as "the angel of the Apocalypse, so powerful and gentle," and they went to live at the Old Manse in Concord, taking great joy in each other's company. For the first year of their marriage, they even kept a joint diary. After a miscarriage, Sophia gave birth twice in Concord, first to Una (1844) then to Julian (1846).

Nathaniel hated the idea that his "angel" should do any housework and, when they were too poor to afford a servant, he did the cooking and kitchen work. Finally, he bowed to financial necessity and went back to work as a customs inspector, this time in Salem. While there, and with her urging, he finished his novel, The Scarlet Letter. On first reading, Sophia was so upset by its ending that she developed a severe headache and went to bed in tears. Hawthorne, though concerned, saw this reaction as a good omen for the book's success. Indeed, the work relieved some of their financial worries, and they moved to Lenox in the Berkshires, where their daughter Rose Hawthorne (Lathrop) was born in 1851. Herman Melville, who lived nearby, claimed that Sophia Hawthorne was one of the few readers ever to fully appreciate his masterpiece Moby Dick.

The Hawthornes prospered in the 1850s, first in Liverpool and later in London, Paris, Florence, and Rome. In Italy in the late 1850s, they befriended Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and joined them at spiritualist seances, which Sophia entered into eagerly while Nathaniel remained suspicious. Sophia continued to suffer in cold climates and took cures in Portugal and Italy, where the family spent much of 1858 and 1859. They were back in America at the onset of the Civil War.

When Nathaniel Hawthorne died in 1864, the heartbroken Sophia edited his notebooks for publication, but made extensive cuts, excluding intimate details about their personal lives, strong language, and references to Nathaniel's many aversions. She took her family

back to Europe after the Civil War and died of pneumonia in London, just before Rose Hawthorne's 1871 wedding.