Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton (August 1759 – May 14, 1846) was an American poet.[1]
Early life
Sarah was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in August 1759. She was the third of ten children born to James Apthorp (1731–1799), a merchant and slave-trader,[2] and Sarah Wentworth (1735–1820), whose family owned Wentworth Manor in Yorkshire.[3]
Her father was one of eighteen children born to her paternal grandparents, Charles Apthorp (1698–1758), a British-born merchant in 18th-century Boston, and Grizzelle (née Eastwicke) Apthorp (1709–1796). Her maternal grandfather was Samuel Wentworth (1708–1766), also a Boston merchant, and his father was John Wentworth (1671–1730), the colonial lieutenant governor of New Hampshire who lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[4]
Writing
In 1792, she wrote an anti-slavery poem entitled The African Chief, which was, in fact, an elegy on a slain African at St. Domingo in 1791.[5]
In 1796, Sarah and her husband, Perez, moved to Dorchester. From an early age, Sarah had written poetry, but until 1788 her works only circulated among her friends. She began publishing under the pen name Philenia, and her first book was printed in 1790. Her work was widely acclaimed, with Robert Treat Paine, Jr., in the Massachusetts Magazine dubbing her the "American Sappho".[5]
At one time she was thought to be the author of The Power of Sympathy (1789), widely considered to be the first American novel,[6] but that has since been attributed to fellow Bostonian William Hill Brown.[7]
In the mid-1780s, Sarah's younger sister Frances Apthorp (1766–1788), or Fanny as she was known, came to live with her and her family. Reportedly, Fanny was seduced by, or fell in love with, Sarah's husband Perez. Fanny gave birth to his child in 1787 or 1788, after which their father threatened to confront Perez. Hoping to avoid a scandal and public disgrace, Fanny persuaded her father to desist.[5] Once the affair became public anyway, Fanny committed suicide by taking an overdose of laudanum.[7] Fanny left a suicide note proclaiming her "guilty innocence" that was published in newspapers shortly after her death.[7]
In January 1789 Sarah's brother Charles Apthorp challenged Perez Morton to a duel. The two men met to duel, but the sheriff prevented the illegal encounter.[7] The Mortons' marriage deteriorated, but the couple later reconciled.[5] In spite of this reconciliation, fifteen years later Sarah had an affair with founding father Gouverneur Morris.[14]
^Oliver, Andrew and James Bishop Peabody, eds. The Records of Trinity Church, Boston, 1728–1830. Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. Collections 56 (1982).