This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Celia Laighton Thaxter, poet, painter and china decorator, was born
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and was raised on Appledore, White Island
of the Isles of Shoal, ten miles from the place where her father,
Thomas Laighton, was keeper of the lighthouse. She was a
lonely child as few people were around. The rugged natural beauty
of the islands
inspired her popular poetry and painting during the nineteenth century.
In
1852 when Celia Laighton was sixteen, she married Levi Thaxter, a
Harvard graduate who was eleven years older than she and who had served as a
tudor for her and her siblings while he pursued a planning project to
build a hotel with her father on Appledore Island. Levi was the most educated
person Celia had met, and she was more than willing to commit herself
to his companionship. The marriage took place on the Isle
in the Appledore House Hotel, the successful project of her husband and father.
The couple had three
sons early in their marriage, which was never a very satisfactory
relationship for either
of them because of their disparate goals, especially disagreements
about where they
would live. She loved the place where she had been raised,
but he
wanted to move to Newtonville, Massachusetts, which they did and which
caused her much unhappiness and led to her returning home frequently
with her children. The couple vied for the attention of their
sons, with her focusing on the oldest, Karl, who had nearly died at
birth when she was seventeen, and with Levi spending much time with
the two younger boys on trips to collect bird and animal specimen's for
museums.
In Newtonville, she wrote a poem, Land Locked, about her
frustration with her life of household chores and being away from her
parents and brothers. Her husband found the poem, and sent it to
his friend
James Russell Lowell, editor of The Atlantic Magazine, who
published it. She received immediate adulation and for public
circulation continued to write about the wonders of the natural
world. One of her poems, Little Sandpiper and I, was popular with children.
The attention she received for her writing brought many interesting
people into her life, and she entertained them at The Appledore House
that she helped manage with her family. The Appledore House,
known for its extensive flower
gardens, slept three-hundred persons and hosted such
noted figures as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Childe Hassam, Richard
Henry Dana, William Morris Hunt, Annie Fields and Franklin Pierce
before he was elected President of the United States.
"And while the praise
of her poetry has faded her paintings are still enjoyed and praised
today." (Mayor) Laighton Thaxter painted translucent and minutely detailed
flowers over the type in her volumes of poetry. She found great
success in the nineteenth century art of china painting.
In addition to poetry writing, Celia painted flowers, olives branches, poppies and seaweed on
Wedgwood and Haviland vases, dishes and tiles. She always signed
her well-known name and enjoyed much success in this enterprise.
When her mother died in 1877, Celia had great difficulty recovering
from her sadness. She and her son, Karl, had spent many months
helping the woman when she was dying. Three years later, the
Thaxters built a home at Kittery Point, Maine, which had a good view of
the Isles of Shoals. Their farm, Champernowne", has remained in
the family ever since.
Celia Thaxter died at the age of fifty nine at Appledore during a
summer visit. She was buried with her wish of having flowers
heaped upon her coffin.
Source:
Alfred Mayor, "Books About Antiques", The Magazine Antiques, May 2002
Olive Tardiff, "Celia Laighton Thaxter", They Paved the Way-A History of New Hampshire Women, http://seacoastnh.com/women/thaxter.html
|
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|