Hawthorne family.

Sophia Amelia Peabody Hawthorne was the wife of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the mother of Una (1844-1877), Julian (1846-1934), and Rose (1851-1926). An invalid before her marriage in 1842, Sophia used her talent for drawing to contribute to her family's precarious finances. Hers was a family of strong, intellectually curious women whose written and artistic expression reflects the sometimes pious sentimentality of the age. As a young woman Sophia took an active part in the cultural life of Salem, working hard at drawing; studying Hebrew, German, Greek, Latin, French, and Italian; admiring the ideas of Emerson and Channing (and conjuring with those of Alcott and Thoreau); discussing Carlyle's writings; and enthusiastically reading the historical romances of Scott. She embraced the philosophy of the Transcendentalists, although later she would dismiss their ideas as "transcendental slang...full of such immoderate dicta." After 1842, Sophia dedicated her energies to maintaining the physical, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional comfort of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and to raising their children. Their son, Julian, wrote that his mother "lived for her husband; and when he died, her love of life died also; but her children remained, and she stayed in this world for their sake." A prolific novelist, essayist, and journalist, Julian Hawthorne wrote the biography of his parents' marriage. His younger sister, Rose, after a long and finally unsuccessful marriage, founded a religious community which is still extant. Rose spent the last third of her life caring for those who were terminally ill and indigent.