James Apthorp (1731-1799)

He was born at Boston, Massachusetts, and became a partner in his father's firm, Charles Apthorp & Sons, that imported all descriptions of luxury goods, and slaves. He lived in Boston at 74 State Street in the large red brick mansion seen in the bottom right of the picture above. In 1755, he married Sarah Wentworth, grand-daughter of the Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire. They had ten children, most notably the writer and poet dubbed the "American Sappho" Sarah Wentworth Morton. By 1770, they had moved to Braintree where their youngest three children were born.