Author: Lathrop, John
Biography:
LATHROP, John (1772-1820: ancestry.com)
He was born in Boston, the son of an eminent clergyman--also John Lathrop--and his wife Mary (Wheatley) Lathrop. He graduated from Harvard in 1789, read law, and practised in Boston and in Dedham MA. But he had literary ambitions. He seems to have been publishing verse in newspapers and periodicals from his student years. In 1792, on the occasion of his receiving the AM from Harvard, he composed and read the Commencement poem. In 1796 he edited a short-lived literary magazine, The Nightingale. He married Jane Pierce in 1793, but she died in 1800. Lathrop went to Calcutta where he was employed as a teacher and writer. In India he is said to have made two further marriages, to Jane Thompson about 1801 and to Grace Eleanor Harrison about 1808, but information is scanty. All three marriages produced children--at least ten altogether--but several of them died before reaching maturity. After his return to the US in 1809 Lathrop lived in Boston and in Georgetown (where he died in February. 1820), earning a living by teaching school, lecturing on natural philosophy, and publishing occasional poetry and speeches. To distinguish himself from his father (1740-1816), he sometimes identified himself as "John Lathrop, Jun." (ancestry.com 14 Sept. 2025; Lewis Leary, "John Lathrop, Jr.: The Quiet Poet of Federalist Boston" [1981]; DAB; Appleton; Columbian Centinel [Boston] 9 Feb. 1820) HJ
Other Names:
- J. Lathrop, Jr.