"The Patter of Little Feet": A Longfellow Childhood (U.S. National Park Service)

The Children Hour Christmas Card — “The Children’s Hour” (1859) is Longfellow’s best-known poem about children. The famous scene in which his three daughters surprise him in his study resonated with many in its heartwarming depiction of childhood play. It was so well received by the public that it was commonly taught in schools, set to music, and featured in commercial offerings such as this 1883 Christmas card.

A grouping of six photographic portraits depicting Henry Longfellow's six children. The images are sepia toned. — From top left to right, clockwise: Charles Appleton Longfellow, Anne Allegra Longfellow, Alice Marie Longfellow, Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow, Baby Fan Longfellow, and Edith Longfellow.

Henry and Fanny Longfellow had six children, all born in the 1840s and 1850s: Charles (Charley), Annie, Alice, Ernest (Erny), baby Fan, and Edith (Edie).

The idea of childhood as a distinct phase of life emerged in this period, leading to a wealth of clothes, books, and other items designed specifically for children. That societal development is reflected in eight-year-old Alice’s poem: “Childhood is a happy time / O enjoy it when you have it.”

As the children of wealthy parents, the Longfellows benefited from a great deal of privilege. They enjoyed a quality education, leisure time, the opportunity to travel, and the finest clothes and toys money could buy. A live-in nurse assisted with their daily care and early education.

Despite the advantages of their birth, they also faced challenges - including adhering to social expectations (especially as the children of a famous parent), illness, tragedy, and common childhood struggles with schoolwork, discipline, and sibling rivalries.

The Longfellow children led lives as partially public figures. Henry Longfellow drew on his children for inspiration, incorporating their actions and names in his poetry. In the public eye, these children came to epitomize an ideal of childhood and family life.

A paper doll with a separate detachable dress. — Paper Doll, about 1868

Dolls, Toys, and Play

In 1861, Fanny wrote that her daughters “live over every phase of married life with their dolls.”

References in family journals and letters describe doll parties and even a Christmas tree for the dolls. Baby dolls became popular during this period, partially to foster motherly instincts. With their dolls, the Longfellow girls imagined and acted out expectations for their future.

This paper doll, with a separate, detachable dress, was likely home made. Edith wrote of making paper dolls for a young neighbor “...I used to make him paper dolls which he is very fond of and so I have sent him down some of our old ones.”

A toy featuring a man with a top hat pulling a wheelbarrow holding a barrel of buttermilk — Fanny described this 1848 Christmas gift to Erny, age 3, as “a man walking selling buttermilk in a barrel.”

Advancements in toys:

Technological advances and increased leisure time contributed to a mid-1800s toy-making boom. Simple figurines, mechanical toys with moving parts, games, and puzzles were all popular playthings.

Manufactured in Germany, this wooden toy has a mechanism to move the man’s legs as the cart is rolled along on its wheels. Though surviving examples such as this are among the more expensive toys from the era, the Longfellow children regularly played with classic toys like blocks, lead figures cast by their father, and simple dolls fashioned by their mother.

A paper mâché box in the shape of a duck holds a pink dinner doll set, featuring small wooden plates, bowls, tureen, and candlesticks — Doll Dishes and Box, 1859.

Family friend Charles Norton gave this dinner set to eight-year-old Alice in the duck-shaped papier-mâché box. The luxurious toy from French retailer A. Giroux includes hand-painted wooden plates, bowls, tureen, and even candlesticks.

Creative expression, inspired by home

The Longfellows encouraged their children’s artistic pursuits. Lessons in drawing were part of their education, and Henry drew with his children for fun.

Erny’s mid-1850s drawing with watercolor (below) shows accurate details such as the house’s chimneys and front door paneling. Especially charming are the three children, perhaps Erny’s sisters, peering out of a second-story window.

A childrens watercolor drawing of the Longfellow home. The large yellow house features 2 chimneys, green shutters, and front door panels. Three children look out from a second story window, and 2 adults stand outside the front of the house — The children’s art illustrates scenes from their lives, including images of their home and its environs, family members, and leisure activities.

A portrait of Fanny Longfellow drawn by one of her children

Mama by Edie, 1860

Seven-year-old Edith may have drawn this portrait of Fanny while the whole family suffered from influenza in December of 1860. Portraits of family members were a popular subject for the children.

A simple pencil sketch of doors and windows drawn by a child

Annie's First Lesson, 1860

Henry collected many of the children’s efforts, often annotating them, noting the artist and date, and occasionally providing an editorial comment.

Labeled by Henry as “Annie’s first lesson in drawing - April 13, 1860,” four-year-old Annie attempted simple sketches of doors and windows. Henry likely kept this more as a memento of the occasion, as opposed to any artistic quality.

Education in Boston & Cambridge

Thomas Bradford's School:
After early education in Cambridge, Charley and Erny attended a private boys school in Boston from 1857 to 1860. Their weekly reports are good, with one Latin note exclaiming “Quam optime Baeclare!” (How very bright!).

Two weekly report cards annotating the learning progress of Charley and Erny

Fanny reported that at 13, Erny won a prize and “begins to like Latin better.” He later remembered that he “could never see the good of learning” Latin or Greek, though he always excelled at mathematics.

A photographic group portrait of a teacher with her 7 students — Miss Davie with her students

Miss Davie's School:
In 1859, English governess Hannah Davie established a school for the Longfellow girls and neighbors, using a front bedroom as her classroom.

Fanny wrote, “We have a nice little school in the house... & Henry teaches the half dozen French.” Miss Davie would teach this school through 1867, with several gaps.

Alice’s 1859 gradebook and Annie’s later list of lessons indicate they studied reading, writing, composition, spelling, arithmetic (written and mental), French, Latin, poetry, geography, natural history, dictation, and drawing.

A black and brown ink dip pen, with a round piece of fabric used to wipe excess ink

Penmanship & Composition:
The children practiced letter and word formation in copy books, often pre-printed with words. They wrote with dip pens and cleaned excess ink on pen wipers, such as this set likely used by Annie.

Three pieces of paper showing Annie's progress in writing letters, and later on, writing essays — Annie’s papers show her growth as Miss Davie’s student, from early letter formation at age four, to her first short story at age six, to a later undated essay on French history.

Books

A major market for children’s books emerged during the Victorian era. While morality tales continued to be prevalent, fantasy stories and fairy tales became extremely popular as well.

Fanny recalled her boys “liked always stories of simple truth, without being spiced with horrors or with fairy fancy...” Books were vital to the Longfellows as a literary family. Henry and Fanny read aloud to their children regularly and often gave inscribed books as gifts.

Pleasure Books for Young Children
Joseph Cundall collected and edited the tales in this 1849 book, given to four-year-old Erny for Christmas. This version of “The Three Bears” was the first to make the female protagonist a young girl, named “Silver-hair” in this iteration—Goldilocks would not appear for another half-century.

The Fairy Ring, 1849
In this translation of the Brothers Grimm’s collected fairy tales, editor James Edward Taylor reduced violence and adult references to make the tales more palatable to a Victorian audience. The book was a gift from Henry to Charley, then five.

"To A Child" Manuscript Copy — The most quoted stanza, copied here in an 1875 manuscript, calls George Washington, a previous resident of the house, the “Father of our Country.”

Poetry

For Henry Longfellow, his children were a key source of inspiration. His writing drew upon their activities, thoughts, and emotions. Many of these poems, though inspired by or depicting his children, were not intended for child readers. Dealing with weighty issues such as parenthood, memory, innocence, and grief, these poems are intended for a mature audience.

Longfellow’s 1845 poem “To A Child” contemplates his own hopes and fears for his one-year-old son Charley. The poem addresses Charley and uses the Longfellow home as context, referencing the staircase and colonial tiles around a fireplace.

Pencil stub with note describing what poems the pencil was written with.

Longfellow saved the stubs of pencils with which he composed many of his poems. The note accompanying this pencil reveals it was used to write “To my Children” and “Resignation,” a poem fueled by Henry’s grief at the death of his daughter, baby Fan.

Baby Fan

Born April 7, 1847, the third Longfellow child was named Fanny, after her mother. Described a month after her birth by her mother as “charming as these fresh Spring days,” baby Fan had a brief life, dying at 17 months old.

Baby Fan, described as “of most exploring disposition,” wore her first shoes at 10 months old. Her mother recorded baby Fan was walking “quite famously” by April, and marked the milestone by saving the shoes with an identifying note.

Her death was a heavy blow to her parents. Two months after her passing Henry wrote in his journal “I feel very sad today. I miss very much my dear little Fanny.”

An open journal, with handwritten anecdotes of activities of the day.

Fanny kept a daily record of her three “chicks” in this journal. On the week of April 3, she marked baby Fan’s first birthday, vaccination, and progress walking, along with anecdotes of her brothers, ages two and three.

Victorians wore mourning jewelry to commemorate a loved one, often featuring hair of the deceased. This pin incorporates locks from baby Fan and her grandfather, Stephen Longfellow, and is inscribed with their 1848 and 1849 death dates.

Children's Clothing

Longfellow children wore both imported and domestic clothing. As the boys grew older Henry often took them clothes shopping in Boston. The children wore hand-me-downs and gifts of clothing both handmade and bought. Fanny complained that their clothes “wear out fast” and that “the stitches are many to be taken every Spring & Autumn,” which she herself did, “as my fingers can testify.”

Children's Dress in front of a background featuring numerous, colorful fabric swatches. — Fanny Longfellow saved and annotated fabric snippets from her children’s clothing. A green polka dot fragment on the top row – labeled “1847 Erny’s gown, worn by F.” – appears to match this child’s dress saved by the family. Young boys and girls both wore dresses, and this one appears to have been worn by Erny, and later his sister Fan, at about one year old.

An image of a green wool jacket in front of a photograph of children, one child is wearing the jacket — The Longfellow children and their cousins. Left to right: Erny, Charley, Eva M., Alice, Angus M.

This collarless green wool jacket has a linen and silk lining, green rick rack trim, and brass buttons. In an 1853 photograph, Charley, second from left, is wearing the jacket with his siblings and their Mackintosh cousins.

Learn more about the individuals

Charles Longfellow

The Longfellow's eldest son would later serve in the Civil War and travel the world.
Alice Longfellow

The Longfellow's eldest daughter would become a strong advocate for women's education and historic preservation.
Ernest Longfellow

The Longfellow's second son continued to pursue his love of drawing, training as an artist and eventually opening his own studio.
Edith Longfellow

The Longfellow's middle daughter would eventually marry and have her own large family, becoming a devoted mother to six children.
Anne Allegra Longfellow

The youngest Longfellow child would grow up to support multiple causes, namely access to equitable education.