Brigadier General James Appleton (February 14, 1785 – August 25, 1862)[1] was an American abolitionist, early supporter of temperance, and politician from Maine.

[2] In 1813 and 1814, at the age of 28, Appleton, a practicing lawyer, was elected to represent Gloucester as a Federalist to the Massachusetts legislature where he was an outspoken critic of the Missouri Compromise.

Together, they were the parents of:[12][3] He lived in Portland from 1833 until 1853 when his elder brother, Timothy Appleton, called him to help manage the family farm in Ipswich.

[2][3] Through his son, Daniel, he was the grandfather of 36 including Francis Randall Appleton, a noted New York society man during the Gilded Age.

The Woman's Relief Corps gave a marker on Ipswich's North Green, named in honor of Appleton and in memory of the unknown soldiers and sailors of the Civil War.