He was born in 1807 in Massachusetts and was educated at Bowdain and Harvard, after spending time in Europe. His first marriage to Mary Potter ended after four years when she died following a miscarriage.
He met the Appleton family in Switzerland and began courting the daughter Frances (known as Fanny). Fanny was an independent woman and not inclined towards marriage but Henry persisted. In July 1839, he wrote to a friend: "Victory hangs doubtful. The lady says she will not! I say she shall! It is not pride, but the madness of passion". He continued his courtship back in America, walking the route from his home to the Appletons Beacon Hill home across a bridge that was later renamed Longfellow Bridge. Fanny continued to hold out.
Finally, after seven years of courting, in 1843, Henry received a letter from Fanny saying she was willing to marry him. He immediately began the ninety minute walk to her home. They were married shortly afterwards and presented with Craigie House as a wedding gift from Fanny's father. Henry stayed in the house for the remainder of his life.
Henry's only love poem was a tribute to his wife. "O my beloved, my sweet! My morning Hesperus and my evening star of love." His love for Fanny shone through his whole life. He once commented on attending an affair without her "The lights seemed dimmer, the music sadder, the flowers fewer, and the women less fair."
They had six children and lived a happy marriage, but one day tragedy struck. In 1861 Fanny was using hot sealing wax to close some memento envelopes when her dress caught fire from possibly the wax or a candle. Longfellow, who had been napping, heard her cries and ran to her, throwing a rug over her to stop the fire. It was too small and he was too late. She suffered massive buns and died the next day.
Longfellow too, was burned from his attempts to save her. His face was scarred so that he began to wear the beard we all recognize from his pictures.
After Fanny's death, Longfellow had difficulty focusing and gave up writing poetry to concentrate on translation. He relied on laudanum for pain and feared he would descend into madness. He described himself as" inwardly bleeding to death." Eighteen years later he wrote the poem The Cross of Snow to commemorate Fannie's death and his grief.
Such is the cross I wear upon my breast
These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes
And seasons, changeless since the day she died.
Henry never fully recovered. He became a recluse, rarely leaving home. He died in 1882 from peritonitis.
He is buried in Cambridge beside Fanny and his first wife Mary.