 Longfellow met Boston industrialist Nathan Appleton and his family , including his son Thomas Gold Appleton , in the town of Thun , Switzerland . There , he began courting Appleton 's daughter , Frances " Fanny " Appleton . At first , the independent @-@ minded Appleton was not interested in marriage but Longfellow was determined . In July 1839 , he wrote to a friend : " [ V ] ictory hangs doubtful . The lady says she will not ! I say she shall ! It is not pride , but the madness of passion " . His friend George Stillman Hillard encouraged Longfellow in the pursuit : " I delight to see you keeping up so stout a heart for the resolve to conquer is half the battle in love as well as war " . During the courtship , Longfellow frequently walked from Cambridge to the Appleton home in Beacon Hill in Boston by crossing the Boston Bridge . That bridge was replaced in 1906 by a new bridge which was later renamed the Longfellow Bridge . 
