John Hathorne (August 1641 – May 10, 1717) was a merchant and magistrate of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as th ...

and

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the ...

. He is best known for his early and vocal role as one of the leading judges in the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...

. Hathorne was absent from the list of men appointed to the Court of Oyer & Terminer in June 1692. That court relied heavily on the

spectral evidence Spectral evidence is a form of legal evidence based upon the testimony of those who claim to have experienced visions. Such testimony was frequently given during the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries. The alleged victims of witchcraft w ...

, examinations, interrogations, and affidavits previously conducted by Hathorne, co-signed by

Jonathan Corwin Jonathan Corwin (also Curwin or Corwen, November 14, 1640 – June 9, 1718) was a New England merchant, politician, and magistrate. He is best known as one of the judges involved in the Salem witch trials of 1692, although his later work als ...

, and recorded by Rev. Samuel Parris and/or Ezekiel Cheever Jr. On September 22, 1692, the date of the final eight executions, Hathorne was present at a meeting
Sewall Diary
with Stoughton and Cotton Mather to discuss using court records in a new publication designed to promote the trials. Unlike Samuel Sewall, Hathorne is not known to have repented for his actions. He was a

patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...

ancestor of writer

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

Life

Hathorne's father, Major

William Hathorne William Hathorne (–1681) was a widely influential man in early New England. He arrived on the ship Arbella.Anderson, Robert, ''The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633,'' Entry for William Hathorne, New England Hist ...

, was among the early settlers of the

in the 1630s and held a number of military and political positions for several decades. John was born in Salem in August 1641; his father's surviving records give the date as August 4, but the records of the First Church of Salem indicate he was baptized on August 2. John married in Salem, March 22, 1674/5, Ruth Gardner, granddaughter of " Old Planter" Thomas Gardner, a settler of Salem who arrived as part of colonization efforts funded by the

Dorchester Company The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as th ...

in 1625. Hathorne expanded on the successes of his father in building a small empire based on land and merchant trade to England and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

. In addition to lands in the Salem area he also had interests in the lands of what is now

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...

. He assumed positions of authority in the town, and was appointed a justice of the peace of Essex County, and served as a member of the colony's council of assistants (a combination of legislative upper house and high court). In this role he was called on to mediate disputes in the county's towns, including Salem Village (present-day Danvers).

Salem interrogations and trials

When in early 1692 accusations of

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have ...

began to circulate in Salem Village, Hathorne and magistrate

were called upon to question both accusers and accused to determine if there was cause for a trial; they were eventually joined in this task by officials from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, including Deputy Governor

Thomas Danforth Thomas Danforth (baptized November 20, 1623 – November 5, 1699) was a politician, magistrate, and landowner in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A conservative Puritan, he served for many years as one of the colony's councilors and magistrates, ...

. Hathorne's questioning of a number of individuals was characterized at the time as somewhat harsh. Historical and fictional accounts of the trials often depict him as convinced that the accused were guilty. He is noted for his questioning of Rebecca Nurse and Bridget Bishop: :Bishop : I am no witch :Hathorne : Why if you have not wrote in the book, yet tell me how far you have gone? :Bishop : I have no familiarity with the devil. :Hathorne : How is it then, that your appearance doth hurt these? :Bishop : I am innocent. :Hathorne : Why you seem to act witchcraft before us by the motion of your body which seems to have influence upon the afflicted. :Bishop : I know nothing of it. I am innocent to a witch. I know not what a witch is. :Hathorne : How do you know then that you are not a witch? :Bishop : I do not know what you say. :Hathorne : How can you know, you are no witch, and yet not know what a witch is? :Bishop : I am clear... :--Records of Salem witchcraft, copied from the original documents by Woodward, William Eliot, 1864 When the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer was established in May 1692, Governor Sir

William Phips Sir William Phips (or Phipps; February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695) was born in Maine in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was of humble origin, uneducated, and fatherless from a young age but rapidly advanced from shepherd boy, to shipwright, s ...

did not appoint Hathorne to the panel, which was headed by Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton. This panel heard trials in which 19 were convicted and executed for witchcraft. The special court was replaced in 1693 by the Superior Court of Judicature, on which Hathorne was not immediately seated; it cleared most of the accused it tried of any wrongdoing, and the few convictions it handed down were vacated by Governor Phips.

Later years

Later in the 1690s Hathorne followed in his father's military footsteps and became more involved in the colonial military activities of

King William's War King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand Alli ...

, leading forces in the 1696 Siege of Fort Nashwaak (present-day

Fredericton, New Brunswick Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

). He continued to be active in the colonial militia, and was promoted to colonel in 1711. He was also finally appointed to the Superior Court by Governor

Joseph Dudley Joseph Dudley (September 23, 1647 – April 2, 1720) was a colonial administrator, a native of Roxbury in Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the son of one of its founders. He had a leading role in the administration of the Dominion of New England ...

, a seat he held until 1711. He died in Salem in 1717, and is interred in the Old Burying Point Cemetery along with a number of his descendants. The inscription on his tombstone reads: “Here lyes interd ye body of Colo John Hathorne Esqr Aged 76 years Who Died May ye 10th 1717.” The tombstone has been placed in a granite block to help preserve it. Judge John Hathorne Tombstone

Nathaniel Hawthorne

John was the great-great-grandfather of

(born "Hathorne"), author of many works, including ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne ...

'' and ''

The House of the Seven Gables ''The House of the Seven Gables: A Romance'' is a Gothic novel written beginning in mid-1850 by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in April 1851 by Ticknor and Fields of Boston. The novel follows a New England family and their an ...

''. The latter work, set in Salem, contains allusions to the witch trials in its history of the house. Hawthorne was somewhat distressed and deeply ashamed at his ancestor's lack of remorse over the trials. Nathaniel may have adopted the "Hawthorne" spelling in an effort to dissociate himself from the judge.

In popular culture

Hathorne is featured in

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

's play ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as ...

'' (and its film adaptations).

Robert Breuler Robert Breuler is an American stage actor, primarily known as a longtime ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, in Chicago, Illinois, where he won a Joseph Jefferson Award for his role as a Russian negotiator in '' A Walk in the Woo ...

portrays him in

The Crucible (1996 film) ''The Crucible'' is a 1996 American historical drama film directed by Nicholas Hytner and written by Arthur Miller, based on his 1953 play of the same title. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis as John Proctor, Winona Ryder as Abigail Williams, Paul Sco ...

. Hathorne is the judge appointed by Satan at the trial in

Stephen Vincent Benét Stephen Vincent Benét (; July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, '' John Brown's Body'' (1928), for which he receiv ...

's story "

The Devil and Daniel Webster "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1936) is a short story by American writer Stephen Vincent Benét. He tells of a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the devil and is later defended by Daniel Webster, a fictional version of the noted 19th-c ...

", where he is described as "a tall man, soberly clad in

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

garb, with the burning gaze of the

fanatic FANatic is an American TV show created by Ed Connolly and produced by Executive Producers Deborah Norton and Ed Connolly of Norton Connolly Productions, that was shown on the MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an Am ...

." In the 1941 film version, he was portrayed by H.B. Warner. In

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely trans ...

's play '' Giles Corey of the Salem Farms'', Hathorne is shown debating

Cotton Mather Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, in 1685 he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meeting H ...

on the nature of witchcraft and presiding over hearings in which Giles Corey refuses to enter a plea (in both the real trial and Longfellow's work, Corey was crushed to death for this refusal). The horror film '' The Lords of Salem'' features a witch-hunting reverend named John Hawthorne.

Life

Salem interrogations and trials

Later years

Nathaniel Hawthorne

In popular culture

References

Further reading