John Hathorne

John Hathorne
Born	August 1641 Salem, Massachusetts Bay
Died	May 10, 1717(1717-05-10) (aged 75) unknown
Occupation	executor

John Hathorne (August 1641 – May 10, 1717) was an executor (often portrayed as a judge) in the Salem witch trials, and the only one who never repented of his actions. He was also a merchant in Salem, Massachusetts.

Hathorne's father, Major William Hathorne, was among the early settlers of Massachusetts Bay in the 1630s and held a number of political positions for several decades. John was born in Salem in August 1641; his father's surviving record gives 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 an "old planter" of Salem.

John was the great-great-grandfather of Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of, among other things, The Scarlet Letter, who changed his surname slightly, leading some to believe that he was trying to dissociate himself from his ancestor.

Nathaniel published several works in 1830, however, under the Hathorne name. Others note that he may have reassumed his family's ancestral name from Bray Berks England. There the name was spelled a number of different ways including Hauthorne, Hathorn, Hothorne and Hawthorne.

In fiction

In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, Hathorne is portrayed as quite sadistic and, quite possibly, the most ignorant, antagonistic character besides Abigail Williams and her posse. Hathorne is the leading judge who continually denies witnesses any chance to redeem their names in court, as if he has already determined the outcome. He is cynical and rarely shows emotion, with the exception of the finale, where he is almost joyful that John Proctor is going to confess his crimes.

Hathorne is the judge appointed by Satan at the trial in Stephen Vincent Benet's story "The Devil and Daniel Webster", where he is described as "a tall man, soberly clad in Puritan garb, with the burning gaze of the fanatic."

References

• Brief biography of John Hathorne
• Photograph of John Hathorne's tombstone
• Anderson, Robert (1999). The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Entry for William Hathorne.