The judge known for a harsh demeanor and remembered as an ancestor of Nathaniel Hawthorne was John Hathorne.
Hathorne was a Salem merchant and magistrate who took a prominent role in the early examinations of people accused during the Salem witch trials. In 1692, he questioned suspects alongside Jonathan Corwin, and contemporary accounts characterized his questioning as severe and leading. He often appeared convinced that the accused were guilty.
Hathorne was Nathaniel Hawthorne’s great-great-grandfather. The novelist was born Nathaniel Hathorne but later added the “w” to his surname, probably to distance himself from his notorious ancestor. Hawthorne’s writings, especially The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables, repeatedly explored inherited guilt, Puritan history, and Salem’s past.
A common mix-up is confusing Hathorne with William Stoughton, the chief judge of the later Court of Oyer and Terminer, or Jonathan Corwin, who also participated in the examinations. Hathorne died in Salem in 1717 without publicly expressing the remorse associated with some other trial participants.