HATHORNE, John (1641-1717). Manuscript document signed (“John Hathorne”) as Justice of the Peace, [Salem,] 2 January 1703.

One page, 302 x 190mm (light toning along horizontal folds with a few small tears at deckled right margin, light scattered foxing).

A document signed by the great-great-grandfather of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Salem Witch Trial judge John Hathorne, part of the inspiration for The Scarlet Letter. The document confirms a land transaction for a roughly eight-acre parcel jointly owned by several partners. The partners included Jacob Manning—most likely the son of Captain Nicholas Manning, who was accused of incest with his two sisters by John Hathorne's father, Major William Hathorne in 1680. Nicholas became a fugitive from justice, but his two sisters were forced to sit on stools in the middle of the meetinghouse with their crime written in all capitals on paper hats as a mark of shame. Jacob's twin brother, Thomas Manning, was the great-grandfather of Elizabeth Clarke Manning, Nathaniel Hawthorne's mother. The author added the "w" to his surname in his early twenties, before going on to literary fame. It has been suggested that his shame over the actions of his great-great-grandfather John Hathorne during the Salem Witch Trials was part of his reason for doing this. There is little doubt that Nathaniel was aware of the shame visited upon the Manning sisters through the authority of his great-great-great grandfather William. For more on the author's deep connections to the early colonial history of Massachusetts, see Vernon Loggins, The Hawthornes; the Story of Seven Generations of an American Family, 1951, pp. 88-94, 278-279.