By: Greg Vecchi

 John Hathorne was born on August 5, 1641 in Salem, Massachusetts to William Hathorne and Anne Smith  John Hathorne died on May 10, 1717 in Salem

 John Hathorne was the third son and fifth child born to William Hathorne and Anna Hathorne  Grew up in Salem, Massachusetts

 Law school  Was very intelligent

 Was a noted Salem merchant and politician  His political skills got him a position as a judge

 Very religious  Puritan  He served on a committee to find a a replacement for Salem minister George Burroughs in 1686.

 One of the leading judges in the Salem witch trials  When accusations of witchcraft began to circulate in Salem Village, he and Jonathan Corwin were called to interrogate both of the accusers and accused to determine if there was cause for a trial  He was harsh and was convinced that the accused were guilty

 The examination opened with Hathorne turning his attention not to Nurse, to Abigail Williams. Williams reported to the magistrates that Nurse has afflicted her on several occasions.  Shortly after this statement, Ann Putnam launched into a grievous fit and before Rebecca Nurse even began to testify, the tone of the examination had been set.

 In the 1690s he followed in his father's military footsteps and became involved in colonial military activities

 He was the great-great-grandfather of Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of many things including The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. His literature, set in Salem, contains allusions to the witch trials. Hawthorne was ashamed at his ancestor's lack of remorse over the trials, so he changed the spelling of his last name from “Hathorne” to "Hawthorne" in an effort to separate himself from the judge

 UMKC. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct  IATA Virgina. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct