Hathorne, John

• John Hathorne (1641-1717) was son of Major William Hathorne and author Nathaniel Hawthorne's (born Hathorne) great-great-great paternal grandfather.

Justice John Hathorne was the third son of Major William and Anna Hathorne. He became a prosperous merchant in Salem and a judge on the Superior Court. He was also commander-in-chief against the Indians in 1696.

• He is best known, however as the "witch judge" or the "hanging judge" as he was a magistrate of the Court of Oyer and Terminer and the

chief interrogator of the accused witches in the Salem witchcraft hysteria of 1692. He was also known as the one who never repented his actions.

• John Hathorne is interred at the Charter Street Burial Ground in Salem.

• In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible (and its film adaptations) Hathorne is portrayed as quite sadistic and one of the most ignorant, antagonistic characters.

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 a fanatic. The horror film The Lords of Salem features a witchhunting reverend named John Hawthorne.

See Also

Hawthorne in Salem Paternal Ancestors of Nathaniel Hawthorne

A delusion of Satan; the full story of the Salem Witch Trials by F. Hill, p. 27, 43-44, 46-52, 61, 77-83, 87, 92-94, 99, 105, 111-112, 116-17...