Nathaniel Hawthorne Research Paper

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a very talented American author.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4th 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. He was born in the same house his father was born in. His mother, Elizabeth Clarke Manning, married Nathaniel’s father in 1801. He had two sisters, Elizabeth, who was born in 1802, and Maria Louisa, who was born in 1808.

In 1962, Nathaniel’s great-great grandfather, John Hawthorne, was one of the three judges in the Salem witchcraft trials. “The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials) Because of this, Nathaniel changed his last name from Hathorne to Hawthorne because he wanted to “distinguish himself from the history” (http://www.egs.edu/library/nathaniel-hawthorne/biography/) of his grandfather.

In 1808, his father, who was a sea captain, died from Yellow Fever in Suriname. He was only thirty-two years old whenever he died. After Nathaniel’s father died, his family did not have enough financial support, so, he and his family had to move in with his mother’s wealthy brothers. His uncle, Robert Manning, helped to care for Nathaniel and his two sisters. In 1811 he suffered lameness from a foot injury. Whenever he was twelve years old, his mother, his sisters, and he moved to Raymond, Maine. As a child, he was very quiet. Even though he was quiet, he had many friends. He was also athletic. While he was in school, he did very well in Latin and English. But he always got in trouble for gambling at school and he always got in trouble for his bad chapel