V-M ÷sterman, Eric Eldred, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed
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The narrative of Hawthorne's life has been partly told in theautobiographical passages of his writings which he himself addressed tohis readers from time to time, and in the series of "Note Books," notmeant for publication but included in his posthumous works; theremainder is chiefly contained in the family biography, "NathanielHawthorne and his Wife" by his son Julian Hawthorne, "Memories ofHawthorne" by his daughter, Mrs. Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, and "A Study ofHawthorne," by his son-in-law, George Parsons Lathrop. Collateralmaterial is also to be found abundantly in books of reminiscences by hiscontemporaries. These are the printed sources of the present biography.
The author takes pleasure in expressing his thanks to his publishers forthe ample material they have placed at his disposal; and also to Messrs.Harper and Brothers for their permission to make extracts from HoratioBridge's "Personal Recollections of Nathaniel Hawthorne," and to SamuelT. Pickard, Esq., author of "Hawthorne's First Diary," and to Dr.Moncure D. Conway, author of "Nathaniel Hawthorne" (Appleton's), for alike courtesy.
COLUMBIA COLLEGE, April 1, 1902.
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The Hathorne family stock, to name it with the ancient spelling, wasEnglish, and its old home is said to have been at Wigeastle, Wilton, inWiltshire. The emigrant planter, William Hathorne, twenty-three yearsold, came over in the Arbella with Winthrop in 1630. He settled atDorchster, but in 1637 removed to Salem, where he received grants ofland; and there the line continued generation after generation withvarying fortune, at one time coming into public service and localdistinction, and at another lapsing again into the common lot, as wasthe case of the long settled families generally. The planter, WilliamHathorne, shared to the full in the vigor and enterprise of the firstgeneration in New England. He was a leader in war and peace, trade andpolitics, with the versatility then required for leadership, beinglegislator, magistrate, Indian fighter, explorer, and promoter, as wellas occasionally a preacher; and besides this practical force he had atemper to sway and incite, which made him reputed the most eloquent manin the public assembly. He possessed—and this may indicate another sideto his character—a copy of Sir Philip Sidney's "Arcadia," certainly arare book in the wilderness. He was best remembered, both in localannals and family tradition, as a patriot and a persecutor, for herefused to obey the king's summons to England, and he ordered Quakerwomen to be whipped through the country-side.
The next generation, born in the colony, were generally of a narrowertype than their fathers, though in their turn they took