 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2011) |
John Hathorne | |
|---|---|
| Justice of the Salem witch trials | |
| In office May 1692 – June 1692 | |
| Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature | |
| In office 1702–1712 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Baptized August 2, 1641 Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony |
| Died | May 10, 1717 (aged 75) Salem, Massachusetts |
John Hathorne (August 1641 – May 10, 1717) was a merchant and magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Salem, Massachusetts. He is best known for his early and vocal role as one of the leading judges in the Salem witch trials.
Hathorne was absent from the list of men appointed to the Court of Oyer & Terminer in June 1692. That court relied heavily on the spectral evidence, examinations, interrogations, and affidavits previously conducted by Hathorne, co-signed by Jonathan Corwin, and recorded by Rev. Samuel Parris and/or Ezekiel Cheever Jr. On September 22, 1692, the date of the final eight executions, Hathorne was present at a meeting (Sewall Diary) with Stoughton and Cotton Mather to discuss using court records in a new publication designed to promote the trials.[1] Unlike Samuel Sewall, Hathorne is not known to have repented for his actions. He was a patrilineal ancestor of writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.
- ^ Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc. 1878