John Hathorne

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
BornBaptized August 2, 1641
Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony
DiedMay 10, 1717(1717-05-10) (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.

  1. ^ Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc. 1878