Nathaniel Hawthorne's Puritan Legacy

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. He was the only son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Clark Hathorne and he had two sisters. Nathaniel’s father was a sea captain who died of yellow fever at sea in 1808. With the death of his father, his family was left with poor financial support so they moved in with his wealthy uncles. He was left immobile for several months due to a leg injury and that is where he gained his love for reading and writing. His uncles sent him to Bowdoin College from 1821-1825 where he met and became friends with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future 1853 president Franklin Pierce. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s life was full of Puritan legacy. An ancestor, William Hathorne, came to America from England

He stayed for 12 years and during this time he had self-published several stories such as The Hollow of the Three Hills and An Old Woman’s Tale. By 1832 he had written two of his greatest tales titled My Kinsman, Major Molineux and Roger Malvin’s Burial and in 1837 he wrote Twice Told Tales. Although he loved writing, it didn’t provide him with a very good income and he began working at the Boston Custom House weighing and gagging coal and salt. After living at home for twelve years, Nathaniel left around the same time he met Sophia Peabody who was a painter, illustrator, and transcendentalist. During their courtship Nathaniel spent a lot of time in the Brook Farm community where he befriended Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. He wasn’t really interested in the transcendentalist way of life, but staying there allowed him to save money for his marriage to Sophia. Their courtship was prolonged due to Sophia’s poor health, but they were finally married on July 9, 1842 and they settled in Concord, Massachusetts. Their first child, Una Hawthorne, was born on March 3, 1844. Their second child and only son, Julian Hawthorne, was born on June 22, 1846. He later went on to become a writer and journalist. Their third and final child was Mother Mary Alphonsa, born on May 20, 1851. She went on to become an American Roman Catholic sister and social worker. With his family