Nathaniel Hwthome was born on Independence Day.1804,in salem.Massachusettes.He was a descendent of Puritan immigrants.His ancestor,John Hawthome,had beenone of hte judges at the salem witchcraft trials of 1692.“Hthe family,like the seaport town,was on the decline.when his sea-captin father died in a foreign port.hawthome was only four years old.he lived in genteel poverty with his widowed mother and two young sisters.The family was filled with Puritan ideas,which made a notable impact on Hawthorne’slater literary creation.Inhis teens,Hawthome began to read widely.He read”eighteenth-century novelists like Henry fielding,Tobias Smollett,and Horace Walpole as well as contemporary writers like william godwin and sir walter scott,and forming an ambition to be a writer bimself.at seventeen Hawthorne went to Bowdoin College in Min ,where his classmates included longfellow,the poet,franklin piere,later president of the United states,and Horatio Bridge,who first appreciated his genius. Nathaniel Hwthome was born on Independence Day. 1804, in salem. Massachusettes. He was a descendent of Puritan immigrants. His ancestor, John Hawthome, had beenone of hte judges at the salem witchcraft trials of 1692. “Hthe family, like the seaport town, was on the decline.when his sea-captin father died in a foreign port.hawthome was only four years old.he lived in genteel poverty with his widowed mother and two young sisters. family was filled with Puritan ideas, which made a notable impact on Hawthorne’slater literary creation.Inhis teens, Hawthome began to read widely .He read ”eighteenth-century novelists like Henry fielding, Tobias Smollett, and Horace Walpole as well as contemporary writers like william godwin and sir walter scott, and forming an ambition to be a writer bimself.at seventeen Hawthorne went to Bowdoin College in Min, where his classmates included longfellow, the poet, franklin piere, later president of the United states, and Horatio Bridge, who first appreciated his genius.