Estate / Collection: The Victor Gulotta Collection

HATHORNE, WILLIAM

Legal document signed regarding a complaint. Boston: 2 January 1662/63. Manuscript document on a slip, seven lines in ink, signed “Wm Hathorne” and likely in his hand. The document is a bond for twenty pounds, and orders Elias White and Unison Tisson to appear in court, reading "The condition is that Elias shall answer at Boston the 5 day of this month at the Court, to answer the Complaynt of Goody Bonwith, & mary her daughter." 3 ½ x 5 inches (8 x 12 cm); framed with an engraving of the Winthrop Fleet. Faint folds, some ink spots and one small burn hole, the last letters of the signature weak.

William Hathorne (c. 1606–1681) was a prosperous merchant who lived at Salem having arrived on the Arabella, flagship of the Winthrop Fleet, in 1630. He is the father of John Hathorne, the notoriously harsh judge on the Court of Oyer and Terminer during the Salem Witch Trials. Both men are the earliest ancestors of Nathaniel Hawthorne in America, and it is long thought that he added the “w” to the spelling of his name to distance himself from the judge, who was apparently unrepentant for his role in the executions of the Salem Witch Trials. The signature of William Hathorne, who arrived with the Winthrop Fleet, the first major wave of settlers following the Mayflower, is unquestionably scarce.

Provenance: Parke Bernet, Autograph Letters and Documents Mainly American, Collected by the Late Forest G. Sweet, Battle Creek, Michigan, October 22 and 23, 1957, lot 125; Bloomsbury Auctions, London, 2015, lot 140; RR Auction, 2015, lot 181.

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