Julian Hawthorne (June 22, 1846 – July 14, 1934) was an American writer and journalist, the son of novelist

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

and Sophia Peabody. He wrote numerous poems, novels, short stories, mysteries and detective fiction, essays, travel books, biographies, and histories.

Biography

Birth and childhood

Julian Hawthorne was the second child of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sophia Peabody Hawthorne. He was born June 22, 1846, at 14 Mall Street in Salem, Massachusetts. It was shortly after sunrise Wineapple, Brenda. ''Hawthorne: A Life''. Random House: New York, 2003: 197. and his father wrote to his sister: His parents had difficulty choosing a name for eight months. Possible names included George, Arthur, Edward, Horace, Robert, and Lemuel. His father referred to him for some time as "Bundlebreech" or "Black Prince", due to his dark curls and red cheeks. As a boy, Julian was well-behaved and good-natured. He was raised in a loving household, later reflecting: "it was almost appalling to be the subject of such limitless devotion and affection." Julian and his siblings were raised in a positive environment and his parents did not believe in harsh discipline or physical punishment. His father used Julian as an inspiration for the character of Sweet Fern in his children's books '' A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys'' and ''

Tanglewood Tales ''Tanglewood Tales for Boys and Girls'' is an 1853 book by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, a sequel to '' A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys''. It is a re-writing of well-known Greek myths in a volume for children. Overview The book includes ...

''. The Hawthorne family eventually lived in

Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. In the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is n ...

, at a home they called

The Wayside The Wayside is a historic house in Concord, Massachusetts. The earliest part of the home may date to 1717. Later it successively became the home of the young Louisa May Alcott and her family, who named it Hillside, author Nathaniel Hawthorne a ...

. There, Julian attended a school run by

Franklin Benjamin Sanborn Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (December 15, 1831 – February 24, 1917) was an American journalist, teacher, author, reformer, and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. Sanborn was a social scientist and memorialist of American transcend ...

. The school was coeducational, though Julian's sisters Una and Rose did not attend. His parents disapproved particularly of dances hosted by the school. His mother Sophia wrote: "We entirely disapprove of this commingling of youths and maidens at the electric age in school. I find no end of ill effect from it, and this is why I do not send Una and Rose to your school." Young Julian was close friends with his neighbors at the Orchard House, the Alcott family, and pursued a relationship with the older Abigail May Alcott while he was a young teenager. He later spread the rumor that he inspired the character Laurie in

Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Good Wives'' (1869), ''Little Men'' (1871), and ''Jo's Boys'' ...

's 1868 novel ''

Little Women ''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters— Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details th ...

'', which she denied.

Education and early career

Hawthorne entered

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1863, but did not graduate. He was tutored privately in German by

James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets to r ...

, a professor and writer who encouraged Nathaniel Hawthorne's work.Duberman, Martin. ''James Russell Lowell''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966: 488. It was during his freshman year at Harvard that he learned of his father's death, coincidentally the same day he was initiated into a fraternity. Years later, he wrote of the incident: After his father's death, Hawthorne considered himself head of the household, quit Harvard, and abandoned his interest in joining the army. He took over his father's study in the tower of The Wayside and, his mother recalled, the difficult time "made a man of him, for he feels all the care of me and his sisters". HildegardeHawthorne1907

Hawthorne studied

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

ing in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, was

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

in the New York City Dock Department under General McClellan (1870–72), spent 10 years abroad, and met Minne Amelung. She and Hawthorne were married in

Orange, New Jersey The City of Orange (known simply as Orange) is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 34,447, an increase o ...

, on November 15, 1870.

Writing career

While in Europe Hawthorne wrote several novels: ''Bressant'' (1873); ''Idolatry'' (1874); ''Garth'' (1874); ''Archibald Malmaison'' (1879); and ''Sebastian Strome'' (1880). Hawthorne prepared an edition of his father's unfinished work ''Dr. Grimshawe's Secret'' (1883). His sister

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

, upon hearing of the book's announcement, had not known about the fragment and originally thought her brother was guilty of forgery or a hoax. She published the accusation in the New York ''Tribune'' on August 16, 1882, and claimed, "No such unprinted work has been in existence ... It cannot be truthfully published as anything but an experimental fragment". He defended himself from the charge, however, and eventually dedicated the book to his sister and her husband George Parsons Lathrop. In July 1883, Hawthorne was invited to participate as a lecturer at the

Concord School of Philosophy The Concord School of Philosophy was a lyceum-like series of summer lectures and discussions of philosophy in Concord, Massachusetts, from 1879 to 1888. History Starting the Concord School of Philosophy had long been a goal of founder Amos Br ...

by his former neighbors

Amos Bronson Alcott Amos Bronson Alcott (; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and av ...

and Sanborn. Hawthorne presented a version of a paper he had recently published, "Agnosticism in American Fiction", which criticized the emerging

American Realism American realism was a movement in art, music and literature that depicted contemporary social realities and the lives and everyday activities of ordinary people. The movement began in literature in the mid-19th century, and became an importan ...

movement and took aim particularly at

William Dean Howells William Dean Howells ( ; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American Realism (arts), realist novelist, literary critic, playwright, and diplomat, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ...

and

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

, whose works Hawthorne believed represented "life and humanity not in their loftier, but in their lesser manifestations". Hawthorne returned the following summer to present "Emerson as an American". Hawthorne published the first of two books about his parents, ''Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife'', in 1884–85. The younger Hawthorne also wrote a critique of his father's novel ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a historical novel by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who concei ...

'' that was published in ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...

'' in April 1886. Julian Hawthorne published an article in the October 24, 1886, issue of the New York ''World'' based on a long interview with James Russell Lowell, who had recently served as a U.S. diplomat to England. In the article, titled "Lowell in a Chatty Mood", Hawthorne reported that Lowell offered various negative comments on British royalty and politicians, like saying that the Prince of Wales was "immensely fat". Lowell angrily complained that the article made him seem like "a toothless old babbler". Between 1887 and 1888, Hawthorne published a series of

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...

novels following the character Inspector Barnes, including ''The Great Bank Robbery'', ''An American Penman'', ''A Tragic Mystery'', ''Section 558'', and ''Another's Crime''. The character was strongly based on Hawthorne's friend and real-life detective Thomas F. Byrnes. In 1889 there were reports that Hawthorne was one of several writers who had, under the name of "Arthur Richmond", published in the ''

North American Review The ''North American Review'' (''NAR'') was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale (journalist), Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which i ...

'' devastating attacks on President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

and other leading Americans. Hawthorne denied the reports. In 1895, Hawthorne was one of several authors and journalists wooed to work for

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...

and his syndicate of newspapers, along with writers

Stephen Crane Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...

Richard Harding Davis Richard Harding Davis (April 18, 1864 – April 11, 1916) was an American journalist and writer of fiction and drama, known foremost as the first American war correspondent to cover the Spanish–American War, the Second Boer War, and World War ...

Murat Halstead Murat Halstead (September 2, 1829 – July 2, 1908) was an American newspaper editor and magazine writer. He was an early war correspondent, reporting during three wars, and a zealous ally of the Republican Party. Biography Born in Paddy's Run ...

Alfred Henry Lewis Alfred Henry Lewis (January 20, 1855 – December 23, 1914) was an American investigative journalist, lawyer, novelist, editor, and short story writer, who sometimes published under the pseudonym Dan Quin.Edgar Wilson Nye, Julian Ralph, and Edgar Saltus. Hawthorne published a second book about his father, ''Hawthorne and His Circle'', in 1903. In it, he responded to a remark from his father's friend

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works ar ...

that Nathaniel Hawthorne had a "secret". Julian dismissed this, claiming Melville was inclined to think so only because "there were many secrets untold in his own career", causing much speculation. As he wrote of his meeting with Melville,

When I was in New York, in 1884, I met him, looking pale, sombre, nervous, but little touched by age. He died a few years later. He conceived the highest admiration for my father's genius, and a deep affection for him personally; but he told me, during our talk, that he was convinced that there was some secret in my father's life which had never been revealed, and which accounted for the gloomy passages in his books. It was characteristic in him to imagine so; there were many secrets untold in his own career. But there were few honester or more lovable men than Herman Melville.

As a journalist, he reported on the Indian Famine for ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'' magazine and the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

for the ''

New York Journal :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 ...

''.

Fraud and imprisonment

In 1908, Hawthorne's old Harvard friend William J. Morton (a physician) invited Hawthorne to join in promoting some newly created mining companies in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. Hawthorne made his writing and his family name central to the stock-selling campaigns. After complaints from shareholders, both Morton and Hawthorne were tried in New York City for

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

, and convicted in 1913. Hawthorne was able to sell some three and a half million shares of stock in a nonexistent silver mine and served one year in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Upon his release from prison, he wrote ''The Subterranean Brotherhood'' (1914), a nonfiction work calling for an immediate end to incarceration of criminals. Hawthorne argued, based on his own experience, that incarceration was inhumane and should be replaced by

moral suasion Moral suasion is an appeal to morality, in order to influence or change behavior. A famous example is the attempt by William Lloyd Garrison and his American Anti-Slavery Society to end slavery in the United States by arguing that the practice w ...

. Of the fraud with which he was charged he always maintained his innocence.

Final years and death

After his release from prison on October 15, 1913, Hawthorne returned to work as a journalist in Boston for the ''Boston American'', for which he covered baseball spring training and interviewed

George Stallings George Tweedy Stallings (November 17, 1867 – May 13, 1929) was an American professional baseball catcher and manager. He played in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and Philadelphia Phillies in 1890 and 1897 to 1898 and mana ...

and

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional Baseball in the United States, baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nickna ...

. He resigned from the publication in November and moved to California, where he contributed to publications like the ''Los Angeles Herald'' and pitched movie screenplays which were never produced. He also shared a home with his lover Edith Garrigues. His wife Minne was living with family in

Redding, Connecticut Redding is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,765 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Regi ...

. After her death on June 25, 1925, Hawthorne and Garrigues officially married on July 6 after nearly two decades as a couple. In the summer of 1933, Hawthorne suffered from a flu, after which he was never fully healthy again. He suffered two heart attacks before dying on July 14, 1934. His funeral was private and, after his body was cremated, his ashes were scattered along

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

Works

*''Bressant'' (1873) *''Idolatry: A Romance'' (1874) *''Garth'' (1874) *''Saxon Studies'' (1876) *''Archibald Malmaison'' (1879) *''Sebastian Strome'' (1880) *''Dust'' (1882) *''Beatrix Randolph'' (1883) *''Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife'' (1884) *''The Great Bank Robbery'' (1887) *''An American Penman'' (1887) *''A Tragic Mystery'' (1887) *''Section 558'' (1888) *''Another's Crime'' (1888) *''The Golden Fleece'' (1892) *''An American Monte Cristo'' (1893) *''American Literature: A Text Book for the Use of Schools and Colleges'' (1896, with Leonard Lemmon) *''A Fool of Nature'' (1896) *''One of Those Coincidences and Ten Other Stories'' (1899) *''Hawthorne and His Circle'' (1903) *''The Subterranean Brotherhood'' (1914) *''The Cosmic Courtship'' (1917) *''A Goth From Boston'' (1919) *''Sara Was Judith'' (1920) *''Rumpty-Dudget's Tower: A Fairy Tale'' (1924) *''The Memoirs of Julian Hawthorne'' (1938; edited by Edith Garrigues Hawthorne and published posthumously)

References

External links

* * *
Guide to the Hawthorne Family Papers
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library is the primary special-collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity. ...