The author Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in July 1804. His father, Nathaniel Senior, a sea captain, died when Nathaniel was four years old. His mother moved the family from Salem to Maine, where Hawthorne was educated at Bowdoin College (1821-24). Between 1825 and 1836, Hawthorne worked as a writer and contributor1 to magazines. His first novel, Fanshawe (1828), a story based on his college life, was published anonymously at his own expense. In the spring of 1837, many of his short stories were collected into one volume, TwiceTold Tales, which made him known locally. In 1839, he accepted a job at the Boston Custom House2. In Boston, he met Sophia Peabody and they married in 1842. The couple moved to their new house, The Old Manse , in Concord, Massachusetts, where they lived for three years. There, Hawthorne wrote most of the tales collected in Mosses from an Old Manse and also became friends with the well-known poets Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Between 1841 and 1842 a series of Hawthorne s books for children were also published. Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne had three children: Una (1844), Julian (1846) and Rose (1851). The growing family and increasing debts compelled3 Nathaniel and Sophia to return to Salem. Hawthorne was unable to earn a living4 as a writer and, in 1846, he found work at the Port of Salem and later (1848) at the Salem Lyceum. But he soon returned to writing and in 1850, published The Scarlet Letter, which became an immediate bestseller. In the same year, Hawthorne and his family moved to a 1. contributor: journalist who regularly writes for specific newspapers or magazines. 2. Custom House: building where imported and exported goods are checked. 3. compelled: obliged. 4. earn a living: earn enough money to live. 4