N. Hawthorne was born on Independence Day (4th July), 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. His ancestors were among the first people to arrive in the colonies in 1630, in particular William Hathorne who, after getting there, persecuted Quakers. His son, John Hathorne was one of the judges at the Salem witch trials . These episodes about his family anguished and, at the same time, fascinated Nathaniel throughout his life which was marked by a sort of sense of guilt for the suffering his ancestors had inflicted on innocent people in the first years of the American Puritan colonies. Maybe on account of this sense of guilt Nathaniel decided to add the "w" to his surname in his early twenties, as soon as he left the college. His father was a sea captain who died when Nathaniel was only four of yellow fewer in Suriname. His mother decided to move in with her relatives with all the children, always in Salem, for the following ten years. Later he received a decent schooling in Maine where he met H. W. Longfellow (who will become a famous poet) and F. Pierce (who will become a president of the USA). He graduated at 21 and spent the next ten years reading a lot and attempting to become a writer. Some of his tales were published in literary annuals and magazines. The first recognition arrived with the publication of Twice-told tales (1837). Looking back to that period of his life, he said: "I have not lived, but only dreamed about living". Despite his negative impressions on that moment of his life, those years of solitude and apprenticeship were absolutely important for his formation as a writer and his future production.

Another of his friends was H. Melville who dedicated his masterpiece, Moby Dick, to his friend in "admiration for his genius " and that considered him as the "American Shakespeare". Unfortunately none of letters that the two writers wrote to each other have survived.