1804 Nathaniel Hawthorne born July 4, on Union Street, Salem, Massachusetts, second of three children and only son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Manning Hathorne; descended on both sides from prominent New England ancestors.
1808 Death of his father, a sea captain, at Surinam, in Dutch Guiana, leaving a widow and children partially dependent on her relatives, the Mannings.
1821 Attended Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce were his classmates.
1825 Graduated from Bowdoin College and returned to the "chamber under the eaves" in his mother's house in Salem and spent a dozen years in relative seclusion, reading and writing, rather than entering a trade or profession as was expected of him.
1828 Published Fanshawe: A Tale, anonymously and at his own expense; later recalled the book, which was based on many of his experiences at Bowdoin College, and he destroyed all the copies he could locate.
1830 Published in the Salem Gazette his first story, "The Hollow of the Three Hills."
1830-37 Wrote tales and sketches which appeared in newspapers, magazines, and especially The Token, an annual published by Samuel Griswold Goodrich.
1837 From March through August, edited The American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge at Boston; with the help of his sister Elizabeth, he wrote or excerpted from books and periodicals the matter required to fill each monthly issue.
1838 Published Peter Parley's Universal History, which he wrote, again with Elizabeth's help, for the Peter Parley series issued by Samuel Griswold Goodrich; brought out a collection of eighteen stories and sketches in Twice-Told Tales, for which his Bowdoin classmate Horatio Bridge guaranteed the publishers against loss.
1839 Became engaged to marry Sophia Peabody, the semi-invalid daughter of Dr. Nathaniel and Amelia Peabody, and sister of Elizabeth, a teacher and a pioneer in the development of kindergartens, and sister of Mary Tyler, who became the wife of educator Horace Mann.
1839-40 Worked as a Measurer in the Boston Custom House; wrote very little in these years except for the entries in his notebook.
1841 Published Grandfathers Chair, Famous Old People, and Liberty Tree, composed of historical and biographical accounts written for children; joined the Brook Farm Community at West Roxbury, Massachusetts, in April, where he hoped to provide a home and a living for Sophia and also to reserve time for his writing.
1842 Published an expanded edition of Twice-Told Tales in two volumes and Biographical Stories; was married on July 9 to Sophia Peabody at Boston, a marriage which proved to be idyllic.
1842-45 Lived at the Old Manse, Concord, where he had as neighbors and associates Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and Amos Bronson Alcott; wrote sketches and tales, "allegories of the heart," many of which were published in the Democratic Review.
1846 Published Moses from an Old Manse; his son Julian was born on June 22.
1846-49 Worked as Surveyor in the Salem Custom House; his mother died while he was writing The Scarlet Letter.
1850 Published The Scarlet Letter, which won him considerable fame.
1850-51 Lived in the Red House, Lennox, Massachusetts, where he had Herman Melville as a neighbor and eager visitor.
1851 Published The House of the Seven Gables, The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales, and True Stories from History and Biography; his daughter Rose was born on May 20.
1852 Published The Blithedale Romance, which reflected in great detail his experiences at Brook Farm; also published A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys and the campaign biography of Franklin Pierce.
1853 Published Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys.
1853-57 Appointed by President Pierce to serve as United States Consul at Liverpool.
1857-59 Lived in Rome and Florence; frequented the art museums and wrote expanded notebook entries which he later reworked for inclusion in The Marble Faun.
1860 Published The Marble Faun, his last completed work of fiction; strove in vain to finish another romance and at his death left four fragments: Dr. Grimshaw's Secret, Septimus Felton, The Ancestral Footstep, and The Dolliver Romance.
1863 Published Our Old Home in December, which contains a series of essays on England and English-American relations.
1864 On April 10, was shaken by the death of his friend W. D. Tichnor; on May 11, accompanied Franklin Pierce to New Hampshire in search of improved health; on May 18, died at Plymouth, New Hampshire; on May 23, was buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord.
