Who was Nathaniel Hawthorne?

I was looking through books about greek mythology and I found a book called "A Wonder Book: Heroes and Monsters of Greek Mythology" by Nathaniel Hawthorne published December 2003. I was curious because I thought that Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in the 1800s. When I googled him I found out that I was right, but I also found that he added the w to his name so it would not be known that he was related to John Hathorne (the only executor in the Salem witch trials who did not repent upon his actions). However, John Hathorne lived over 100 years before Nathaniel Hawthorne. I was wondering if these had any corilation, and how he could have published a book 200 years after he died.