red signature on October 4, 1848 certification of payment of entry duties for cargo on the Brig Margaret, signed by Ephraim F. Miller (collector) and Nathaniel Hawthorne (surveyor), cargo consisted of sixty cords of wood and fifty dozen eggs, very fine

Nathaniel Hawthorne was appointed Surveyor for the District of Salem and Beverly and Inspector of the Revenue for the Port of Salem in April 1846. At that time Hawthorne had published a number of short stories, including those collected in Twice-Told Tales, but was still several years later from his career-defining novels The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. He lost the job due to the change of administration in Washington after the presidential election of 1848. During his time as Surveyor, he wrote to his friend Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "Whenever I sit alone, or walk alone, I find myself dreaming about stories, as of old; but these forenoons in the Custom House undo all that the afternoons and evenings have done. I should be happier if I could write."