Samuel Seawell - Biography

Biography

Sewall was born in Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England, on March 28, 1652, the son of Henry and Jane (Dummer) Sewall. His father, son of the mayor of Coventry, had come to the English North American Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635, where he married Sewall's mother, and returned to England in the 1640s. Following the restoration of Charles II to the English throne, the Sewalls again crossed the Atlantic in 1661, settling in Newbury, Massachusetts. It is there the young Samuel "Sam" grew up along the Parker River and Plum Island Sound. Like other local boys he attended school at the home of James Noyes, whose cousin, Reverend Thomas Parker, was the principal instructor. From Parker Sewall acquired a lifelong love of verse, which he wrote in both English and Latin. In 1667 Sewall entered Harvard College, where his classmates included Edward Taylor and Daniel Gookin, both of whom he formed enduring friendships with. Sewall received his first degree, a BA, in 1671, and his MA in 1674. In 1674 he began keeping a journal, which he maintained for most of his life; it is one of the major historical documents of the time.

Sewall's involvement in the political affairs of the colony began when he became a freeman of the colony, giving him the right to vote. In 1681 he was appointed the official printer of the colony; one of the first works he published was John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. After John Hull died in 1683, Sewall was elected to replace him on the colony's council of assistants, a body that functioned both as the upper house of the legislature and as a court of appeals. He also became a member of Harvard's Board of Overseers.

Sewall's oral examination for the MA was a public affair, and was witnessed by Hannah Hull, daughter of colonial merchant and mintmaster John Hull. She was apparently taken by the young man's charms, and pursued him; they were married in February 1676. Her father, whose work as mintmaster had made him quite wealthy, gave the couple £500 in colonial currency as a wedding gift. (Biographer Richard Francis notes that the weight of this amount of specie, 125 pounds (57 kg), may have approximated the bride's weight, giving rise to Nathaniel Hawthorne's legend that the gift was her weight in coins.) Sewall moved into his in-laws' mansion in Boston, and was soon involved in that family's business and political affairs. He and Hannah would have fourteen children before her death in 1717, although only a few survived to adulthood.

He also entered local politics, and was elevated to the position of assistant magistrate in the judiciary that in 1692 judged the people in Salem accused of witchcraft. His diary recounts many of the more famous episodes of the Trials, such as the agonizing death under torture of Giles Corey, and reflects the growing public unease about the guilt of many of the accused. Sewall was perhaps most remarkable among the magistrates involved in the trials in that he was the only magistrate who, some years later, publicly regretted his role, going so far as to call for a public day of prayer, fasting, and reparations. In Salem, Sewall's brother Stephen had opened up his home to one of the initially afflicted children, Betty Parris, daughter of Salem Village's Reverend Samuel Parris, and shortly afterward Betty's 'afflictions' appear to have subsided.

In 1693 Sewall was appointed an associate justice of the Superior Court of Judicature, the province's high court, by Governor Sir William Phips. In 1717, he was appointed its chief justice by Governor Samuel Shute.

Sewall died in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 1, 1730 at age 77 and was interred in the family tomb at Boston's Granary Burying Ground.

Sewall married three times. Hannah Hull, his first wife, died in 1717; two years later, in 1719, Sewall married Abigail (Melyen) Woodmansey Tilley, who died seven months later. In 1722, he married Mary (Shrimpton) Gibbs, who survived him. His nephew Stephen also served as a Massachusetts chief justice, as did his great grandson Samuel.