Samuel Sewall - Wikipedia Samuel Sewall From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search For the jurist and US Congressman, see Samuel Sewall (congressman). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Samuel Sewall" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Samuel Sewall 1729, by John Smibert Born March 28, 1652 (1652-03-28) Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England Died January 1, 1730(1730-01-01) (aged 77) Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay Occupation Judge Known for Salem witch trials Spouse(s) Hannah Hull Abigail (Melyen) Woodmansey Tilley Mary (Shrimpton) Gibbs Signature Samuel Sewall (/ˈsuːəl/; March 28, 1652 – January 1, 1730) was a judge, businessman, and printer in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, best known for his involvement in the Salem witch trials,[1] for which he later apologized, and his essay The Selling of Joseph (1700), which criticized slavery.[2] He served for many years as the chief justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature, the province's high court. Contents 1 Biography 2 Views and writings 3 Cultural influence 4 Bibliography 5 References 6 Sources 7 Archives and records 8 External links Biography[edit] This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Sewall was born in Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England, on March 28, 1652, the son of Henry and Jane (Dummer) Sewall.[3] 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.[4] Following the Restoration of Charles II to the English throne, the Sewalls again crossed the Atlantic in 1661, settling in Newbury, Massachusetts.[5] It is there the young Samuel "Sam" grew up along the Parker River and Plum Island Sound. Poem by Nehemiah Hobart in Latin, printed by Samuel Sewall, Boston, 1712 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.[6] In 1667 Sewall entered Harvard College, where his classmates included Edward Taylor and Daniel Gookin, with whom he formed enduring friendships. Sewall received his first degree, a BA, in 1671, and his MA in 1674.[7] In 1674 he served as librarian of Harvard for nine months, the second person to hold that post.[8] That year he began keeping a journal, which he maintained for most of his life; it is one of the major historical documents of the time. In 1679 he became a member of the Military Company of Massachusetts. 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.[9] Sewall moved into his in-laws' mansion in Boston and was soon involved in that family's business and political affairs. He and Hannah had 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. In 1692 he was one of the nine judges appointed to the court of Oyer and Terminer in Salem, charged with trying those from Salem Town and elsewhere who were 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's brother Stephen had meanwhile opened up his home to one of the initially afflicted children, Betty Parris, daughter of Salem Village's minister, Samuel Parris, and shortly afterward Betty's "afflictions" appear to have subsided. Sewall was perhaps most remarkable among the justices involved in the trials in that he later regretted his role, going so far as to call for a public day of prayer, fasting, and reparations. Following the dissolution of the court, the Sewall family was blighted by what Sewall thought to be punishments from God. In the five years after the Trials, two of Sewall's daughters and Hannah's mother died, and Hannah gave birth to a stillborn child. What convinced Sewall of his need for public repentance was a recitation of Matthew 12:7, "If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless".[10] Not only had Sewall's home life been shaken, but in the years after the Trials, the people of Massachusetts experienced setbacks and violence, notably the Navigation Acts, the declaration of the New England Dominion, and King Philip's War.[11] He saw this as a sign not that witchcraft did not exist, but that he had ruled on insubstantial evidence. He records in his diary that on 14 January 1697, he stood up in the meeting house he attended while his minister read out his confession of guilt.[12] 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, aged 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.[13][14] His nephew, Stephen, also served as a Massachusetts Chief Justice, as did his great grandson Samuel. His sister, Anne Sewall Longfellow (1662–1706), was the great-great-great-grandmother of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.[15] Views and writings[edit] Apart from his involvement in the Salem witch trials, Sewall was liberal in his views for the time. In The Selling of Joseph (1700), for instance, he came out strongly against slavery, making him one of the earliest colonial abolitionists. The Selling of Joseph was the earliest-recorded anti-slavery tract published in the future United States. In it, Sewell argued, "Liberty is in real value next unto Life: None ought to part with it themselves, or deprive others of it, but upon the most mature Consideration." He regarded "man-stealing as an atrocious crime which would introduce among the English settlers people who would remain forever restive and alien", but also believed that "There is such a disparity in their Conditions, Colour, Hair, that they can never embody with us, and grow up into orderly Families, to the Peopling of the Land." Although holding such segregationist views, he maintained that "These Ethiopians, as black as they are; seeing they are the Sons and Daughters of the First Adam, the Brethren and Sisters of the Last ADAM [meaning Jesus Christ], and the Offspring of God; They ought to be treated with a Respect agreeable."[citation needed] His essay Talitha Cumi, first published in 1725, refers to the "right of women."[16] When the periwig became fashionable in New England, Sewall condemned the fashion vehemently, in contrast to Cotton Mather, who saw no reason why a Puritan should not wear a wig. Sewall's Journal, kept from 1673 to 1729, describes his life as a Puritan against the changing tide of colonial life as the devoutly religious community of Massachusetts gradually adopted more secular attitudes and emerged as a liberal, cosmopolitan-minded community.[citation needed] Cultural influence[edit] The Crucible (1996 film): Judge Samuel Sewall was played by actor George Gaynes. Notably, he is the first judge to begin doubting the circumstances, and by the end of the film, he is asking his superior, Judge Danforth, to end the trials as he and the townspeople have tired of the deaths and executions brought on by the court. Bibliography[edit] Works written by Sewall include:[17] The Revolution in New England Justified, 1691 Phaenomena quaedam Apolyptica, 1697 online text (PDF version) The Selling of Joseph, 1700 Proposals Touching the Accomplishment of Prophecies, 1713 Diary of Samuel Sewall, 1674–1729. Edited M. Halsey Thomas in two volumes, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1973. Talitha Cumi, or Damsel, Arise, 1725. Reprinted in Eve LaPlante, Salem Witch Judge,' 2007, 2008. References[edit] ^ Starkey, Marion L. The Devil in Massachusetts 1949 Doubleday Edition pp.261-2 ^ Samuel Sewall; Melvin Yazawa (1998). The diary and life of Samuel Sewall. Boston: Bedford Books. pp. 1. ISBN 978-0-312-13394-8.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) ^ Dummer, Michael (June 2005). "7: Stephen of Horton Heath - the Last Yeoman, and the Last Estate". The Family of Dummer (7th ed.). p. 38. ^ Francis, Richard (2006). Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of a Conscience. London/New York: Harper Perennial. pp. 3–5. ISBN 1-84115-677-9. ^ Francis, pp. 6-7 ^ Francis, p. 9 ^ Francis, pp. 10-13 ^ Potter, Alfred Claghorn; Bolton, Charles Knowles (1897). The librarians of Harvard College 1667-1877. University of California Libraries. Cambridge, Mass., Library of Harvard University. ^ Francis, p. 23 ^ Heather E. Jones, "Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature," Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive and Transcription Project, last modified 2001, accessed October 24, 2016, http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people/sewall.html. ^ Lovejoy, David S. "Between Hell and Plum Island: Samuel Sewall and the Legacy of the Witches, 1692-97." The New England Quarterly 70, no. 3 (1997): 355-67. ^ Morgan, Edmund S. American Heroes: Profiles of Men and Women Who Shaped Early America, pp. 126-9, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, London, 2009. ISBN 978-0-393-07010-1. ^ LaPlante, pp. 285–87 ^ Graves, Eben W. (2007). The Descendants of Henry Sewall (1576-1656) of Manchester and Coventry, England, and Newbury and Rowley, Massachusetts (1st ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Newbury Street Press. pp. 89–90. ISBN 978-0-88082-198-8. ^ Direct Ancestors of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ^ LaPlante, Eve (2007). Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall (1st ed.). New York: HarperOne. pp. 304–11. ISBN 978-0-06-078661-8. ^ PAL: Samuel Sewall (1652-1730) Sources[edit] Bridgeman, Thomas (1856). The Pilgrims of Boston and their Descendants. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Retrieved 29 April 2009. Richard Francis, Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of a Conscience, Fourth Estate, London, 2005; HarperCollins, New York, 2005; HarperPerennial, London & New York, 2006 Eve LaPlante, Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall, HarperOne, 2007, 2008. Ola Elizabeth Winslow, Samuel Sewall of Boston, Macmillan, New York, 1964. Mel Yazawa, The Diary and Life of Samuel Sewall, Bedford Books, Boston and New York, 1998. Archives and records[edit] Samuel Sewall journal at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School. External links[edit] Wikisource has original works written by or about: Samuel Sewall 100 Parish Cemetery, York, Maine. Descendants buried here. Reading by Eve LaPlante from her biography of Sewall, courtesy of the Maine Humanities Council The Family of Dummer of British Origin The Selling of Joseph: A Memorial (1700) essay Legal offices New seat Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature 1692–1718 Succeeded by Paul Dudley Preceded by Wait Winthrop Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature 1718–1728 Succeeded by Benjamin Lynde Sr. v t e Salem witch trials (1692–93) Timeline People Cultural depictions Magistrates and court officials Jonathan Corwin Bartholomew Gedney John Hathorne Joseph Herrick George Herrick John Richards Nathanial (or Nathaniel) Saltonstall Samuel Sewall William Stoughton Waitstill Winthrop Town physician William Griggs Clergy Thomas Barnard George Burroughs (convicted of witchcraft and hanged) Francis Dane John Hale John Higginson Deodat Lawson Cotton Mather Increase Mather William Milbourne Nicholas Noyes Samuel Parris Edward Payson Samuel Phillips Samuel Willard Politicians, writers, and public figures Thomas Danforth James Russell William Phips Thomas Brattle Robert Calef Thomas Maule Accusers Benjamin Abbot Ebenezer Babson William Barker Sr. Thomas Barnard James Best Jr. James Best Sr. Elizabeth Booth John Bly Sr. and Rebecca Bly Thomas Boreman Thomas Chandler Nathaniel Coit Mary Daniel John DeRich Joseph Draper John Emerson Ralph Farnum Sr. Hannah Foster Joseph Fowler Mary Fuller Mary Herrick John Howe Elizabeth Hubbard Joseph Hutchinson John Indian Nathaniel Ingersoll Thomas and Mary Jacobs Henry Kinney Margaret Wilkins Knight Mercy Lewis Abigail Martin Jr. Jeremiah Neale Sarah Nurse Betty Parris Edward Payson Samuel and Ruth Perley (or Pearly) Samuel Pickworth John and Lydia Porter Thomas Preston Ann Putnam Jr. Ann Putnam Sr. Edward Putnam Hannah Putnam John Putnam Jr. John Putnam Sr. Jonathan (or Johnathan) Putnam Nathaniel Putnam Thomas Putnam Nicholas Rist Margaret Rule Susannah Sheldon Mercy Short Martha Sprague Timothy Swan or Swann Christian Trask Peter Tufts Moses Tyler Jonathan Walcott Mary Walcott Richard Walker Mary Warren Joseph Whipple Bray Wilkins John Wilkins Samuel Wilkins Abigail Williams Daniel Wycom or Wicom or Wycombe Frances Wycom or Wycome or Wycombe Accused but survived Arthur Abbot Nehemiah Abbot Jr. John Alden Abigail Barker Katerina Biss Edward Bishop Edward Bishop III Mary Black Anne Bradstreet Dudley Bradstreet John Bradstreet Mary Bridges Sr. Sarah Bridges Sarah Buckley John Busse (or Buss) Andrew Carrier Richard Carrier Sarah Carrier Thomas Carrier Jr. Bethiah Carter Jr. Bethiah Carter Sr. Rachel Clinton Sarah Cloyce Elizabeth Colson Mary Colson Francis Dane Phoebe Day Elizabeth Dicer Rebecca Dike Ann Dolliver Mehitable Downing Mary Dyer Daniel and Lydia Eames Rebecca Blake Eames Esther Elwell Martha Emerson Joseph Emons Thomas Farrar Sr. Abigail Faulkner Jr. Abigail Faulkner Sr. Dorothy Faulkner Elizabeth Fosdick Eunice Frye Dorothy Good Mary Green Sarah Noyes Hale (wife of John Hale) Elizabeth Hutchinson Hart Margaret Hawkes Sarah Hawkes Jr. Dorcas Hoar Deliverance Hobbs William Hobbs Elizabeth Johnson Sr. Stephen Johnson Rebecca Jacobs Jane Lilly (or Lillie) Mary Marston Sarah Morey Sarah Murrell Robert and Sarah Pease Joan Penney (or Penny) Sarah Phelps Lady Mary Phips Mary Post Susannah Post Margaret Prince Elizabeth Proctor Sarah Proctor William Proctor Sarah Davis Rice Sarah Rist Sarah Root Susanna Rootes Abigail Rowe Mary Rowe Elizabeth Scargen Ann Sears Abigail Somes Sarah Clapp Swift Mary Harrington Taylor Margaret Thacher Job Tookey Margaret Toothaker Mary Toothaker Hannah Tyler Mary Lovett Tyler Hezekiah Usher II Rachel Vinson Mary Whittredge (or Witheridge) Sarah Wilson Jr. Sarah Wilson Sr. Edward Wooland Confessed and/or accused others Mary Barker William Barker Jr. William Barker Sr. Sarah Bibber Mary Bridges Jr. Sarah Churchwell Deliverance Dane Rebecca Eames Abigail Hobbs Margaret Jacobs Mary Lacey Jr. Mary Lacey Sr. Joanna Tyler Martha Tyler Mercy Wardwell Sarah Wardwell Mary Warren Candy Tituba Executed by hanging Bridget Bishop George Burroughs Martha Carrier Martha Corey Mary Eastey Sarah Good Elizabeth Howe George Jacobs Sr. Susannah Martin Rebecca Nurse Alice Parker Mary Ayer Parker John Proctor Ann Pudeator Wilmot Redd Margaret Scott Samuel Wardwell Sarah Wildes John Willard Pressed to death Giles Corey Born in prison Mercy, infant child of Sarah Good John Proctor III Died in prison John Durrant Lydia Dustin Ann Foster Mercy, infant child of Sarah Good Sarah Osborne Infant child of Elizabeth Scargen Roger Toothaker Escaped or otherwise fled John Alden Daniel Andrew Mary Bradbury Elizabeth Cary Phillip and Mary English Edward Farrington Mary Green George Jacobs Jr. Ephraim Stevens v t e Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief justices (1692–present) Stoughton Winthrop Addington Winthrop Samuel Sewall Lynde Sr. Dudley Stephen Sewall T. Hutchinson Lynde Jr. Oliver Adams Cushing Sargent Dana Parsons Sewall Parker Shaw Bigelow Chapman Gray Morton W. Field Holmes Knowlton Rugg F. Field Qua R. Wilkins Tauro Hennessey Liacos H. Wilkins Marshall Ireland Gants Budd Provincial period Associate justices (1692–1775) Danforth Richards Samuel Sewall Winthrop Cooke Walley Saffin Hathorne Leverett Curwin Lynde Sr. Thomas Davenport Quincy Dudley J. Cushing Sr. Remington Saltonstall Graves Stephen Sewall Hubbard Lynde Jr. J. Cushing Jr. Russell Oliver Trowbridge F. Hutchinson Ropes W. Cushing Brown Revolutionary period Associate justices (1775–80) Sargent Reed Paine Warren Foster Sullivan D. Sewall Commonwealth period Associate justices (1780–present) Sumner Dana N. Cushing Paine Dawes Bradbury Sewall Strong Thatcher Sedgwick Parker Jackson D. Dewey Putnam Wilde C. Dewey Lincoln M. Morton Sr. Hubbard Fletcher Forbes Metcalf Bigelow C. Cushing Merrick Thomas Hoar Chapman Gray Colt Foster Ames Wells M. Morton Jr. Devens Endicott Lord Soule W. Allen Devens W. Field C. Allen Colburn Holmes Gardner Knowlton J. Morton Barker Lathrop Hammond Loring Braley Sheldon Rugg Decourcy Crosby Pierce Carroll Jenney Wait Sanderson F. Field Donahue Lummus Qua Cox Dolan Ronan Spalding R. Wilkins Williams Counihan Whittemore Cutter Kirk Jacob Spiegel Reardon Quirico Braucher Hennessey Kaplan H. Wilkins Liacos Abrams Lynch Nolan O'Connor Greaney Fried Marshall Ireland Cowin Spina Sosman Cordy Botsford Gants Duffly Lenk Hines Gaziano Lowy Budd Cypher Kafker Wendlandt Georges Jr. Italics indicate individuals who were offered seats on the court, but refused v t e The Dummer family tree Thomas Dummer (died before 1626) Joane John Dummer (died c. 1662) Richard Dummer (1589–1679) Thomas Dummer (died 1650) Stephen Dummer (died 1670) Edmund Dummer (1623–1701) Shubael Dummer (1636–1692) Jeremiah Dummer (1643–1718) Thomas Dummer (1629 – c. 1665) Jane Dummer (1628–1701) Henry Sewall (1614–1700) Edmund Dummer (1663–1724) Thomas Dummer (1667–1749) William Dummer (1677–1761) Jeremiah Dummer (1681–1739) Edmund Dummer (1651–1713) Samuel Sewall (1652–1730) Thomas Lee Dummer (1712–1765) Thomas Dummer (c. 1739 – 1781) Notes: Family tree of the Dummer family Authority control BNF: cb103322052 (data) GND: 123390397 ISNI: 0000 0000 8083 7206 LCCN: n50001401 NKC: jx20090406008 NLI: 000400174 NTA: 071237445 SNAC: w6hq3zr9 SUDOC: 05870762X VIAF: 4919285 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n50001401 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samuel_Sewall&oldid=1002250101" Categories: 1652 births 1730 deaths American abolitionists Burials at Granary Burying Ground Harvard College alumni Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature Kingdom of England emigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony Members of the colonial Massachusetts Governor's Council New Latin-language poets People from Bishopstoke People from colonial Boston People of the Salem witch trials American librarians Hidden categories: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list Articles needing additional references from September 2015 All articles needing additional references Biography with signature Articles with hCards All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2015 Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLI identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikisource Languages Deutsch Español Français Latina مصرى Nederlands Norsk bokmål Polski Português Русский Тоҷикӣ Edit links This page was last edited on 23 January 2021, at 15:10 (UTC). 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