Judge Samuel Sewall

"Samuel Sewall (March 28, 1652 - January 1, 1730). Samuel was born at Hampshire, England. The son of Henry and Jane Sewall, and grandson of Henry Sewall the Mayor of Coventry, England. Sewall was an associate magistrate at the Salem witch trials. A devout Puritan, he emigrated from England to the Massachusetts colony in 1661. He settled in Boston, where he attended Harvard University, hoping to study for the ministry, but he eventually left to pursue a career in business. He also entered local politics, and was elevated to the judiciary that in 1692 judged the people in Salem accused of witchcraft. 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 in the trials, going so far as to call for a public day of prayer and fasting and reparations. As well, Sewall opened up his home to one of the initial afflicted children, Betty Parris, daughter of Salem Village reverend Samuel Parris, and shortly afterward Betty's 'afflictions' appear to have subsided.

Quite apart from his involvement in the trials, Sewall could be very liberal in his views. In The Selling of Joseph (1700), for instance, he came out strongly against slavery, making him one of the earliest white colonial abolitionists. His Diary, 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. As such, it is an important work for understanding the transformation of the colony in the days leading to the American Revolution.

He died in Boston, Massachusetts, and was interred in the family tomb at the Granary Cemetery, Tremont Street, Boston. His grandson Samuel Sewall would later represent Massachusetts in the U. S. Congress."

Content courtesy of Wikipedia with relevant CelebrateBoston internal links added. Distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This page will not be indexed by search engines. w200701

Return to Granary Burying Ground Page