Nielsen Hayden genealogy

Samuel Sewall, Chief Justice of Massachusetts

Male 1652 - 1730  (77 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All

  • Name Samuel Sewall  [1
    Suffix Chief Justice of Massachusetts 
    Birth 28 Mar 1652  Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3
    Baptism 4 May 1652  Stoke Church, Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Gender Male 
    Death 1 Jan 1730  [2
    Burial Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Siblings 2 siblings 
    Person ID I26863  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
    Last Modified 19 Apr 2023 

    Father Henry Sewall,   b. Bef 25 Jun 1615   d. 16 May 1700, Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age > 84 years) 
    Mother Jane Dummer,   b. Abt 1627, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 13 Jan 1701, Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 74 years) 
    Marriage 25 Mar 1646  Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 4, 5
    Notes 
    Family ID F16046  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • Wikipedia: "Samuel Sewall was a judge, businessman, and printer in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, best known for his involvement in the Salem witch trials, for which he later apologized, and his essay The Selling of Joseph (1700), which criticized slavery. He served for many years as the chief justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature, the province's high court."

      Also historically important are the detailed diaries he kept from 1674 to 1729, recording "the people he met, what he read, what he thought, and the births, marriages, and deaths of family, friends, and acquaintances for virtually his entire adult life. In addition to the diaries, letter books, notations in 'interleaved almanacs,' and the journal of his trip to England in 1688 and 1689 all survive." [The Descendants of Henry Sewall, citation details below]

  • Sources 
    1. [S3679] Joseph Lemuel Chester, "The Family of Dummer." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 35:254, 35:321, 1881.

    2. [S3675] The Descendants of Henry Sewall (1576-1656) of Manchester and Coventry, England, and Newbury and Rowley, Massachusetts by Eben W. Graves. Boston: Newbury Street Press, 2007.

    3. [S6886] Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of a Conscience by Richard Francis. London: Harper Perennial, 2006.

    4. [S3679] Joseph Lemuel Chester, "The Family of Dummer." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 35:254, 35:321, 1881., date only.

    5. [S6886] Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of a Conscience by Richard Francis. London: Harper Perennial, 2006., year only.