Samuel Sewall

Judge and merchant, born in Bishopstoke, Hampshire, S England, UK. He went to Boston in 1661, married the daughter of a wealthy shipowner, served as a superior court justice, and became the colony's chief justice (1718). In 1697 he confessed his error in having been partly responsible for sending people to the gallows during the Salem witch trials (1692). He wrote one of the first anti-slavery tracts and left a diary (1674–7, 1685–1729) that remains an incomparable record of the life, mentality, and world of a Puritan of his era.

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. 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. 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.

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.