Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Sewall, Samuel 1652-1730

Jurist; born in Bishopstoke, England, March 28, 1652; graduated at Harvard College in 1671; studied divinity; preached a while; came into the possession of great wealth by marrying the daughter of a Boston goldsmith; became an assistant in 1684, and was annually chosen a member of the council from 1692 until 1725. He was a judge from 1712 until 1718, when he became chief-justice of Massachusetts, resigning in 1728, in consequence of age and infirmities. Judge Sewall shared in the general belief in witches and witchcraft, and concurred in the condemnation of many of the accused persons, but afterwards publicly acknowledged his error. He seems to have been the first outspoken “abolitionist” in the United States, having written a tract against slavery, in which he gave it as his opinion that there would “be no progress in gospelling” until slavery should be abolished. He died in Boston, Mass., Jan. 1, 1730. See witchcraft, Salem.