Samuel Sewall Papers 1672-1815; bulk: 1672-1728 Guide to the Collection

Table of Contents Collection Summary Biographical Sketch Collection Description Related Materials Acquisition Information Organization Detailed Description of the Collection Contents of Microfilm Preferred Citation Access Terms Materials Removed

Collection Summary

Biographical Sketch

Merchant, colonial magistrate, member of the Governor's Council, and diarist, Samuel Sewall (1652-1730) played a major role in the activities of the Massachusetts Bay Colony for 56 years.

As a merchant, private banker, and property holder in England and in the colonies, he did business with numerous "cousins" in the mother country, spending a year in England from 1688 to 1689, mainly on private business.

As a legislator, he served in the General Court and later the Governor's Council from 1683 to 1725. He was also successively a magistrate, a justice of the Superior Court, Judge of Probate for Suffolk County, and Chief Justice of the Superior Court. His most dramatic service was as a member of the Commission of Oyer and Terminer, appointed in 1692 to oversee the Salem witchcraft trials--a service for which he sought public forgiveness five years later.

In the civic life of the colony, he was manager of the printing press, an overseer of Harvard College, captain of the South Company of Militia in Boston, a pillar of Boston's Old South Church, and a commissioner of the Company for the Propagation of the Gospel. Among his publications, Phaenomena Quaedam Apocalyptica (1697) gives a New England Puritan's vision of the Apocalypse, and The Selling of Joseph (1700) is the earliest anti-slavery tract in the American colonies.

His marriage of 41 years to Hannah Hull produced 14 children, five of whom survived him. He subsequently married twice more, and unsuccessfully courted Katherine Winthrop, until her stipulations on his lifestyle and a marriage settlement caused him to break off negotiations.

Collection Description

This collection is housed in 15 cased volumes and one narrow box and consists of the sermon notes, account books, correspondence, and miscellaneous manuscripts and notes of Samuel Sewall. Other individuals represented in the collection include Sewall's son, Samuel Sewall, Jr. (1689-1757); Henry Sewall; and Samuel Sewall of Burlington, Mass. Excluded from this collection are Sewall's diaries and related volumes, which can be found in the collection of Samuel Sewall diaries (call number: Special Colls. Sewall).

Some of the documents from this collection and the Samuel Sewall diaries have been microfilmed onto two reels (call number: P-87). See Contents of Microfilm below for a list of the items on the microfilm.

Related Materials

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) holds the following collections related to the Samuel Sewall papers:

Samuel Sewall diaries, 1672-1729. Special Colls. Sewall; P-87 (microfilm). Finding aid available at: http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0243.

Acquisition Information

The Samuel Sewall papers were acquired through gifts, purchases, and deposits, including gifts of the members of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Jan. 1869; purchase, Apr. 1893; gift of Louisa Natt Perkins and Frances Jane Brewer, Feb. 1902; deposit by Mrs. Sarah Salisbury Walker, Apr. 1912; bequest of Robert Cassie Waterston, May 1917; purchase, Oct. 1962; gift of Horatio G. Somerby.

Organization of the Collection

The collection is organized into the following series:

Detailed Description of the Collection

Contents of Microfilm

Listed below are the contents of the two reels of microfilm known as the Samuel Sewall papers (microfilm call number: P-87). These items are now arranged into two collections: the Samuel Sewall diaries (see http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0243) and this collection, the Samuel Sewall papers. In addition to the contents of the reels, the list below also indicates which collection the item is from.

Preferred Citation

Samuel Sewall papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Materials Removed from the Collection

The following issues of the Boston News-Letter (1704-1726) appear to have been removed from the Samuel Sewall papers to the Massachusetts Historical Society's run of this title in the general newspaper collection. A very small number contain underlinings and/or marginal markings, possibly by Samuel Sewall.

26 June 1704 3 July 1704 17 July 1704 24 July 1704 27 Nov. 1704 9 June 1707 16 June 1707 2 July 1711 13 Aug. 1711 20 Aug. 1711 17 Sep. 1711 24 Sep. 1711 6 Oct. 1712 13 Oct. 1712 20 Oct. 1712 3 Nov. 1712 17 Nov. 1712 24 Nov. 1712 8 Dec. 1712 15 Dec. 1712 22 Dec. 1712 29 Dec. 1712 13 Apr. 1713 25 Jan. 1714 15 Feb. 1714 1 Mar. 1714 7 June 1714 28 June 1714 5 July 1714 12 July 1714 2 Aug. 1714 16 Aug. 1714 13 Sep. 1714 6 Dec. 1714

2 May 1715 11 July 1715 (issue missing) 11 June 1716 3 Dec. 1716 13 Jan. 1718 27 Jan. 1718 24 Feb. 1718 3 Mar. 1718 17 Mar. 1718 24 Mar. 1718 12 May 1718 19 May 1718 2 June 1718 21 July 1718 28 July 1718 11 Aug. 1718 25 Aug. 1718 22 Dec. 1718 29 Dec. 1718 2 Mar. 1719 20 Feb. 1721 16 July 1722 25 Feb. 1725* 7 Apr. 1726* 9 June 1726* 23 June 1726

* These issues appear to have been replaced by copies purchased in 1917.