In 1774, he was an Addresser of Governor Hutchinson, and in September of that year his elegant home in Cambridge (which he rented from John Vassal, afterwards Washington's head-quarters, since occupied by the poet Longfellow) was attacked by the mob and much injured. He fled to Boston to escape from the fury of the disunionists. He had ably vindicated the characters of Governors Bernard, Hutchinson and Oliver, he was esteemed an able writer, and a staunch loyalist. He was proscribed in the Conspirators Act of 1779. He resided chiefly in Bristol till 1788, for the education of his children, then he removed to St. John's, N. B., having been appointed Judge of Admiralty for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He immediately entered upon the duties of his office, which he held till his death, which occurred September 26, 1796, at the age of sixty-eight. His widow survived him, and removed to Montreal, where she died January 21, 1810.
Jonathan Sewall, son of the aforesaid, was born at Cambridge, 1766, was educated at Bristol, England, and afterwards resided at Quebec, where he occupied the offices of Solicitor and Attorney General and Judge of the Vice Admiralty Court, until 1808, when he was appointed Chief Justice of Lower Canada, which he resigned in 1838. For many years he was President of the Executive Council, and Speaker of the Legislative Council.
In 1832 he received the degree of Doctor of Law from Harvard College. He died at Quebec in 1840, aged seventy-three. His brother Stephen was Solicitor General of the same Province in 1810 and resided in Montreal. He died there of Asiatic cholera in the summer of 1832.
Samuel Sewall son of Henry Sewall and brother of Major Stephen Sewall, was the first chief justice of Massachusetts. This was the famous Sewall that sat in judgment upon the witches and afterwards repented it, who refused to sell an inch of his broad acres to the hated Episcopalians to build a church upon, who was one of the richest, most astute, sagacious, scholarly, bigoted and influential men of his day, who has left us in his Diary a transcript almost vivid in its conscientious faithfulness of that old time life, where he tells us of the courts he held, the drams he drank, the sermons he heard, the petty affairs of his own household and neighborhood, and where he advised with the governor touching matters of life and death. He married Hannah, the only child of John Hull, the mintmaster, who it is said gave her, on her marriage, a settlement in pine tree shillings equal to her weight. Hull owned a large farm of 350 acres in Longwood, Brookline, which descended to his son-in-law, and was known afterwards as Sewall's Farm.[267]
Samuel Sewall, son of the aforesaid, married Rebecca Dudley, a daughter of the governor. His son, Henry Sewall, born in 1719, died in 1771, was a gentleman much respected, and a lawyer of prominence. His son,
Samuel Sewall, the subject of this article, was born at Brookline, December 31, 1745. Graduated at Harvard College in 1761. He studied law and settled in Boston. His name occurs among the barristers and attorneys who addressed Governor Hutchinson in 1774, and in the Banishment and Proscription Act in 1778, when his large estate which he had inherited from his ancestors, was confiscated. He went to England, and in 1776 was a member of the Loyalist Club, London. Two years later he was at Sidmouth, a "bathing town of mud walls and thatched roofs." In 1780 he was living in Bristol, and on the 19th of June amused himself loyally celebrating Clinton's success at Charleston in the discharge of a two-pounder in a private garden, and three days later was shot at by a highwayman and narrowly escaped with his life. Early in 1782 he was at Taunton, and at Sidmouth. He died at London, after one day's confinement to his room, May 6th, 1811, aged fifty-six years. He was unmarried.
LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO SAMUEL SEWALL IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.
To Edward Kitchen, Wolcott, July 19, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 113; Land 263 A. 1 qr., in Brookline, Thomas Aspinwall E.; marsh road to Charles River N E.; Charles River N.; Thomas Gardner and Moses Griggs S. and S.W.; Solomon Hill S. and S.E.——Land, 16 A. 3 qr., and half of house in Brookline on Sherburn Road and the marsh lane, bounded by Capt. Cook, Samuel Craft and Elisha Gardner.
To John Heath. Nov. 12. 1782; Lib. 136, fol. 102; Land and buildings in Brookline. 9 A. 33 r., Sherburn Road S.E.; a town way N.E.; Mr. Aker N.W.; a town way S.W.——32 A. 3 r., Daniel White and the pound S.W.; road and Joseph Williams S.E.; Joshua Boylston and William Hyslop N.E.; Sherburn Road N.W.——18 A. 2 qr. 5 r., Samuel White N.W.; John Dean S.W. and S.; a town way S.E., said Dean N.E.; S.E. and S.; said town way E.; road N.E.——59 A. 3 qr. 4 r., Benjamin White and Dr. Winchester N.E.; Sarah Sharp S.W.; Samuel White and heirs of Justice White S.E.; Benjamin White N.E.; S.E. and N.E.; Sherburn Road N.E.——23 A. 3 qr. 33 r., Ebenezer Crafts and Caleb Gardner N.W.; said Gardner and Benjamin White S.W.; Moses White S.E.; Benjamin White and Moses White N.E.; Moses White S.E.: a town way N.E.—- 3 A. 28 r, Ebenezer Craft S.W.; S.E. and N.E.; the County line N.W.——8 A. 1 qr., 31 r., Daniel White N.W.; the County line S.W.; David Cook S.E.; heirs of Ebenezer Davis N.E.——5 A. 2 qr. 38 r., said Craft N.W.; saw mill meadow W.; William Heath S. and S.E.; Benjamin White and William Hammon N.E.——7 A. 2 qr., 32 r., Edward K. Walcott S. and W.; Benjamin White S.; William Acker S.E.; John Child E.; Charles River N.; Joseph Adams and Daniel White W.——4 A. 26 r., Moses White W., Esquire White, Ebenezer Craft and a creek S.; Nehemiah Davis and heirs of Caleb Denny S.E.; the marsh road N.
To John Molineux, William Molineux, Aug. 11, 1783; Lib 139, fol. 153; Land and buildings in Boston, Newbury St. W.; Daniel Crosby, John Solely and heirs of Benjamin Church deceased S.; land late of Frederick William Geyer E.; Thomas Fairweather, Sampson Reed, John Homands and Edward Hollowday N.; said Sewall W.; N.; W. and N.
To John McLane, Dec. 18, 1783; Lib. 140. fol. 207; Land and buildings in Boston, Newbury St. W.; said Sewall S.; E.; S. and E.; Edward Hollowday N.