IN the little hamlet of Bishop's Stoke, among the pleasant slopes of Hampshire, England, and almost within sight of the fair Southampton water, and the distant verdure of the beautiful Isle of Wight, was born, on the 28th of March, 1652, Samuel, son of Henry and Jane (Dummer) Sewall. The family on both sides was ancient and respectable.1 The boy was baptized in Stoke Church, May 4th, 1652, was sent to the grammar school at 1 Mr. Henry Sewall, my great grandfather, was a linen draper in the city of Coventry, in Great Britain. He acquired a great estate, was a prudent man, and was more than once chosen mayor of the city. Mr. Henry Sewall, my grandfather, was his eldest son, who, out of dislike to the English hierarchy, sent over his only son, my father, Mr. Henry Sewall, to New England, in the year 1634, with neat cattel and provisions suitable for a new plantation. Mr. Cotton would have had my father settle at Boston, but in regard of his cattel he chose to goe to Newbury, whither my grandfather soon followed him, where also my grandfather, Mr. Stephen Dummer and Alice his wife likewise dwelled under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Thomas Parker and Mr. Jas. Noyes....But the climate being not agreeable to my grandfather and grandmother Dummer they returned to England the winter following, and my father with them.[Letter of Saml. Sewall in N. E. Gen. Reg., i: 111.] These Dummers lived at Bishop's Stoke before their emigration to this country. [Savage, Gen. Diet., ii. 79, 80.] Rumsey under Master Figes, and sailed from Dover in the spring of 1661, with his mother and five small children and two servants, landing at Boston, July 6, 1661. Here he was educated by Mr. Thomas Parker at Newbury, entered Harvard under Mr. Chauncey, taking his second degree in 1674; on the 28th of February, 1675-6, was married to Miss Hannah Hull, daughter of the famous mint-master,3 by whom he had seven sons and seven daughters, only six of whom lived to mature age, and only three survived him, when, full of years and honors, Chief Justice of the 3 A pleasant story has often been printed that Mr. Mintmaster Hull, on the wedding night, placed his daughter in one side of his great warehouse scales, and poured "pine tree shillings 99 upon the other, until she kicked the beam. Hutchinson, [Hist. Ms., i: 165,] says that her dowry was £30,000 in shillings. Allen, Biog. Dict. Art. Sewall,] says it was that sum in sixpences; but a later writer, [ Coll. Amer. Antiq. Soc., iii: 275,] shows that that would have made her weigh about three tons and three quarters! The lesser sum of £500, whieh is suggested by the ledger of the bridegroom, would come nearer to probability, weighing exactly one hundred and twenty five pounds troy or about the average weight of young ladies of her age. 4 His first wife died many years before him and he subsequently married (2) Widow Abigail Tilley, and (3) Widow Mary Gibbs, who survived him. All his children were by his first wife. Province, Judge of Probate for Suffolk, an earnest member of the Old South Church, and universally beloved, he died, Jan. 1st, 1729-30, aged seventy-seven. His eighth child and sixth son, Joseph, is the subject of the present brief sketch. He was born in Boston, Aug. 15th, 1688, and baptized in the Old South Meeting House-in accordance with the custom of the time-on the first Sunday, it being the fourth day, afterward. He evinced a serious disposition from his earliest days, and his private journals still existing bear the evidence of his diligent and faithful use of the means of grace from his very childhood. He entered Harvard College in 1703, and graduated in 1707, at the same time with Thomas Prince, with whom his after life was associated. He joined the church in Cambridge while connected with the College, and on his graduation applied himself-still at Cambridge-to those studies then deemed essential to the ministry. It speaks volumes for the worth of his character, that the Old South Church-the church of his baptism, childhood, and youth-should have invited him, soon after the completion of his professional course, to become their colleague pastor with the Rev. Mr. Pemberton, who had been left in sole charge by the death of Mr. Willard six years before. His father's journal' gives the following minute account of his ordination, which we insert for the light which it sheds upon the customs of a hundred and fifty years ago. "1713, Sept. 16. Was a very comfortable day for the ordination. Begun a little after ten, [A.] M. Dr. Cotton Mather began with prayer, excellently; concluded about ye bellringing for eleven. My son preached from 1 Cor. iii: 7, 'So then neither is he that planteth anything,' &c. Was a very great assem 51688, Aug. 19th. In ye afternoon Mr. Willard, after sermon, baptized my young son; whom I named Joseph, in hopes of the accomplishment of the prophecy, Ezek. 37th, and such like, and not out of respect to any relation, or other person, except ye first Joseph." MS. Journal of his father. 6 Wisner's Old South, p. 21. ▾ Wisner's Old South, appendix, p. 98. bly. Were Elders and messengers from 9 churches; North,8 Old,9 Colman's, 10 Cambridge, Charlestown, 12 Roxbury, 13 Dorchester, 14 Milton, 15 Weymouth. 16 Twelve ministers sat at the table by the pulpit. Mr. Pemberton made an august speech, showing the validity and antiquity of New England ordinations. Then, having made his way, went on, ask'd, as customary, if any had to say agt. ye ordaining the person. Took the Ch's hand vote. Ch. sat in the gallery. Then declared the Elders and Messengers had desired the ministers of Boston to lay on hands, (Mr. Bridge was indisposed and not there.) Dr. Increase Mather, Dr. Cotton Mather, Mr. Benjamin Wadsworth, Mr. Ebenezer Pemberton, and Mr. Benjamin Colman laid on hands. Then Mr. Pemberton prayed, ordained, and gave the charge excellently. Then Dr. Increase Mather made a notable speech, gave the right-hand-of-fellowship, and prayed. Mr. Pemberton directed the three-and-twentieth psalm to be sung. The person now ordained dismissed the congregation with blessing. The chief entertainment was at Mr. Pemberton's; but was considerable elsewhere, two tables at our house." On the 29th of October following, Mr. Sewall was married to Elizabeth," daughter of Hon. John Walley,18 of Boston. Four years after, in February, 1717, s Increase and Cotton Mather, Pastors. 9 Benjamin Wadsworth and Thomas Bridge, Pastors. 10 Brattle St., Benjamin Colman. 17 Wisner [Hist. Old South, Appendix, p. 98,] and Sprague, [Annals Amer. Pulpit, i: 280] call her Mrs. Elizabeth Walley, and Sprague expressly speaks of Mr. Sewall as her second husband. But Savage [ Gen. Dic. iv. 54, 400] distinctly affirms that this Elizabeth was "daughter of Hon. John Walley." And the Rev. Samuel Sewall, of Burlington, likewise distinctly states that this wife was Miss Elizabeth, "a daughter of Hon. Judge Walley." [Bridgman's Pilgrims of Boston, p. 130.] 18 Hon. John Walley was oldest son of Rev. Thomas Walley, who was born in England in 1616, was Rector of St. Mary's, Whitechapel, was ejected as a non-conformist, came to America 1662, was invited to a charge in Boston, but preferred Barnstable, and was settled there in 1663, preached the Plymouth election sermon in 1669, and died March 24, 1678.[Freeman's Cape Cod, i: 290, 1.] 66 he was left sole pastor of the church, by the death of his colleague. In the July following, Thomas Prince arrived home from Europe, and on the 25th of August, first preached in the Old South pulpit, for his classmate and intimate friend. In December, the church invited him to become associate pastor, and he was ordained in that place, October 1, 1718; he being at that time not far from thirty-one years of age, and Mr. Sewall not far from thirty. This associate ministry was long, harmonious and delightful. Forty years," says one of their successors, 19 "6 were these excellent men, Sewall and Prince, associated in the responsibilities and labors of the pastoral office in this Congregation; furnishing an example of mutual affection and union of purpose and pursuit, to which the annals of collegiate charges will be searched for a parallel, I fear, almost in vain. The journals and other documents that have come down to us, lay open before us the most secret history of these men; and not a solitary instance appears of unpleasant difference of opinion, or of the slightest interruption, in any form, of confidence and affection." Very soon the growth of the Church demanded further accommodations for worshippers, and, in 1721, new pews were built. In 1727, a committee was appointed to estimate the expense of enlarging the house. In 1728 it was decided to pull down and build, by a vote of 41 to 20; but as the minority opposed, progress was slow. March 2, 1729, the last sermons were preached in the old building, which had been standing since 1669, and on the next day Mr. Sewall prayed with the workmen, and they began taking down the house, finishing the work of demolition the next day.20 By the 31st of the month they began the foundation of the present house, which was completed in April of the following year, and first occupied on the Sabbath corresponding to May 7, 1730, (New Style). Mr. Sewall 19 Wisner, p. 24. 20 Sewall's Journal. preached in the morning, from Hagg. ii : 9; and Mr. Prince in the afternoon, from Ps. v: 7. The next year Mr. Sewall received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, from Glasgow, and was appointed a Commissioner of the Scotch Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign parts. Ten years afterwards Mr. Whitfield visited Boston, and the "great revival" was experienced. Both Sewall and Prince promoted and defended the labors of this man of God, and more than one hundred were added to their church.21 "23 On the decease of President Leverett in the year 1724, the Corporation of Harvard College made choice of Mr. Sewall to fill his place, instead of Cotton Mather, who was a prominent candidate, and who, for varied learning and extensive reputation, surely had claims upon the honor. Mather so far forgot himself, in the heat of the moment, as to say, with something too much like a sneer, concerning this election, "this day Dr. Sewall was chosen President for his piety." It was true that Dr. Sewall's piety was regarded as eminent, more eminent perhaps than his strictly scholastic qualifications. And neither he, nor his Church, felt that anything would be gained to him, to them, or to the common cause, by his acceptance of a position which though always honorable and always difficult, was, at that time, made something less honorable and something more difficult than usual by the peculiar position of its affairs, and their peculiar relation to the community. Mr. Sewall therefore declined the appointment and after vainly electing Dr. Colman, the corporation at last succeeded in filling the vacant chair with the Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth, of the first Church in Boston. Mr. Sewall, however, was, in 1728, chosen a Fellow of the corporation, the duties of which office he discharged until the year 1765. 21 Prince's Christian History, ii: 391–412. |