Name/Title
The diary of Samuel Sewall, 1674-1729 /Entry/Object ID
1988.29.34Secondary Title
Newly edited from the manuscript at the Massachusetts Historical Society by M. Halsey Thomas.Description
Merchant, colonial magistrate, member of the Governor's Council, and diarist, Samuel Sewall 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.
Physical Description: Physdesc.: 2 v. (xxxvii, 1254 p.) illustrated; 25 cm.Acquisition
Accession
1988.29Source or Donor
Storkerson, MarciaAcquisition Method
GiftLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
BookNomenclature Sub-Class
Other DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsSearch Terms
Sewall, Samuel, Colonial period, Sewall, Samuel, 1652-1730., Massachusetts -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.Book Details
Author
Sewall, Samuel, Thomas, Milton Halsey, 1903-1977, editorPublisher
Farrar, Straus and GirouxDate Published
1973Publication Language
EnglishISBN
0374139520Condition
Overall Condition
ExcellentDate Examined
Jun 17, 2021Examined By
Gardner-Westcott, KayNotes
Pristine condition with the exceptionpf vol.1 hinge is starting to become loose next to the title page.Maintenance
Maintenance History
Notes
Kept in a non-archival box that came with the setRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Sewall, SamuelGeneral Notes
Note
Notes: v. 1. 1674-1708.--v. 2. 1709-1729.
Map on the linings of the inside covers.
Front cover embossed with a seal.
Status: OK
Status By: Wescott, Kay
Status Date: 2021-06-17