After attending Dummer Charity School (now The Governor's Academy), Sewall graduated from Harvard College (A.B.

[3] From 1800 to 1814 served as a judge of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, becoming chief justice in 1814.

[4] American novelist Louisa May Alcott was Sewall's great niece.

[1] Sewall was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society on June 1, 1814.

[6] Sewall died seven days later on June 8, apparently before he could formally respond, so his disposition regarding membership is unknown.