Sewall, Stephen, 1734-1804

Stephen Sewall (1734-1804) earned his Harvard AB in 1761 and taught oriental languages and Hebrew at Harvard from 1761 to 1785. He held the following positions: Instructor in Hebrew (1761-1764), Librarian (1762-1763), and Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages (1764-1785).

Stephen Sewall (1733/4-1804), the first Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages at Harvard College, was considered one of the most accomplished scholars in North America in the late 1700s. As an educator, Sewall utilized a system of teaching languages that emphasized the analysis of verse instead of rote memorization.

Sewall was born on March 24, 1733/4 in York, Maine. He received an AB from Harvard in 1761 and an AM in 1764. On October 6, 1761, Sewall was appointed Harvard’s Hebrew instructor, ending the position's twelve-month vacancy after the resignation of Judah Monis. Initially, Sewall supplemented his income by working as the College butler and librarian. In 1763, Sewall's Hebrew Grammar, printed by R. and S. Draper, became the second Hebrew grammar printed in America. Sewall was named the first Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages on June 19, 1765. He was an active member of the Cambridge community, and was elected a deacon of the First Church of Cambridge in 1777. Following the death of his wife of twenty years, Rebecca Wigglesworth Sewall, in 1783, Sewall’s issues with alcoholism became public, and in 1785 the Board of Overseers removed him from his professorship at the College. In his later years, Sewall published four volumes based on his linguistic research. Sewall died on July 23, 1804.