Sewall, Joseph, 1688-1769

Minister, Old South Church.

Joseph Sewall (1688-1769) served as Minister of the Old South Church of Boston. He was the eighth child of Samuel Sewall (1652-1730), the famous diarist and judge. The younger Sewall graduated from Harvard College in 1707. He was a distant relative of William Bartlett Sewall (1782-1869), Joseph Sewall (1795-1851), and Edmund Quincy Sewall (1828-1908).

Joseph Sewall was born into a privileged and aristocratic Boston family. Educated at Harvard, he became pastor of the prestigious Old South Church. As heir to the orthodox Puritan tradition of Cotton Mather, Sewall preached and wrote in support of traditional New England values, fighting what amounted to a losing battle with the enlightenment and the growing cosmopolitan spirit of the United States. Sewall was an unwavering supporter of the Puritan ethic, and a learned, erudite scholar.