Person Page - 31

     Capt. David Choate was born on 29 November 1757 in Chebacco, Ipswich, Massachusetts.² He married firstly Mary Cogswell on 24 June 1784.² Capt. David Choate married secondly Miriam Foster on 15 October 1791.² Capt. David Choate died on 28 March 1808 at the age of 50.²

     Miriam Foster was born on 28 November 1771 in Chebacco, Ipswich, Massachusetts.² She married Capt. David Choate on 15 October 1791.² Miriam Foster died on 14 January 1853 at the age of 81.²

     Rufus Choate was born on 1 October 1799 in Ipswich, Massachusetts.² He was the son of Capt. David Choate and Miriam Foster.¹ His father's sterling integrity and unusual intellectual endowment marked him as a superior man, and his mother's keen perceptions, ready wit, and native dignity of bearing were remarkable. Rufus was early noted for his insatiable thirst for knowledge, for his tenacious memory, and his extraordinary precocity. He could recite whole pages of Pilgrim's Progress when he was but six years old, and he had perused the greater part of the village library before he was ten.
He entered Dartmouth College at the age of sixteen, after attending the academy at New Hampton, N.H., for a term, and was graduated with the valedictory in 1819. The famous Dartmouth College case was on trial during his undergraduate days, and it was Webster's great speech in connection therewith that so inspired Choate as to lead to his final choice of the law as his profession. After tutoring at Dartmouth for a year, he spent three years in Washington, D. C., studying law under William Wirt, attorney-general of the United States in 1823 was admitted to the bar, and for five years practised at Danvers, Mass. In 1825 he was sent to the state legislature as a representative, and in 1827 as a senator. He was chosen as a representative in Congress in 1830, and distinguished himself by a brilliant speech in the 22nd Congress on the tariff.
He was re-elected in 1832 to the 23rd Congress, but resigned his seat at the close of the first session and removed to Boston, where he devoted himself to his profession, and acquired a reputation as an eloquent, powerful and successful advocate. When in 1841 Daniel Webster accepted the portfolio of state in President Harrison's cabinet, Mr. Choate was elected to fill the seat he had vacated in the senate, and he made several brilliant speeches, notably those on the tariff, the Oregon boundary, the fiscal bank-bill, the Smithsonian institution, and the annexation of Texas. At the close of the term Mr. Webster was returned to the senate, and Mr. Choate once more resumed the practice of his profession. He went to Europe in 1850, and during his brief tour in England and on the continent a most forcible impression was made upon his mind by his observation of the characteristics of the older civilizations of the world, and, in his comparison of these with those of the newer, he saw the perils that were likely to follow a disruption of the union existing between the states. In his earnest desire to avoid such disruption will be found the key to his whole later life, and his last public utterance was an oration in behalf of an undivided nation. In 1852 he was a delegate to the Whig national convention at Baltimore, and there urged the nomination of Daniel Webster for the presidency. He was a delegate to the state convention of 1853, and took an important part in revising the constitution of Massachusetts. In 1856 he supported the Democratic national ticket, and made some speeches in the interest of Buchanan and Breckinridge. Busy as was his life he yet devoted a portion of each day to the study of literature, history, and philosophy, and it was this habit, together with his tenacious memory, which made him one of the most scholarly of public men. He was especially fond of Greek literature, and was only restrained from writing a history of Greece by seeing the early volume of Grote's great work. He contemplated a visit to Europe in 1859, and had proceeded as far as Halifax when his health failed so utterly that his son, who accompanied him, decided to return home, and while resting at the lodgings he had temporarily taken he died suddenly. Among his most famous speeches will always be named: the eulogy on President Harrison (1841); an address upon the anniversary of the landing of the pilgrims (1843); a eulogy on Daniel Webster (1853); an address at the dedication of the Peabody institution in Danvers (1854); an oration before the young men's Democratic club of Boston (1858); two addresses before the law-school at Cambridge, Mass., and two lectures before the Mercantile library association of Boston; but no adequate idea of his wonderful oratory can be obtained from reading his speeches. His works, with a memoir, published in two volumes, was prepared by Samuel Gilman Brown (1862).² Rufus Choate married Helen Olcott on 29 March 1825.³ Rufus Choate died on 13 July 1859 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at the age of 59.²

      A clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church.³ Rev. Thomas Sewall was born on 28 April 1818 in Georgetown ?, DC.^2,4 He was the son of Dr. Thomas Sewall and Mary Choate.² Rev. Thomas Sewall married Julia Elizabeth Waters, daughter of Freeborn G. Waters, on 19 November 1844.² Rev. Thomas Sewall died on 11 August 1870 in Baltimore at the age of 52.²

     Martha Tolman was born circa 1787 in New Hampshire calculated from her age at death.^2,3 She married Daniel Sewall, son of Thomas Sewall and Priscilla Coney, on 12 March 1820.¹ Martha Tolman died on 9 February 1867 in Farmington, Franklin County, Maine.²

     Martha E. Sewall was born on 2 July 1821 in Maine.² She was the daughter of Daniel Sewall and Martha Tolman.¹ Martha E. Sewall married Prof. Lorenzo Dow McCabe, son of Robert McCabe and Polly McCracken, on 28 July 1845 in Wesley Chapel, Washington, D.C..^3,4 Martha E. Sewall died on 7 November 1850 at the age of 29 apparently s.n.p.

      A soldier during the Civil War. Co. E. 24th Maine Regt. otherwise a farmer at Farmington, Maine.^2,3 Samuel Sewall was born on 24 August 1822 in Maine.⁴ He was the son of Daniel Sewall and Martha Tolman.¹ Samuel Sewall married Susan H. Holland on 29 June 1868 in Farmington, Maine.⁵ Samuel Sewall died on 3 March 1889 in Farmington, Franklin County, Maine, at the age of 66.⁶

     Louisa A. Sewall was born on 14 August 1824 in Maine.² She was the daughter of Daniel Sewall and Martha Tolman.¹ Louisa A. Sewall married Lt. Joshua Follansbee on 10 April 1843 in Washington, DC, at the residence of Dr. Sewall by the Rev. John Davis.³ Louisa A. Sewall died on 2 February 1844 in Farmington, Maine, at the age of 19.⁴ She was buried in Center Meeting Cemetery, Farmington, Maine.

     Caroline Amelia Sewall was born on 3 December 1827 in Maine.² She was the daughter of Daniel Sewall and Martha Tolman.¹ Caroline Amelia Sewall married George Thomas Soule, son of Zachariah Soule and Abigail Crosswell, on 3 June 1849 or 7 June 1849 in Farmington, Maine.³ Caroline Amelia Sewall died on 23 October 1898 at the age of 70.¹

     John Sewall was born on 19 February 1790 in Georgetown.³ He was the son of Theodore Sewall and Olive Beal.¹ John Sewall married Cynthia A. Fickett on 21 July 1814.⁴ John Sewall died on 18 June 1870 in Bangor, Maine, at the age of 80.⁵

     Nancy Sewall was born on 19 August 1792 in Georgetown.³ She was the daughter of Theodore Sewall and Olive Beal.²

     John Sawyer Sewall was born in 1802.² He was the son of Theodore Sewall and Olive Beal.¹

     Charles Bayley Sewall was born in 1802.³ He was the son of Theodore Sewall and Olive Beal.²

     Ezekial Emerson Sewall was born in 1802.¹ He was the son of Theodore Sewall and Olive Beal.² Ezekial Emerson Sewall died in 1805.¹

     Phebe Emerson Sewall was the daughter of Theodore Sewall and Olive Beal.²

     Rachel Sewall was born on 4 August 1794.³ She was the daughter of Theodore Sewall and Olive Beal.² The marriage intention of Rachel Sewall and Lt. Thomas Averill was published on 12 December 1813.⁴ Rachel Sewall died in 1849 in Chelsea, Massachusetts, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Rachael Cummings-Holmes.⁴

     Hepsibah Sewall was the daughter of Theodore Sewall and Olive Beal.²

     Rachel Crosby Bradbury was born on 7 March 1794 in Chesterville, Franklin County, Maine.^2,3 She was the daughter of John Bradbury and Priscilla Burbank.² Rachel Crosby Bradbury married Rev. Jotham Sewall, son of Rev. Jotham Sewall and Jenney Sewall, on 24 January 1815 in Chesterville.² Rachel Crosby Bradbury died on 10 November 1837 in Newcastle at the age of 43.²

     Rev. David Brainerd Sewall was born on 18 January 1817 in Chesterville, Franklin County, Maine.^3,1 He was the son of Rev. Jotham Sewall and Rachel Crosby Bradbury.² He was prepared for college at Lincoln Academy. After graduation he was for two years the first principal of Lewiston Falls Academy. He then entered Bangor Theological Seminary and on completing the course was ordained as pastor of the Congregational Church at Robbinston, Maine 19th January 1842. His pastorate there of seventeen years was followed by one of fourteen year at Fryeburg, and by a third of fifteen years at York. Retiring from the active duties of the ministry he settled in 1888 at South Berwick, where the remainder of his life was spent.⁴ Rev. David Brainerd Sewall married Mary Drummond on 6 January 1842 in Bangor, Penobscot, Maine.^3,5 Rev. David Brainerd Sewall died on 13 January 1907 in South Berwick, Maine, at the age of 89 of bronchitis.³

     Rev. Jotham Bradbury Sewall was born on 3 October 1825 in Newcastle, Maine.³ He was the son of Rev. Jotham Sewall and Rachel Crosby Bradbury.² He was prepared for college at the academies at Newcastle, Bluehill, and Yarmouth, Me., and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1848. After teaching a few months at Winthrop and Augusta, Maine, he became principal of the Lewiston Falls Academy, a position he held for two years. In 1851 he was recalled to his alma mater as a tutor in Greek. He then pursued the regular course of theological study at the Bangor Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1854. After further study at the Andover Theological Seminary he became pastor of the Central Congregational Church at Lynn, Mass. A successful pastorate of ten years in that city was terminated by his call to Bowdoin to the professorship of ancient languages. His title was changed in 1873 to professor of Greek, the subject in which he had given instruction during most of this period. In 1877 he resigned his college professorship to accept the headmastership of Thayer Academy at Braintree, Mass. He presided over this new and well-endowed secondary school with marked success for nineteen years. The remainder of his life was given to foreign travel and study and to the interests of several educational institutions with which he was connected.

Professor Sewall received the degree of D.D. from Bowdoin in 1902. He was secretary of the General Association of the Alumni from 1865 to 1879 and its president from 1879 to 1885; he served on the Board of Overseers from 1877; he was a member of the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1895; and he was a trustee of Thayer Academy from 1899. He was a charter member of the American Philological Association and its president in 1877-78.Besides many religious and educational essays, he published in 1865 "Evenings with the Bible and Science" and in 1896 a school edition of the "Timon"of Lucian. During his professorship he was curator of the art collections, and in 1870 issued the first printed catalogue of the Bowdoin paintings. "A classical scholar, an eminent teacher, a Christian gentleman, he was kind and tender, cultivated and pure, without taint of hypocrisy or sham, a lover of men. His was a gracious presence, irradiating cheerfulness and calm courage, the joy of goodness and virtue, the beauty of simplicity." Rev. Jotham Bradbury Sewall married firstly Frances Louisa Swett, daughter of Edward S. Swett and Abigail Mason, on 14 March 1855 at Lewiston Falls, Maine.⁴ Rev. Jotham Bradbury Sewall and Frances Louisa Swett appear on the census of 1 June 1860 at 4th Ward, Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts.⁵ The marriage of Rev. Jotham Bradbury Sewall and Emelyn Louise French was registered in the quarter ending September 1909 in the Liverpool, England Registration District.⁶ Rev. Jotham Bradbury Sewall died on 16 June 1913 in Brookline, Massachusetts, at the age of 87 though Emelyn's passport application gives a date of 14 June 1913.^7,1

     Prof. John Smith Sewall was born on 20 March 1830 in Newcastle, Maine.² He was the son of Rev. Jotham Sewall and Rachel Crosby Bradbury.¹ He was a In 1850, John Smith Sewall graduated from Bowdoin College, Portland, Maine. To pay off college debts, he enlisted in the United States Navy. After basic training, the Navy assigned him to the USS Saratoga as a captain's clerk. Sewall wrote that sea duty meant "two years of waltzing to and fro and flitting up and down the coast" making stops in Manila, the Madjicosima Islands, Macao, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. The Saratoga joined the East Asia Squadron and followed Commodore Perry to Japan in 1853-54, as one of the infamous "Black Ships."
Several years after returning to the United States, Sewall was ordained a Congregational minister. In 1859, he was appointed pastor in Wenham, Massachusetts, where he stayed until 1867. Sewall continued to serve the U.S. military as Chaplain to the 8th Massachusetts Regiment in the Civil War
In the late 1860s, Sewall pursued a career in academia. From 1875 to 1903, he was a professor at his alma mater, Bowdoin. He finished his career at Bangor Theological Seminary as a professor of Homiletics, the art of preaching.
Half a century after his return from Japan, in 1905, Sewall wrote The Logbook of the Captain's Clerk: Adventures in the China Seas, to recount his experiences during the Japan expedition. He is also the author of a half dozen books and a number of essays ranging from theology to history.³ Prof. John Smith Sewall married Louisa B. Benson, daughter of Hon. Samuel Page Benson and Elizabeth Bodwell Mann, on 2 August 1858 in Winthrop, Kennebec, Maine.^4,5 Prof. John Smith Sewall died on 11 October 1911 in Bangor, Maine, at the age of 81. He was buried on 13 October 1911 in Mt. Hope Cemetery Lot Number, 3CG.

     Rev. Grenville P. Sewall was born in September 1841 in Westbrook, Cumberland, Maine.^3,4 He was the son of Rev. Jotham Sewall and Anna Baker.^2,3 Rev. Grenville P. Sewall graduated in 1867 from Williams College and Auburn Theological Seminary in 1870.^5,6 He married Rosamond E. Cole, daughter of Harvey T. Cole and Caroline A. Waterman, on 24 September 1879 in Williamstown, Berkshire County, Maine, the marriage was conducted by A.C. Sewall, Pastor of the Congregational Church in Williamstown. There were three children of this marriage but only one was living in 1900.⁴ Rev. Grenville P. Sewall died on 31 May 1928 in Aurora, New York, at the age of 86.⁶

     Anna Baker married Rev. Jotham Sewall, son of Rev. Jotham Sewall and Jenney Sewall, on 30 November 1838.²

     Margaret Hobbs was born circa 1803 in Cork, Ireland.^2,3 She was the daughter of Justice (unknown) Hobbs.¹ Margaret Hobbs married Col. John Saint-Alban Sewell, son of Chief Justice Jonathan/3 Sewell and Elizabeth Cornfield, in 1821 in Cork, Ireland.⁴ Margaret Hobbs died on 20 July 1849 in Quebec "aged, forty six years" of cholera.² She was buried on 21 July 1849 in Mount Hermon Cemetery, Sillery, Quebec.^2,3

      Of Cork, Ireland.¹

     John Sewell was the son of Col. John Saint-Alban Sewell and Margaret Hobbs.¹

      The principal promoter of winter navigation between Quebec and Levis and built the steamer Northern Lights which plied between P.E.I. and the mainland, for that purpose. He was a harbour commissioner for Quebec.² Edmund Willoughby Sewell was born on 8 November 1825 in Cape of Good Hope.^3,4,5 He was the son of Col. John Saint-Alban Sewell and Margaret Hobbs.¹ Edmund Willoughby Sewell married Lucie Angèle Cloutier, daughter of Joseph Cloutier and Geneveive Ladriere dit Flammand, on 10 November 1854 in Notre-Dame-de-la-Victoire, Lévis, Quebec.⁶ Edmund Willoughby Sewell died on 3 February 1882 in Point Lévis, Quebec, at the age of 56.^7,8 He was buried on 6 February 1882 in Mount Hermon Cemetery, plot 166.^7,1

     Robert Shore Milnes Sewell was born in 1827 in Capetown, South Africa, His father's regiment was in Capetown at the time.¹ He was the son of Col. John Saint-Alban Sewell and Margaret Hobbs.¹ Robert Shore Milnes Sewell married Louisa F. Wicksteed, daughter of F.R. Wicksteed, on 22 March 1856 in St. George's Church, Toronto, Rev. Dr. Lett officiated. Robert Shore Milnes Sewell died in 1901 in Toronto.¹

     Henrietta Elizabeth Story Sewell was born on 6 September 1829.¹ She was the daughter of Col. John Saint-Alban Sewell and Margaret Hobbs.² Henrietta Elizabeth Story Sewell was baptised on 25 May 1830 at Quebec.¹ A contract for the marriage of Francis Neil Primrose and Henrietta Elizabeth Story Sewell was signed on 4 June 1857 at Quebec; before Phillipe Huot, notaire.³

     Margaret Sewell was born on 28 October 1831 in Quebec.¹ She was the daughter of Col. John Saint-Alban Sewell and Margaret Hobbs. Margaret Sewell was baptised on 25 January 1832 by R.R. Burrage, Minister at Aubigny and Point Levi.¹ She died on 8 December 1917 in Lévis, Quebec, at the age of 86.² She was buried on 11 December 1917 in Mount Hermon Cemetery.²