Stephen Sewell1
M, b. 25 January 1844, d. 8 January 1848
Stephen Sewell|b. 25 Jan 1844\nd. 8 Jan 1848|p450.htm#i19070|Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS|b. 1 Jul 1814\nd. 21 Oct 1868|p450.htm#i931|Isabella Geddes|b. 24 Aug 1812\nd. 24 May 1889|p177.htm#i1168|Stephen Sewell K.C.|b. c 25 May 1770\nd. 21 Jun 1832|p450.htm#i418|Jane Caldwell|b. c 1781\nd. 19 Oct 1847|p65.htm#i918|Dr. James Geddes|d. b 24 Aug 1812|p177.htm#i1169|Sarah H. Boies||p40.htm#i1170|
Stephen Sewell was born on 25 January 1844 in Montreal.1 He was the son of Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS and Isabella Geddes.1 Stephen Sewell was baptised on 25 February 1844 at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal.1 He died on 8 January 1848 in Montreal at the age of 3.2 He was buried on 13 January 1848 in Montreal.2
Citations
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1844.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1848.
Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS
M, b. 1 July 1814, d. 21 October 1868
Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS|b. 1 Jul 1814\nd. 21 Oct 1868|p450.htm#i931|Stephen Sewell K.C.|b. c 25 May 1770\nd. 21 Jun 1832|p450.htm#i418|Jane Caldwell|b. c 1781\nd. 19 Oct 1847|p65.htm#i918|Jonathan/2 Sewell|b. 24 Aug 1729\nd. 27 Sep 1796|p448.htm#i68|Esther Quincy|b. 26 Nov 1738\nd. 21 Jan 1810|p366.htm#i69|James Caldwell|b. c 1746\nd. 1 Feb 1829|p65.htm#i919|Elizabeth Barnes|d. 29 Jul 1827|p28.htm#i921|
Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS was born on 1 July 1814 in Montreal.2 He was the son of Stephen Sewell K.C. and Jane Caldwell.1 Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS was baptised on 7 August 1814 at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal.2 He graduated from Edinburgh in medicine, his dissertation was on intermittent fever. He graduated at the same time as his brother Edward. He married Isabella Geddes, daughter of Dr. James Geddes and Sarah Hannah Boies, on 8 July 1840 in the residence of Charles Geddes, St. James Place, Montreal, the marriage bond is dated 3 July 1840. They had several children all of whom died s.p.3,4 On 16 November 1844 he was installed in the Grand Lodge of the Odd Fellowship in Montreal. Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS died on 21 October 1868 at the age of 54.1
THE LATE S. C. SEWELL, M.D., L.R.C.S., Edin.
It is with deep regret, and sympathy for his afflicted widow, that we announce the death of Stephen Charles Sewell, M.D., &c., which lamentable event took place at his residence, in Ottawa City, C.W. Dr. Sewell was a son of the late Solicitor General for the Lower Province, and nephew of the late Chief Justice Sewell, of Quebec. He studied in Edinburgh, and during his pupilage was elected President of the Royal Medical Society of that city. He commenced practice in Montreal about the year 1836 or 1837. In 1842 he was elected Lecturer on Materia Medica McGill University, and Attending Physician Montreal General Hospital, which posts he held up to the year 1848, when he resigned, and left our city. In 1850, on his return to Montreal, he gain became attached to the faculty of Medicine McGill College, and to the Staff of the Hospital, and lectured on Clinical Medicine up to the year 1852, when he removed to Ottawa.
Dr. Sewell has contributed several papers of value to medical periodicals, and in the pages of our Journal he published, from time to time, the results of his observations. In manner he was kind and affable; as a lecturer he was clear and painstaking. His views on medicine were sound; and though perhaps not brilliant as a teacher, yet he possessed that gentlemanly deportment which endeared him to his pupils. As a practitioner, be possessed a pleasing manner which inspired confidence. His death, though not sudden, was unexpected. Although his health had been failing for several years past, yet no serious apprehensions were entertained of a fatal result, until about a week before the
event. Canada Medical Journal and Monthly Record, Volume 2, p. 334.
THE LATE S. C. SEWELL, M.D., L.R.C.S., Edin.
It is with deep regret, and sympathy for his afflicted widow, that we announce the death of Stephen Charles Sewell, M.D., &c., which lamentable event took place at his residence, in Ottawa City, C.W. Dr. Sewell was a son of the late Solicitor General for the Lower Province, and nephew of the late Chief Justice Sewell, of Quebec. He studied in Edinburgh, and during his pupilage was elected President of the Royal Medical Society of that city. He commenced practice in Montreal about the year 1836 or 1837. In 1842 he was elected Lecturer on Materia Medica McGill University, and Attending Physician Montreal General Hospital, which posts he held up to the year 1848, when he resigned, and left our city. In 1850, on his return to Montreal, he gain became attached to the faculty of Medicine McGill College, and to the Staff of the Hospital, and lectured on Clinical Medicine up to the year 1852, when he removed to Ottawa.
Dr. Sewell has contributed several papers of value to medical periodicals, and in the pages of our Journal he published, from time to time, the results of his observations. In manner he was kind and affable; as a lecturer he was clear and painstaking. His views on medicine were sound; and though perhaps not brilliant as a teacher, yet he possessed that gentlemanly deportment which endeared him to his pupils. As a practitioner, be possessed a pleasing manner which inspired confidence. His death, though not sudden, was unexpected. Although his health had been failing for several years past, yet no serious apprehensions were entertained of a fatal result, until about a week before the
event. Canada Medical Journal and Monthly Record, Volume 2, p. 334.
Children of Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS and Isabella Geddes
- Jane Ann Sewell5 b. 1 May 1841, d. 11 Jan 1848
- Isabella Hannah Sewell6 b. 28 Sep 1842, d. 28 Jan 1848
- Stephen Sewell7 b. 25 Jan 1844, d. 8 Jan 1848
- William Caldwell Sewell8 b. 6 Nov 1845, d. 1847
- Susan Hayden Sewell9 b. 7 Jul 1847, d. 9 Jan 1848
- Francis Georgina Sewell10 b. 14 Jun 1849, d. 4 Oct 1850
- Henry Devereux Sewell11 b. 6 May 1851
Citations
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1814.
- [S79] Edward Marion Chadwick, Ontarian Families, Vol. II p. 85.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral,Actes), 1840.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral,Actes), 1841.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1842.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1844.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1845.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1847.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Lennoxville (Church of England), 1849.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1851.
Stephen Sewell K.C.1
M, b. circa 25 May 1770, d. 21 June 1832
Stephen Sewell K.C.|b. c 25 May 1770\nd. 21 Jun 1832|p450.htm#i418|Jonathan/2 Sewell|b. 24 Aug 1729\nd. 27 Sep 1796|p448.htm#i68|Esther Quincy|b. 26 Nov 1738\nd. 21 Jan 1810|p366.htm#i69|Jonathan/1 Sewall|b. 7 Feb 1692/93\nd. 21 Nov 1731|p424.htm#i60|Mary Payne|b. 6 Jan 1700/1|p340.htm#i63|Judge Edmund Quincy|b. 13 Jun 1703\nd. 4 Jul 1788|p366.htm#i710|Elizabeth Wendell|b. 20 Aug 1704\nd. 7 Nov 1769|p533.htm#i711|
Stephen Sewell K.C. was born circa 25 May 1770 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.2 He was the son of Jonathan/2 Sewell and Esther Quincy.1 Stephen Sewell K.C. married Jane Caldwell, daughter of James Caldwell and Elizabeth Barnes, on 18 June 1801 in Christ Church, Montreal.3
The younger son of a prominent loyalist who was the last British attorney general of Massachusetts, Stephen Sewall was only five when his family emigrated to England at the beginning of the War of American Independence. In 1778 the Sewells settled in Bristol, where Stephen attended grammar school and at home absorbed his parents' fear of democracy and their fervent desire that he and his elder brother, Jonathan, recoup what the family had lost in America.
In 1787 Stephen and his parents recrossed the ocean to join Jonathan, who had earlier immigrated to Saint John, New Brunswick. Stephen followed his brother into the legal office of Ward Chipman, and was called to the New Brunswick bar in 1791. Like Jonathan before him, he decided – later that year – to seek his fortune in the larger colony of Lower Canada, whose governor was Lord Dorchester (Guy Carleton), patron of the loyalists. This decision evinced a permanent character trait: the desire to model his career after that of his elder brother. To the latter he had confessed in 1790, "It has been always my ambition to follow as nearly in your footsteps as I was capable and beleive me it always will be."
After obtaining his commission as a lawyer on 16 Dec. 1791, Sewell established himself in Montreal and began the pursuit of clients, who would soon include many of the leading merchants and wealthier seigneurs. By 1805 he had one of the most flourishing practices in the city, and from it he reputedly drew between £600 and £800 a year. He was less fortunate in his many business investments, among them the Company of Proprietors of the Montreal Water Works, at least one high-risk venture to the West Indies in 1816–17, and extensive speculation in real estate in Lower Canada; he acquired 1,000 acres of land in Grenville Township in 1797, was granted 3,200 acres in Hemmingford Township in 1811, and owned land in Montreal.
Sewell was a staunch adherent of the English party in Lower Canada, and his most notable enthusiasm was ferreting out spies and revolutionaries. Like many others of his party during the wars against revolutionary France, he was convinced that at the appearance of even the smallest French force the Canadians would rise in arms and massacre the British minority. In the aftermath of riots against militia service in 1794 he was one of the organizers of cartridge making and other preparations to defend Montreal against what proved to be a phantom horde of armed habitants. During disturbances protesting the road act of 1796 Sewell believed the story of Montreal tavern-keeper Elmer Cushing that Citizen Pierre-Auguste Adet, the French minister to the United States, had come in person to Montreal to hatch a "plan for the extirpation of the English." With more reason he accepted his informer's claim that one of Adet's agents had attempted to recruit a fifth column. Sewell hurried Cushing down to Quebec to see his brother, then attorney general. Promised an entire township for his evidence, Cushing swore a deposition describing the activities of the agent, David McLane. McLane was arrested in the capital in May 1797, convicted of treason in July, and on the 21st of that month hanged, beheaded, and disembowelled as an example to others.
Sewell remained nervous and alert throughout the Napoleonic period. In 1801 he convinced himself that the parish priests north of Montreal were conspiring to aid a leader of the Canadian party in the House of Assembly, Joseph Papineau, in his determination "to (be) a Buoniparte in this province." A series of fires in the city during the summer of 1803 was put down to the "great design which the Emissaries of France have on this Country," Sewell having earlier decided that Napoleon would "make every possible Exertion to land troops in the Province" and that "the Canadians will join them in numbers." "Heaven only knows," he concluded, "if we do not stand On the brink of destruction." In 1801, and again during a political crisis in 1810, he employed a Canadian informer to report on disloyalty among the captains of militia. Sewell himself joined Montreal's 1st Militia Battalion, a British unit, as an ensign about 1803; he became a captain in 1812. An attempt in 1814 by Canadian lawyers to establish an advocates' society – which Sewell helped to abort– was characteristically interpreted as the work of "Jacobins." Sewell made sure that Jonathan and, through him, the governor were kept informed of his activities, for visible loyalty was a common route to the government posts he coveted.
Sewell's longstanding efforts, and those of his brother, who became chief justice in 1808, succeeded the following year when he was named by Governor Craig to replace James Stuart, recently dismissed for political unreliability, as solicitor general of Lower Canada; the office was worth about £1,700 a year in salary and fees. In November 1809 Sewell won a seat in the House of Assembly for Huntingdon County along with a leader of the Canadian party, Jean-Antoine Panet. The contest had been hotly disputed: after 15 days of polling Panet obtained 897 votes to Sewell's 895, and the loser, Augustin Cuvillier, protested Sewell's election in February 1810. However, Craig dissolved the legislature on 1 March, and in the subsequent elections Sewell was returned along with Joseph Papineau in Montreal East, Stuart being a defeated candidate. Like many others of his circle, Sewell thought Craig's imprisonment of certain Canadian political leaders in March – the so-called Reign of Terror – an heroic and infinitely wise act of statesmanship, but he was soon disappointed to learn that the imperial authority had quietly repudiated any further aggressive actions, including enforcement of claims to royal supremacy over the Roman Catholic Church and a proposed suspension of the constitution. As usual Sewell and his friends proved to be more imperialist than the imperial government.
In 1811 Craig was replaced by Sir George Prevost, who, requiring the support of the population as war with the United States loomed, adopted a conciliatory policy towards Canadian leaders. Sewell and his colleagues in the English party were outraged by the resulting deprivation of influence and patronage they suffered. They responded in part with a series of vitriolic letters to the Montreal Herald in 1814–15 attacking Prevost's civil and military administration. The most damning letters, signed Veritas, attributed the British retreats from Sackets Harbor, N.Y., in 1813 and Plattsburgh in 1814 to cowardice and stupidity on Prevost's part. Suspicious, despite Sewell's denials that he had authored the letters, the governor cleverly ordered him to prosecute the printer and the editor of the Montreal Herald for criminal libel. The editor, Mungo Kay, thereupon revealed that Sewell had written and brought to him in great secrecy an unsigned article entitled "Particulars of the late disastrous affair on Lake Champlain," which was published shortly after the Plattsburgh débâcle. Sewell admitted authorship but asserted that the piece was simply a review of the facts. Although the article was less explicitly critical than the polemics of Veritas, its conclusion left little doubt about what the writer thought of Prevost's strategy. "A few minutes more would have given up the fortifications . . . into our hands, and every American must have fallen, or been made prisoner," he wrote. Instead, "it was thought necessary to check the ardor of the troops" and control of the lake was lost. Sewell was suspended from office immediately, and in July 1816 he was dismissed by Governor Sir John Coape Sherbrooke following a report on the matter by the Executive Council.
Thereafter a great deal of Sewell's energy was expended in seeking rehabilitation. The chief justice operated under a standing injunction to work for his brother's interest whenever an office remotely suitable became vacant and to work fast, since, as Stephen put it in 1825, "there is no time ever to be lost in looking after Appointments." Jonathan pleaded with Governor Lord Dalhousie (Ramsay) to restore the office of solicitor general to his brother, but to no avail. Nor could he, despite repeated attempts, satisfy Stephen's most cherished ambition, which was to follow him to the bench. The chief justice seems, however, to have been able to influence the granting of some minor posts and honours. In any case Sewell was named secretary to boundary commissioner John Ogilvy (1817), a warden of the House of Industry in Montreal (1818), a commissioner for the repair of the Montreal prison (1819), and a commissioner for the construction of the Lachine Canal (1821).
As secretary to Ogilvy, Sewell kept a journal of the boundary commission's work between May and September 1817 along the St Lawrence River from Saint-Régis to Cornwall, Upper Canada. In it he recorded meteorological observations and commented on geological structures, soil conditions, flora, and fauna. He also had a clear eye for revealing details of social life. Thus he remarked that Highland settlers made poor farmers but good militiamen, that it was the women who ran the farms – "in fact they are the supports of their husbands and families" – and that their daughters furnished Montreal with servants. He saw that "the manners of the St Regis Indians are fast changing to European their dress resembles the Canadians." Although the immigrants who passed by in bateau loads on the St Lawrence on their way to Upper Canada were not dressed in rags, there was an "appearance of great want amongst them," and he noted that "they frequently lament having quitted their own country." Their plight touched him, and he found it "a subject of great regret that Government in times of such extreme pressure should have deemed it proper to deprive the new settlers of their rations." He was also highly attentive to economic trends as trade with Upper Canada expanded and the machine age dawned in the colonies. Thus, he observed that Lower Canadian villages such as Vaudreuil, Les Cèdres, and Coteau-du-Lac could be developed around mills and factories using water-driven machinery, and that transportation procedures could be made more efficient on the heavily used section of the St Lawrence between Cornwall and Montreal.
In Montreal Sewell was active in community affairs. Early in the century he served on a committee for the erection of Christ Church. In 1820 he acted as the senior attorney of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning to negotiate the transfer from James McGill's estate of the Burnside property on which McGill College was to be built. He was a principal founder seven years later of the Natural History Society of Montreal, of which he became president. In 1828 he was among the founders of a lawyers' library, which became the Advocates' Library and Law Institute of Montreal in 1830 and ultimately the Montreal bar library; he also served as the library's first president.
As a lawyer Sewell could not equal his brother's ability to go quickly to the nub of a complicated legal problem or to ground a conclusion in general principle as well as precedent. He was able, however, to weigh both sides of a case intelligently; he prepared thoroughly and was well read in both the common and the civil law systems. Sherbrooke's unfavourable opinion of Sewell's capacities at the time of his dismissal can probably be discounted; the lawyer's clientele suggests high competence, and La Minerve, which was hardly sympathetic politically, observed after his death that his "knowledge of law made him one of our leading jurists." In 1827 Dalhousie had appointed him a king's counsel. His talent as a lawyer and his loyalty were much in demand in the spring of 1832 following an election riot in Montreal West during which regular troops had fired on a crowd, killing three Canadians. He acted as legal adviser to the commanding officers, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Fisher MacIntosh and Captain Henry Temple, and in his capacity as king's counsel and doyen of the Montreal bar he later assisted in the deliberations of the Court of King's Bench that resulted in the freeing of the two officers, an outcome ardently desired by Governor Lord Aylmer (Whitworth-Aylmer).
Sewell had less than three weeks to congratulate himself and imagine the favours soon to flow from government. In the early morning of 21 June he was struck down by cholera, and he died a few hours later. He left a comfortable home as well as moveable property valued at nearly £600. The library of more than 900 volumes alone was worth £215. His properties included a farm and lot in the seigneury of Prairie-de-la-Madeleine and 3,400 acres of township lands. However, unfortunate investments had continued to sink him in financial difficulties, and after 1817 he had avoided bankruptcy only through the generosity of his brother; in October 1832 his debts totalled £7,256, of which nearly £3,000 was owed to Jonathan. The estate was insolvent; his widow, Jane, and their six children, of whom two were minors, were obliged to renounce it. F. Murray Greenwood in Dictionary of Canadian Biography.2
Stephen Sewell K.C. was author of Particulars of the late disastrous affair on Lake Champlain, published in the Montreal Herald, 17 Sept. 1814. He may also have written The letters of Veritas, re-published from the "Montreal Herald"; containing a succinct narrative of the military administration of Sir George Prevost, during his command in the Canadas . . . (Montreal, 1815), but this pamphlet may have been the work of John Richardson, as Henry Scadding asserts in Some Canadian noms-de-plume identified: with samples of the writings to which they are appended, Canadian Journal (Toronto), new ser., 15 (1876–78): 332–41.2
The younger son of a prominent loyalist who was the last British attorney general of Massachusetts, Stephen Sewall was only five when his family emigrated to England at the beginning of the War of American Independence. In 1778 the Sewells settled in Bristol, where Stephen attended grammar school and at home absorbed his parents' fear of democracy and their fervent desire that he and his elder brother, Jonathan, recoup what the family had lost in America.
In 1787 Stephen and his parents recrossed the ocean to join Jonathan, who had earlier immigrated to Saint John, New Brunswick. Stephen followed his brother into the legal office of Ward Chipman, and was called to the New Brunswick bar in 1791. Like Jonathan before him, he decided – later that year – to seek his fortune in the larger colony of Lower Canada, whose governor was Lord Dorchester (Guy Carleton), patron of the loyalists. This decision evinced a permanent character trait: the desire to model his career after that of his elder brother. To the latter he had confessed in 1790, "It has been always my ambition to follow as nearly in your footsteps as I was capable and beleive me it always will be."
After obtaining his commission as a lawyer on 16 Dec. 1791, Sewell established himself in Montreal and began the pursuit of clients, who would soon include many of the leading merchants and wealthier seigneurs. By 1805 he had one of the most flourishing practices in the city, and from it he reputedly drew between £600 and £800 a year. He was less fortunate in his many business investments, among them the Company of Proprietors of the Montreal Water Works, at least one high-risk venture to the West Indies in 1816–17, and extensive speculation in real estate in Lower Canada; he acquired 1,000 acres of land in Grenville Township in 1797, was granted 3,200 acres in Hemmingford Township in 1811, and owned land in Montreal.
Sewell was a staunch adherent of the English party in Lower Canada, and his most notable enthusiasm was ferreting out spies and revolutionaries. Like many others of his party during the wars against revolutionary France, he was convinced that at the appearance of even the smallest French force the Canadians would rise in arms and massacre the British minority. In the aftermath of riots against militia service in 1794 he was one of the organizers of cartridge making and other preparations to defend Montreal against what proved to be a phantom horde of armed habitants. During disturbances protesting the road act of 1796 Sewell believed the story of Montreal tavern-keeper Elmer Cushing that Citizen Pierre-Auguste Adet, the French minister to the United States, had come in person to Montreal to hatch a "plan for the extirpation of the English." With more reason he accepted his informer's claim that one of Adet's agents had attempted to recruit a fifth column. Sewell hurried Cushing down to Quebec to see his brother, then attorney general. Promised an entire township for his evidence, Cushing swore a deposition describing the activities of the agent, David McLane. McLane was arrested in the capital in May 1797, convicted of treason in July, and on the 21st of that month hanged, beheaded, and disembowelled as an example to others.
Sewell remained nervous and alert throughout the Napoleonic period. In 1801 he convinced himself that the parish priests north of Montreal were conspiring to aid a leader of the Canadian party in the House of Assembly, Joseph Papineau, in his determination "to (be) a Buoniparte in this province." A series of fires in the city during the summer of 1803 was put down to the "great design which the Emissaries of France have on this Country," Sewell having earlier decided that Napoleon would "make every possible Exertion to land troops in the Province" and that "the Canadians will join them in numbers." "Heaven only knows," he concluded, "if we do not stand On the brink of destruction." In 1801, and again during a political crisis in 1810, he employed a Canadian informer to report on disloyalty among the captains of militia. Sewell himself joined Montreal's 1st Militia Battalion, a British unit, as an ensign about 1803; he became a captain in 1812. An attempt in 1814 by Canadian lawyers to establish an advocates' society – which Sewell helped to abort– was characteristically interpreted as the work of "Jacobins." Sewell made sure that Jonathan and, through him, the governor were kept informed of his activities, for visible loyalty was a common route to the government posts he coveted.
Sewell's longstanding efforts, and those of his brother, who became chief justice in 1808, succeeded the following year when he was named by Governor Craig to replace James Stuart, recently dismissed for political unreliability, as solicitor general of Lower Canada; the office was worth about £1,700 a year in salary and fees. In November 1809 Sewell won a seat in the House of Assembly for Huntingdon County along with a leader of the Canadian party, Jean-Antoine Panet. The contest had been hotly disputed: after 15 days of polling Panet obtained 897 votes to Sewell's 895, and the loser, Augustin Cuvillier, protested Sewell's election in February 1810. However, Craig dissolved the legislature on 1 March, and in the subsequent elections Sewell was returned along with Joseph Papineau in Montreal East, Stuart being a defeated candidate. Like many others of his circle, Sewell thought Craig's imprisonment of certain Canadian political leaders in March – the so-called Reign of Terror – an heroic and infinitely wise act of statesmanship, but he was soon disappointed to learn that the imperial authority had quietly repudiated any further aggressive actions, including enforcement of claims to royal supremacy over the Roman Catholic Church and a proposed suspension of the constitution. As usual Sewell and his friends proved to be more imperialist than the imperial government.
In 1811 Craig was replaced by Sir George Prevost, who, requiring the support of the population as war with the United States loomed, adopted a conciliatory policy towards Canadian leaders. Sewell and his colleagues in the English party were outraged by the resulting deprivation of influence and patronage they suffered. They responded in part with a series of vitriolic letters to the Montreal Herald in 1814–15 attacking Prevost's civil and military administration. The most damning letters, signed Veritas, attributed the British retreats from Sackets Harbor, N.Y., in 1813 and Plattsburgh in 1814 to cowardice and stupidity on Prevost's part. Suspicious, despite Sewell's denials that he had authored the letters, the governor cleverly ordered him to prosecute the printer and the editor of the Montreal Herald for criminal libel. The editor, Mungo Kay, thereupon revealed that Sewell had written and brought to him in great secrecy an unsigned article entitled "Particulars of the late disastrous affair on Lake Champlain," which was published shortly after the Plattsburgh débâcle. Sewell admitted authorship but asserted that the piece was simply a review of the facts. Although the article was less explicitly critical than the polemics of Veritas, its conclusion left little doubt about what the writer thought of Prevost's strategy. "A few minutes more would have given up the fortifications . . . into our hands, and every American must have fallen, or been made prisoner," he wrote. Instead, "it was thought necessary to check the ardor of the troops" and control of the lake was lost. Sewell was suspended from office immediately, and in July 1816 he was dismissed by Governor Sir John Coape Sherbrooke following a report on the matter by the Executive Council.
Thereafter a great deal of Sewell's energy was expended in seeking rehabilitation. The chief justice operated under a standing injunction to work for his brother's interest whenever an office remotely suitable became vacant and to work fast, since, as Stephen put it in 1825, "there is no time ever to be lost in looking after Appointments." Jonathan pleaded with Governor Lord Dalhousie (Ramsay) to restore the office of solicitor general to his brother, but to no avail. Nor could he, despite repeated attempts, satisfy Stephen's most cherished ambition, which was to follow him to the bench. The chief justice seems, however, to have been able to influence the granting of some minor posts and honours. In any case Sewell was named secretary to boundary commissioner John Ogilvy (1817), a warden of the House of Industry in Montreal (1818), a commissioner for the repair of the Montreal prison (1819), and a commissioner for the construction of the Lachine Canal (1821).
As secretary to Ogilvy, Sewell kept a journal of the boundary commission's work between May and September 1817 along the St Lawrence River from Saint-Régis to Cornwall, Upper Canada. In it he recorded meteorological observations and commented on geological structures, soil conditions, flora, and fauna. He also had a clear eye for revealing details of social life. Thus he remarked that Highland settlers made poor farmers but good militiamen, that it was the women who ran the farms – "in fact they are the supports of their husbands and families" – and that their daughters furnished Montreal with servants. He saw that "the manners of the St Regis Indians are fast changing to European their dress resembles the Canadians." Although the immigrants who passed by in bateau loads on the St Lawrence on their way to Upper Canada were not dressed in rags, there was an "appearance of great want amongst them," and he noted that "they frequently lament having quitted their own country." Their plight touched him, and he found it "a subject of great regret that Government in times of such extreme pressure should have deemed it proper to deprive the new settlers of their rations." He was also highly attentive to economic trends as trade with Upper Canada expanded and the machine age dawned in the colonies. Thus, he observed that Lower Canadian villages such as Vaudreuil, Les Cèdres, and Coteau-du-Lac could be developed around mills and factories using water-driven machinery, and that transportation procedures could be made more efficient on the heavily used section of the St Lawrence between Cornwall and Montreal.
In Montreal Sewell was active in community affairs. Early in the century he served on a committee for the erection of Christ Church. In 1820 he acted as the senior attorney of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning to negotiate the transfer from James McGill's estate of the Burnside property on which McGill College was to be built. He was a principal founder seven years later of the Natural History Society of Montreal, of which he became president. In 1828 he was among the founders of a lawyers' library, which became the Advocates' Library and Law Institute of Montreal in 1830 and ultimately the Montreal bar library; he also served as the library's first president.
As a lawyer Sewell could not equal his brother's ability to go quickly to the nub of a complicated legal problem or to ground a conclusion in general principle as well as precedent. He was able, however, to weigh both sides of a case intelligently; he prepared thoroughly and was well read in both the common and the civil law systems. Sherbrooke's unfavourable opinion of Sewell's capacities at the time of his dismissal can probably be discounted; the lawyer's clientele suggests high competence, and La Minerve, which was hardly sympathetic politically, observed after his death that his "knowledge of law made him one of our leading jurists." In 1827 Dalhousie had appointed him a king's counsel. His talent as a lawyer and his loyalty were much in demand in the spring of 1832 following an election riot in Montreal West during which regular troops had fired on a crowd, killing three Canadians. He acted as legal adviser to the commanding officers, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Fisher MacIntosh and Captain Henry Temple, and in his capacity as king's counsel and doyen of the Montreal bar he later assisted in the deliberations of the Court of King's Bench that resulted in the freeing of the two officers, an outcome ardently desired by Governor Lord Aylmer (Whitworth-Aylmer).
Sewell had less than three weeks to congratulate himself and imagine the favours soon to flow from government. In the early morning of 21 June he was struck down by cholera, and he died a few hours later. He left a comfortable home as well as moveable property valued at nearly £600. The library of more than 900 volumes alone was worth £215. His properties included a farm and lot in the seigneury of Prairie-de-la-Madeleine and 3,400 acres of township lands. However, unfortunate investments had continued to sink him in financial difficulties, and after 1817 he had avoided bankruptcy only through the generosity of his brother; in October 1832 his debts totalled £7,256, of which nearly £3,000 was owed to Jonathan. The estate was insolvent; his widow, Jane, and their six children, of whom two were minors, were obliged to renounce it. F. Murray Greenwood in Dictionary of Canadian Biography.2
Stephen Sewell K.C. was author of Particulars of the late disastrous affair on Lake Champlain, published in the Montreal Herald, 17 Sept. 1814. He may also have written The letters of Veritas, re-published from the "Montreal Herald"; containing a succinct narrative of the military administration of Sir George Prevost, during his command in the Canadas . . . (Montreal, 1815), but this pamphlet may have been the work of John Richardson, as Henry Scadding asserts in Some Canadian noms-de-plume identified: with samples of the writings to which they are appended, Canadian Journal (Toronto), new ser., 15 (1876–78): 332–41.2
Children of Stephen Sewell K.C. and Jane Caldwell
- Elizabeth Caldwell Sewell4 b. 11 Apr 1802, d. 9 Jan 1803
- Helen Louisa Sewell4 b. 16 Sep 1803, d. 18 Feb 1806
- Charlotte Sewell+4 b. 26 Oct 1804, d. 1888
- Augusta Sewell+4 b. 12 Aug 1806, d. 22 Nov 1888
- Sophia Sewell4 b. 6 Feb 1808, d. 17 Sep 1828
- Mary Sewell+4 b. 24 Jun 1809, d. 8 May 1875
- Dr. Edward Quincy Sewell+4 b. 26 Apr 1811, d. 26 Nov 1872
- James Caldwell Sewell4 b. 1 Feb 1813, d. 17 Jun 1813
- Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS+4 b. 1 Jul 1814, d. 21 Oct 1868
- Jane Ann Sewell+4 b. 23 Aug 1816, d. 3 Jan 1890
- William Caldwell Sewell4 b. 27 May 1818, d. 21 Jul 1819
- John Sayer Sewell4 b. 24 Jun 1820, d. 5 Jul 1820
Citations
- [S2] Ancestor of J.E. McClellan, McClellan Family Tree.
- [S58] Various Editors, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967.Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral,Actes), 1801.
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
Stephen St. Albans Sewell1
M, b. 14 March 1861, d. 15 August 1949
Stephen St. Albans Sewell|b. 14 Mar 1861\nd. 15 Aug 1949|p450.htm#i1388|Robert Shore Milnes Sewell|b. 1827\nd. 15 Feb 1901|p449.htm#i1076|Louisa F. Wicksteed|b. 11 May 1835\nd. 9 Oct 1918|p541.htm#i1386|Col. John S. Sewell|b. 1793\nd. 21 Apr 1875|p448.htm#i917|Margaret Hobbs|b. c 1803\nd. 20 Jul 1849|p228.htm#i1072|F.R. Wicksteed||p541.htm#i8064||||
Stephen St. Albans Sewell. Accountant.2 He was born on 14 March 1861 in Toronto.1 He was the son of Robert Shore Milnes Sewell and Louisa F. Wicksteed.1 Stephen St. Albans Sewell was living in 96 Spencer Avenue, Toronto.1 He married Clara Priscilla Lepper, daughter of Mathew Lepper and Jane (Unknown), on 12 January 1888 in Trinity Church, Aurora, York, Ontario.2 Stephen St. Albans Sewell died on 15 August 1949 in Bethasda Hospital, Lansing, Michigan, at the age of 88.1 He was buried St. James Cemetery after a service at St. Mark's Church.1
Children of Stephen St. Albans Sewell and Clara Priscilla Lepper
- Geraldine W. Sewell3 b. 23 Nov 1888, d. 7 Mar 1924
- Allan St. Albans Sewell1 b. 5 Jul 1890, d. 1974
- Harold McDonald Sewell1 b. 20 Nov 1891, d. 1977
- Adrian Valentine Sewell4 b. 20 Nov 1891
- Stephen St. Albans Sewell Jr.+1 b. 13 Sep 1896, d. 1963
- Claudia Mary Sewell+1 b. 1902, d. 1973
Stephen St. Albans Sewell Jr.1
M, b. 13 September 1896, d. 1963
Stephen St. Albans Sewell Jr.|b. 13 Sep 1896\nd. 1963|p450.htm#i1823|Stephen St. Albans Sewell|b. 14 Mar 1861\nd. 15 Aug 1949|p450.htm#i1388|Clara Priscilla Lepper|b. 16 Sep 1866\nd. 1963|p268.htm#i1819|Robert S. M. Sewell|b. 1827\nd. 15 Feb 1901|p449.htm#i1076|Louisa F. Wicksteed|b. 11 May 1835\nd. 9 Oct 1918|p541.htm#i1386|Mathew Lepper||p268.htm#i17336|Jane (Unknown)||p6.htm#i18756|
Stephen St. Albans Sewell Jr. was born on 13 September 1896.2 He was the son of Stephen St. Albans Sewell and Clara Priscilla Lepper.1 Stephen St. Albans Sewell Jr. married Alison Bernard Earle Walker on 5 June 1929 in Westmount, Quebec.3 In 1933 Stephen St. Albans Sewell Jr. and Alison Bernard Earle Walker was living at 3255 Cedar Avenue, Montreal.4 Stephen St. Albans Sewell Jr. died in 1963.1
Citations
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
- [S226] 1901 Canadian Census.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Westmount (United Church, Melville), 1929.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1933.
Stephen William Sewell
M, b. 18 September 1833, d. 2 April 1861
Stephen William Sewell|b. 18 Sep 1833\nd. 2 Apr 1861|p450.htm#i1079|Col. John Saint-Albans Sewell|b. 1793\nd. 21 Apr 1875|p448.htm#i917|Margaret Hobbs|b. c 1803\nd. 20 Jul 1849|p228.htm#i1072|Chief Justice Jonathan/3 Sewell|b. 6 Jun 1766\nd. 11 Nov 1839|p448.htm#i70|Elizabeth Cornfield||p99.htm#i506|Justice (unknown) Hobbs||p228.htm#i1073||||
Stephen William Sewell was born on 18 September 1833 in Quebec.2,3 He was the son of Col. John Saint-Albans Sewell and Margaret Hobbs.1 Stephen William Sewell was baptised on 29 November 1833 at Quebec.3 On 9 November 1855 he was commissioned into the 86th Regiment of Foot (Royal County Down), he served in Central India under Sir Hugh Rose, and was present at the siege, storm and capture of Chandaree, the battle of Betwa River (31 March 1858), he was severely wounded on 3 April 1858 in the final attack on the breach in the walls of Jhansi. He was mentioned in despatches for his bravery and conduct in the siege.
His name appears in the The Indian Mutiny Medal Roll (British Forces) 1857-1859 as being in the 86th Foot though Roy has him in the 88th Foot. In fact he transferred on exchange with a Lt. Joshua Bowness from the 86th to 89th Foot with effect from 30 May 1859. His entire service was in India.4,5 He died on 2 April 1861 in Allahabad, India, at the age of 27 following a fall from a horse whislt steeple chasing. Roy calls the town "Amullabad."6
His name appears in the The Indian Mutiny Medal Roll (British Forces) 1857-1859 as being in the 86th Foot though Roy has him in the 88th Foot. In fact he transferred on exchange with a Lt. Joshua Bowness from the 86th to 89th Foot with effect from 30 May 1859. His entire service was in India.4,5 He died on 2 April 1861 in Allahabad, India, at the age of 27 following a fall from a horse whislt steeple chasing. Roy calls the town "Amullabad."6
Citations
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
- [S378] Pierre-Georges Roy, Fils de Québec, quatrième série, p. 131.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Québec (Anglican) (Québec (Anglican Cathedral Holy Trinity church)), 1833.
- [S134] H.G. Hart, Army List, 1860, p. 326.
- [S378] Pierre-Georges Roy, Fils de Québec, quatrième série, p. 131-132.
- [S378] Pierre-Georges Roy, Fils de Québec, quatrième série, p. 132.
Susan Georgina Sewell1
F, b. 18 May 1830, d. 18 May 1830
Susan Georgina Sewell|b. 18 May 1830\nd. 18 May 1830|p450.htm#i1093|Rev. Edmund Willoughby Sewell|b. 3 Sep 1800\nd. 24 Oct 1890|p445.htm#i177|Susan Stewart|b. 12 Oct 1803\nd. 25 Jul 1839|p471.htm#i178|Chief Justice Jonathan/3 Sewell|b. 6 Jun 1766\nd. 11 Nov 1839|p448.htm#i70|Henrietta Smith|b. 6 Feb 1776\nd. 26 May 1849|p457.htm#i172|Hon. Montgomery G. J. Stewart|b. 15 Apr 1780\nd. 11 Jan 1860|p471.htm#i1089|Catherine Honeyman|b. 1780\nd. 16 Jan 1833|p232.htm#i1091|
Susan Georgina Sewell was born on 18 May 1830.2 She was baptised on 18 May 1830 at Chapel of the Holy Trinity privately by her father the Rev. E.W. Sewell.1 She was the daughter of Rev. Edmund Willoughby Sewell and Susan Stewart.2 Susan Georgina Sewell was buried on 19 May 1830 in Quebec.1 She died on 18 May 1830 in Quebec.1
Susan Hayden Sewell1
F, b. 7 July 1847, d. 9 January 1848
Susan Hayden Sewell|b. 7 Jul 1847\nd. 9 Jan 1848|p450.htm#i19069|Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS|b. 1 Jul 1814\nd. 21 Oct 1868|p450.htm#i931|Isabella Geddes|b. 24 Aug 1812\nd. 24 May 1889|p177.htm#i1168|Stephen Sewell K.C.|b. c 25 May 1770\nd. 21 Jun 1832|p450.htm#i418|Jane Caldwell|b. c 1781\nd. 19 Oct 1847|p65.htm#i918|Dr. James Geddes|d. b 24 Aug 1812|p177.htm#i1169|Sarah H. Boies||p40.htm#i1170|
Susan Hayden Sewell was born on 7 July 1847 in Montreal.1 She was the daughter of Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS and Isabella Geddes.1 Susan Hayden Sewell was baptised on 8 August 1847 at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal, This baptism took place at the same time as that for Sophia Mann Durnford.1 She died on 9 January 1848.2 She was buried on 13 January 1848 in Montreal.2
Citations
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1847.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1848.
Thomas Joseph Sewell1
M, b. 1938, d. 1960
Thomas Joseph Sewell|b. 1938\nd. 1960|p450.htm#i2294|Willoughby de Quincy Sewell|b. 15 Mar 1906\nd. 17 Nov 1938|p450.htm#i1902||||John E. T. Sewell|b. 30 Apr 1880\nd. 12 Jan 1923|p448.htm#i1457|Emma M. Ricker|b. 22 Oct 1886\nd. 4 Dec 1980|p377.htm#i1901|||||||
Thomas Joseph Sewell was born in 1938.1 He was the son of Willoughby de Quincy Sewell.1 Thomas Joseph Sewell died in 1960 killed in a motor accident.1
Citations
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
William Caldwell Sewell1
M, b. 27 May 1818, d. 21 July 1819
William Caldwell Sewell|b. 27 May 1818\nd. 21 Jul 1819|p450.htm#i933|Stephen Sewell K.C.|b. c 25 May 1770\nd. 21 Jun 1832|p450.htm#i418|Jane Caldwell|b. c 1781\nd. 19 Oct 1847|p65.htm#i918|Jonathan/2 Sewell|b. 24 Aug 1729\nd. 27 Sep 1796|p448.htm#i68|Esther Quincy|b. 26 Nov 1738\nd. 21 Jan 1810|p366.htm#i69|James Caldwell|b. c 1746\nd. 1 Feb 1829|p65.htm#i919|Elizabeth Barnes|d. 29 Jul 1827|p28.htm#i921|
William Caldwell Sewell was born on 27 May 1818.1 He was the son of Stephen Sewell K.C. and Jane Caldwell.1 William Caldwell Sewell was baptised on 14 September 1818 at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal.2 He died on 21 July 1819 at the age of 1.1
William Caldwell Sewell1
M, b. 6 November 1845, d. 1847
William Caldwell Sewell|b. 6 Nov 1845\nd. 1847|p450.htm#i19067|Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS|b. 1 Jul 1814\nd. 21 Oct 1868|p450.htm#i931|Isabella Geddes|b. 24 Aug 1812\nd. 24 May 1889|p177.htm#i1168|Stephen Sewell K.C.|b. c 25 May 1770\nd. 21 Jun 1832|p450.htm#i418|Jane Caldwell|b. c 1781\nd. 19 Oct 1847|p65.htm#i918|Dr. James Geddes|d. b 24 Aug 1812|p177.htm#i1169|Sarah H. Boies||p40.htm#i1170|
William Caldwell Sewell was born on 6 November 1845.1 He was the son of Dr. Stephen Charles Sewell MD, LRCS and Isabella Geddes.1 William Caldwell Sewell was baptised on 7 December 1845 at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal, this baptism took place at the same time as that of Philip Walker Durnford.1 He died in 1847 in Montreal.2
Citations
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, Actes), 1845.
- [S34] Unverified internet information, http://pistard.banq.qc.ca/apex/f (November 2009).
William Cullen Sewell1
M, b. 21 June 1929, d. 15 October 1983
William Cullen Sewell|b. 21 Jun 1929\nd. 15 Oct 1983|p450.htm#i2239|William Frederick Sewell|b. 20 Aug 1899\nd. b 1946|p450.htm#i1839|Mabel Inez McKnight|b. 5 Dec 1895|p300.htm#i2238|William E. Sewell|b. 22 Apr 1859\nd. 14 Nov 1911|p450.htm#i1396|Sara C. Owens|b. 11 Aug 1860\nd. 12 Jun 1924|p333.htm#i1832|John McKnight|b. 1865\nd. 1931|p300.htm#i2244|Matilda Holterman|b. 1858\nd. 1932|p231.htm#i2245|
William Cullen Sewell was born on 21 June 1929 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.1 He was the son of William Frederick Sewell and Mabel Inez McKnight.1 William Cullen Sewell died on 15 October 1983 in Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the age of 54.2
William Edwards Sewell1
M, b. 22 April 1859, d. 14 November 1911
William Edwards Sewell|b. 22 Apr 1859\nd. 14 Nov 1911|p450.htm#i1396|Frederick George Sewell|b. 31 Mar 1835\nd. 10 Mar 1868|p446.htm#i355|Jane Edwards|b. 20 Mar 1840\nd. 10 Apr 1916|p147.htm#i1392|Sheriff William S. Sewell|b. 28 May 1798\nd. 1 Jun 1866|p450.htm#i174|Mary I. Smith|b. 14 Jan 1802\nd. 16 Jan 1842|p459.htm#i175|Capt. Richard Edwards|b. 1809|p147.htm#i1393|Jane Pryor|b. 1816\nd. 1897|p359.htm#i1394|
William Edwards Sewell was born on 22 April 1859 in Houghton, Michigan.1 He was the son of Frederick George Sewell and Jane Edwards.1 William Edwards Sewell married Sara Cullen Owens, daughter of George Owens and Mary Cullen, on 23 November 1887 in Lake Lindeir, Michigan.1 He was a Captain of a boat on the Great Lakes.1 William Edwards Sewell died on 14 November 1911 in Houghton at the age of 52.1 He was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Houghton.1
Children of William Edwards Sewell and Sara Cullen Owens
- Arthur Courtney Sewell+1 b. Jul 1889, d. 28 Jun 1959
- Herbert Clarence Sewell1 b. Jan 1891, d. a 13 Jun 1900
- Estelle Mary Sewell1 b. 23 Jul 1892, d. c 1970
- Jennie Edwards Sewell1 b. 5 Jan 1897, d. 4 Mar 1963
- William Frederick Sewell+1 b. 20 Aug 1899, d. b 1946
- Helen Constance Sewell+1 b. 1 Feb 1902, d. 12 Aug 1956
Citations
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
William Frederick Sewell1
M, b. 20 August 1899, d. before 1946
William Frederick Sewell|b. 20 Aug 1899\nd. b 1946|p450.htm#i1839|William Edwards Sewell|b. 22 Apr 1859\nd. 14 Nov 1911|p450.htm#i1396|Sara Cullen Owens|b. 11 Aug 1860\nd. 12 Jun 1924|p333.htm#i1832|Frederick G. Sewell|b. 31 Mar 1835\nd. 10 Mar 1868|p446.htm#i355|Jane Edwards|b. 20 Mar 1840\nd. 10 Apr 1916|p147.htm#i1392|George Owens||p333.htm#i1833|Mary Cullen||p110.htm#i1834|
William Frederick Sewell was born on 20 August 1899 in Houghton, Michigan.1 He was the son of William Edwards Sewell and Sara Cullen Owens.1 He was a an electrician at Giddings & Lewis machine shop.1 William Frederick Sewell married Mabel Inez McKnight, daughter of John McKnight and Matilda Holterman, on 26 December 1923 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.1 William Frederick Sewell died before 1946.1
Child of William Frederick Sewell and Mabel Inez McKnight
- William Cullen Sewell1 b. 21 Jun 1929, d. 15 Oct 1983
Citations
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
William George Grant Sewell1,2
M, b. 24 April 1829, d. 9 August 1862
William George Grant Sewell|b. 24 Apr 1829\nd. 9 Aug 1862|p450.htm#i353|Sheriff William Smith Sewell|b. 28 May 1798\nd. 1 Jun 1866|p450.htm#i174|Mary Isabella Smith|b. 14 Jan 1802\nd. 16 Jan 1842|p459.htm#i175|Chief Justice Jonathan/3 Sewell|b. 6 Jun 1766\nd. 11 Nov 1839|p448.htm#i70|Henrietta Smith|b. 6 Feb 1776\nd. 26 May 1849|p457.htm#i172|Dr. Thomas Smith||p460.htm#i1083||||
William George Grant Sewell was born on 24 April 1829 in Quebec.3,4 He was the son of Sheriff William Smith Sewell and Mary Isabella Smith.1 William George Grant Sewell was baptised on 24 June 1829 at Quebec.4 Admitted to the bar, though he did not practice, his interest was journalism. In 1853 he moved to New York where he worked as translator and editor of legal matters for the Herald; soon after he became editor of the Times where his talent and hard work was no less appreciated.
Troubled by tuberculosis he took a long trip to South America. The Times then published a series of his letters concerning the emancipation of the negroes and their position in the colonies. These letters were subsequently published in book form in 1861 in New York and 1862 in London under the title Ordeal of Free Labour in the British West Indies.5 He died on 9 August 1862 in Quebec at the age of 33 of tuberculosis. He was unmarried.6,7,8,9 He was buried on 11 August 1862 in Mount Hermon Cemetery, Q279, Sillery, Quebec.8,9
Troubled by tuberculosis he took a long trip to South America. The Times then published a series of his letters concerning the emancipation of the negroes and their position in the colonies. These letters were subsequently published in book form in 1861 in New York and 1862 in London under the title Ordeal of Free Labour in the British West Indies.5 He died on 9 August 1862 in Quebec at the age of 33 of tuberculosis. He was unmarried.6,7,8,9 He was buried on 11 August 1862 in Mount Hermon Cemetery, Q279, Sillery, Quebec.8,9
Citations
- [S2] Ancestor of J.E. McClellan, McClellan Family Tree.
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
- [S378] Pierre-Georges Roy, Fils de Québec, quatrième série, p. 100.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Québec (Anglican) (Québec (Anglican Cathedral Holy Trinity church)), 1829.
- [S378] Pierre-Georges Roy, Fils de Québec, quatrième série, p. 100-101.
- [S26] Hector Livingston Duff, Sewells in the New World, p.90.
- [S378] Pierre-Georges Roy, Fils de Québec, quatrième série, p. 101.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Québec (Anglican) (Québec (Holy Trinity church)), 1862.
- [S522] Gordon A. Morley and William J. Park, Mount Hermon Cemetery, Q279.
Sheriff William Smith Sewell1
M, b. 28 May 1798, d. 1 June 1866
Sheriff William Smith Sewell|b. 28 May 1798\nd. 1 Jun 1866|p450.htm#i174|Chief Justice Jonathan/3 Sewell|b. 6 Jun 1766\nd. 11 Nov 1839|p448.htm#i70|Henrietta Smith|b. 6 Feb 1776\nd. 26 May 1849|p457.htm#i172|Jonathan/2 Sewell|b. 24 Aug 1729\nd. 27 Sep 1796|p448.htm#i68|Esther Quincy|b. 26 Nov 1738\nd. 21 Jan 1810|p366.htm#i69|Chief Justice Hon. William Smith|b. 18 Jun 1728\nd. 3 Dec 1793|p461.htm#i173|Jennet Livingston|b. 1 Nov 1730\nd. 1 Nov 1819|p276.htm#i916|
Sheriff William Smith Sewell was born on 28 May 1798 in Quebec City.2 He was the son of Chief Justice Jonathan/3 Sewell and Henrietta Smith. Sheriff William Smith Sewell was baptised on 17 June 1798 at Quebec by Salter Jehosaphat Mountain.2 He was appointed on 13 November 1822, Sheriff of the District of Quebec a position he filled for 44 years.3 He married his first wife Mary Isabella Smith, daughter of Dr. Thomas Smith, on 14 January 1827 in Paddington Church, London, the service was conducted by Rev. John Percival, Minister of Oxford Chapel.4 Sheriff William Smith Sewell married secondly Lavinia Marian Griffin, daughter of Surgeon George Griffin and Mary [Unknown], on 20 February 1843 in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, (marriage bond dated 16 February 1843).5 Sheriff William Smith Sewell died on 1 June 1866 in Quebec at the age of 68 of congestion of the lungs.6,7 He was buried on 5 June 1866 in Mount Hermon Cemetery Q-223, Sillery, Quebec,, by the Rev. Botwood.6,7,8
Children of Sheriff William Smith Sewell and Mary Isabella Smith
- Mary Georgina Sewell+3 b. 6 Nov 1827, d. 16 Jun 1898
- William George Grant Sewell3 b. 24 Apr 1829, d. 9 Aug 1862
- Geraldine May Sewell+3 b. 19 Nov 1830, d. 30 Apr 1898
- Frank Colden Sewell9 b. 16 Nov 1831, d. 1 Mar 1833
- Gertrude Sewell3 b. 2 Aug 1833, d. Dec 1859
- Arthur Sewell3 b. 31 Mar 1835, d. 5 Jun 1837
- Frederick George Sewell+3 b. 31 Mar 1835, d. 10 Mar 1868
- Winfrid Sewell10 b. 3 Jun 1836, d. 16 Feb 1837
- Alice Sewell+3 b. 7 Aug 1838, d. 18 Apr 1921
- Henry George Sewell+9 b. 25 Mar 1840, d. 22 May 1881
- Herbert de Quincy Sewell3 b. 7 Jan 1842, d. 19 Jan 1874
- Isabel Grace Sewell+3 b. 7 Jan 1842, d. 22 Feb 1912
Children of Sheriff William Smith Sewell and Lavinia Marian Griffin
- Arthur Livingston Sewell+ b. 9 Feb 1844, d. 14 Apr 1896
- Sophie Janet Sewell+3 b. 4 May 1846, d. 4 Apr 1891
- Maude Lavinia Sewell+3 b. 4 Apr 1848, d. Jun 1882
- Edith Sewell9 b. 14 Jan 1851, d. 23 Nov 1856
- Marion Ruth Sewell3 b. 15 Apr 1855, d. 19 May 1898
Citations
- [S133] Robert Sewell, Information from Robert Sewell.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Québec (Anglican) (Québec (Anglican Cathedral Holy Trinity church)), 1796-1800.
- [S2] Ancestor of J.E. McClellan, McClellan Family Tree.
- [S205] Newspaper, New-York Spectator, (New York, NY) Friday, March 02, 1827.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, 1843.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Québec (Anglican) (Québec (Holy Trinity church)), 1866.
- [S454] Website Archives nationales du Québec (http://pistard.banq.qc.ca) "Registre d'inhumation du Mount Hermon Cemetery, 1848-1904."
- [S522] Gordon A. Morley and William J. Park, Mount Hermon Cemetery, Q279.
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Québec (Anglican) (Québec (Anglican Cathedral Holy Trinity church)) > 1837.
Willoughby de Quincy Sewell1
M, b. 13 February 1835, d. 29 May 1911
Willoughby de Quincy Sewell|b. 13 Feb 1835\nd. 29 May 1911|p450.htm#i1095|Rev. Edmund Willoughby Sewell|b. 3 Sep 1800\nd. 24 Oct 1890|p445.htm#i177|Susan Stewart|b. 12 Oct 1803\nd. 25 Jul 1839|p471.htm#i178|Chief Justice Jonathan/3 Sewell|b. 6 Jun 1766\nd. 11 Nov 1839|p448.htm#i70|Henrietta Smith|b. 6 Feb 1776\nd. 26 May 1849|p457.htm#i172|Hon. Montgomery G. J. Stewart|b. 15 Apr 1780\nd. 11 Jan 1860|p471.htm#i1089|Catherine Honeyman|b. 1780\nd. 16 Jan 1833|p232.htm#i1091|

Willoughby De Quincy Sewell
taken in London
taken in London
Citations
- [S50] British Census 1881.
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
- [S226] 1901 Canadian Census.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Québec (Anglican) (Québec (Holy Trinity church)), 1911.
- [S522] Gordon A. Morley and William J. Park, Mount Hermon Cemetery, W42.
Willoughby de Quincy Sewell1
M, b. 15 March 1906, d. 17 November 1938
Willoughby de Quincy Sewell|b. 15 Mar 1906\nd. 17 Nov 1938|p450.htm#i1902|John Edward Taylor Sewell|b. 30 Apr 1880\nd. 12 Jan 1923|p448.htm#i1457|Emma Mae Ricker|b. 22 Oct 1886\nd. 4 Dec 1980|p377.htm#i1901|Edmund W. L. Sewell|b. 27 Feb 1833\nd. 29 Jul 1881|p445.htm#i1094|Mary E. A. Hall|b. 14 Sep 1845\nd. 1 May 1890|p205.htm#i1453|||||||
Willoughby de Quincy Sewell was born on 15 March 1906 in East Lebanon, Maine.1 He was the son of John Edward Taylor Sewell and Emma Mae Ricker.1 Willoughby de Quincy Sewell died on 17 November 1938 in Victorville, Maine, at the age of 32.1
Child of Willoughby de Quincy Sewell
- Thomas Joseph Sewell1 b. 1938, d. 1960
Citations
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
Winfrid Sewell1
M, b. 3 June 1836, d. 16 February 1837
Winfrid Sewell|b. 3 Jun 1836\nd. 16 Feb 1837|p450.htm#i19091|Sheriff William Smith Sewell|b. 28 May 1798\nd. 1 Jun 1866|p450.htm#i174|Mary Isabella Smith|b. 14 Jan 1802\nd. 16 Jan 1842|p459.htm#i175|Chief Justice Jonathan/3 Sewell|b. 6 Jun 1766\nd. 11 Nov 1839|p448.htm#i70|Henrietta Smith|b. 6 Feb 1776\nd. 26 May 1849|p457.htm#i172|Dr. Thomas Smith||p460.htm#i1083||||
Winfrid Sewell was born on 3 June 1836 in Quebec.2 He was the son of Sheriff William Smith Sewell and Mary Isabella Smith.1 Winfrid Sewell was baptised on 17 July 1836 at Chapel of the Holy Trinity, Quebec.2 He died on 16 February 1837 in Quebec.3 He was buried on 19 February 1837 in Quebec.3
Citations
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Québec (Anglican) (Québec (Anglican Cathedral Holy Trinity church)) > 1837.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Québec (Anglican) (Québec (Anglican Cathedral Holy Trinity church)), 1836.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Québec (Anglican) (Québec (Anglican Cathedral Holy Trinity church)), 1837.
Winifred Edith Sewell
F, b. 15 August 1912, d. June 1990
Winifred Edith Sewell|b. 15 Aug 1912\nd. Jun 1990|p450.htm#i203|Algernon Percy Sewell|b. 15 Mar 1879\nd. 30 May 1935|p444.htm#i199|Caroline Winifred Horne||p233.htm#i200|Rev. Henry D. Sewell M.A.|b. 21 Oct 1806\nd. 19 Mar 1886|p447.htm#i184|Edith P. Morgan|b. c 1843\nd. 10 Jan 1910|p312.htm#i186|John Horne|d. b 1911|p233.htm#i201|(unknown) Horne||p233.htm#i481|
Winifred Edith Sewell was born on 15 August 1912 in Greenacre, Lower Shiplake, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.1 She was the daughter of Algernon Percy Sewell and Caroline Winifred Horne. Winifred Edith Sewell married William Edge Marshall, son of Dr. John Willis Marshall and Eva Edge, on 21 September 1935 in Great Chart, Kent.2 Winifred's death was registered in the quarter ending June 1990 in the Ashford, Kent registration district.3
Zébée Edith Sewell
F, b. 18 December 1904, d. 23 December 1995
Zébée Edith Sewell|b. 18 Dec 1904\nd. 23 Dec 1995|p450.htm#i143|Colonel Evelyn Pierce Sewell C.M.G., D.S.O., M.B., BCh., F.R.C.S.|b. 23 Feb 1874\nd. 31 Aug 1960|p446.htm#i141|Zébée Maud Jessie Crombie|b. 24 Jun 1876\nd. 18 Mar 1960|p108.htm#i142|Rev. Henry D. Sewell M.A.|b. 21 Oct 1806\nd. 19 Mar 1886|p447.htm#i184|Edith P. Morgan|b. c 1843\nd. 10 Jan 1910|p312.htm#i186|Lt. Colonel Alexander Crombie CB, MD|b. 12 Dec 1845\nd. 29 Sep 1906|p106.htm#i163|Zébée M. Bell|b. 17 Jul 1851\nd. 21 Jun 1928|p34.htm#i164|

Zébée Edith Rees (née Sewell)
studio portrait taken in 1968
studio portrait taken in 1968
Citations
- [S117] The Times Newspaper, Notice of marriages.
Anna Sexton1
F, b. circa 1857
Anna Sexton was born circa 1857.1 She married John Edward Fraser, son of Alexander Fraser and Mary Mead Torrance, circa 1880.1
Citations
- [S432] Marie Fraser, Communications from Marie Fraser.
John Ponsonby Sexton
M
He was a Recorder of Montreal.1
Child of John Ponsonby Sexton
- Sophia Ellen Sexton+1 b. 11 Dec 1838, d. 4 Jul 1914
Citations
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
Sophia Ellen Sexton1
F, b. 11 December 1838, d. 4 July 1914
Sophia Ellen Sexton|b. 11 Dec 1838\nd. 4 Jul 1914|p450.htm#i1401|John Ponsonby Sexton||p450.htm#i1402||||||||||||||||
Sophia Ellen Sexton was born on 11 December 1838.2 She was the daughter of John Ponsonby Sexton.1 Sophia Ellen Sexton married Henry George Sewell, son of Sheriff William Smith Sewell and Mary Isabella Smith, on 17 July 1866 in Montreal.3 Sophia Ellen Sexton died on 4 July 1914 in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 75.1
Children of Sophia Ellen Sexton and Henry George Sewell
- Jane Ethel Sewell4 b. 5 Sep 1867, d. 4 Apr 1868
- Letitia Marion Sewell1 b. 6 Dec 1871, d. 15 Oct 1967
- Herbert Grant De Quincy Sewell+1 b. 12 Jun 1874, d. 30 Jan 1946
- Amy Geraldine Sewell1 b. 2 Oct 1878, d. 10 Oct 1954
- John Ponsonby Sexton Sewell5 b. 11 Feb 1881, d. 27 Apr 1881
Citations
- [S5] William Darcy McKeough, McKeough Family Tree.
- [S226] 1901 Canadian Census.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Trinity Memorial Chapel), 1866.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Trinity Memorial Chapel), 1868.
- [S232] Ancestry.com Database, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967. Montréal (Anglican Saint Jude), 1880-1881.
Anne Jane Bleecker Seymour
F
Anne Jane Bleecker Seymour||p450.htm#i8343|Captain Charles Seymour||p450.htm#i8340|Anne Jane Powell|b. 24 Aug 1808|p354.htm#i8339|||||||Dr. Grant Powell J.P.|b. 24 May 1779\nd. 10 Jun 1838|p355.htm#i4733|Elizabeth S. Bleecker||p39.htm#i8274|
Charles Seymour
M, b. 11 June 1834
Charles Seymour|b. 11 Jun 1834|p450.htm#i8341|Captain Charles Seymour||p450.htm#i8340|Anne Jane Powell|b. 24 Aug 1808|p354.htm#i8339|||||||Dr. Grant Powell J.P.|b. 24 May 1779\nd. 10 Jun 1838|p355.htm#i4733|Elizabeth S. Bleecker||p39.htm#i8274|
Charles Seymour. Sometime of Kimberly, South Africa. He was born on 11 June 1834. He was the son of Captain Charles Seymour and Anne Jane Powell.
Captain Charles Seymour1
M
Captain Charles Seymour married Anne Jane Powell, daughter of Dr. Grant Powell J.P. and Elizabeth Staats Bleecker.1
Children of Captain Charles Seymour and Anne Jane Powell
- Anne Jane Bleecker Seymour
- Charles Seymour b. 11 Jun 1834
- Grant Tyers Senior Seymour1 b. 27 Apr 1841, d. 27 Sep 1892
Citations
- [S82] John Bernard Burke, Colonial Gentry, p. 635.
Grant Tyers Senior Seymour1
M, b. 27 April 1841, d. 27 September 1892
Grant Tyers Senior Seymour|b. 27 Apr 1841\nd. 27 Sep 1892|p450.htm#i8342|Captain Charles Seymour||p450.htm#i8340|Anne Jane Powell|b. 24 Aug 1808|p354.htm#i8339|||||||Dr. Grant Powell J.P.|b. 24 May 1779\nd. 10 Jun 1838|p355.htm#i4733|Elizabeth S. Bleecker||p39.htm#i8274|
Grant Tyers Senior Seymour was born on 27 April 1841.1 He was the son of Captain Charles Seymour and Anne Jane Powell.1 Grant Tyers Senior Seymour died on 27 September 1892 at the age of 51.1
Citations
- [S82] John Bernard Burke, Colonial Gentry, p. 635.
Martha Seymour
F
Martha Seymour married Samuel Jarvis.
Child of Martha Seymour and Samuel Jarvis
- William Jarvis+ b. 1756, d. 1817
Sarah Jane Shakeshaft1
F
Sarah Jane Shakeshaft married Henry Edmund Richardson.1
Child of Sarah Jane Shakeshaft and Henry Edmund Richardson
- Ida Fairfax Richardson+1 b. 13 Nov 1904, d. 29 Oct 1998
Citations
- [S119] Unknown, "Gordons in Australia Family tree."
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