Jonathan Sewall was the last British

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 attorney general of Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

.

He was born in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 on August 24, 1729 to Jonathan and Mary (Payne) Sewall. Sewall's father was an unsuccessful merchant who died at a young age. However through scholarships, funds raised by his pastor William Cooper and with the help of his uncle, Chief Justice Stephen Sewall

Stephen Sewall

Stephen Sewall was a judge in colonial Massachusetts. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, he was the son of Stephen Sewall, the clerk of court at the Salem witchcraft trials, and a nephew of Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, who presided at the witchcraft trials...

, Sewall was able to attend Harvard. Sewall graduated from Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

 in 1748, and was a teacher in Salem

Salem, Massachusetts

Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...

 until 1756. He married Esther Quincy, a daughter of merchant Edmund Quincy

Edmund Quincy (1703-1788)

- Early life and career :Edmund Quincy was one of four children born to Edmund Quincy and Dorothy Flynt Quincy of Braintree and Boston. He graduated from Harvard College in 1722, and went into the commerce and shipbuilding business with his younger brother Josiah and brother-in-law Edward Jackson...

. After studying law, he began a successful practice in Charlestown

Charlestown, Massachusetts

Charlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located on a peninsula north of downtown Boston. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874...

 and served as attorney general

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

 of Massachusetts from 1767 to 1775. In 1768 he was also appointed Judge of Admiralty for Nova Scotia.

In 1759 Sewall became a very close friend and patron of John Adams

John Adams

John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...

, the future 2nd President of the United States. At the urging of Governor Francis Bernard, Sewall offered Adams the position of Advocate General in the Admiralty Court. Adams declined. A devout Loyalist, Sewall took his family to England in 1775 after a mob stormed his family home in Cambridge

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

. Adams in his diary grieved his best friend in the world had become his implacable enemy. While Adams was assigned to London as an envoy in 1785, he looked up his old friend and they had a two hour meeting. Both men were entrenched in their own ideas and no reconciliation was possible. Adams considered Sewall a casualty of the war.

Sewall later served as a judge in the Vice Admiralty Court

Vice admiralty court

Vice admiralty courts were juryless courts located in British colonies that were granted jurisdiction over local legal matters related to maritime activities, such as disputes between merchants and seamen. Judges were given 5% of confiscated cargo, if they found a smuggling defendant guilty...

 of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

. He died in Saint John, New Brunswick

Saint John, New Brunswick

City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...

 in 1796.

His son Jonathan

Jonathan Sewell

Jonathan Sewell was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Lower Canada.-Early life:He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of the last British attorney general of Massachusetts...

 later served as Chief Justice of Lower Canada and his son Stephen

Stephen Sewell (lawyer)

Stephen Sewell was a lawyer and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born Stephen Sewall in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1770, the son of Jonathan Sewall who was the attorney general of Massachusetts, and returned to England with his family at the start of the American Revolution, where he...

 served as solicitor general for Lower Canada.

In popular culture

Sewall was portrayed by James Noble

James Noble (actor)

James Noble is an American actor best known for his portrayal of the slightly daffy Governor Eugene Gatling on the 1980s sitcom Benson. He began his career in soap operas, most notably, The Brighter Day; As the World Turns, The Doctors and A World Apart...

 in the PBS miniseries, The Adams Chronicles

The Adams Chronicles

The Adams Chronicles is a thirteen-episode miniseries by PBS that aired in 1976 to commemorate the American Bicentennial.-Synopsis:The series chronicles the story of the Adams political family over a 150-year span, including John Adams , his wife Abigail Adams, his son John Quincy Adams The Adams...

, and by Guy Henry in the HBO miniseries, John Adams

John Adams (TV miniseries)

John Adams is a 2008 American television miniseries chronicling most of President John Adams's political life and his role in the founding of the United States. Paul Giamatti portrays John Adams. The miniseries was directed by Tom Hooper. Kirk Ellis wrote the screenplay based on the book John...

.