Critically acclaimed writer & historian Eve LaPlante discusses her ancestor, Salem Witch Trial Judge Samuel Sewall. In later life, Sewell deeply regretted his role in the trials and became a civil rights champion of slaves and native Americans.
Salem Witch Judge won the Massachusetts Book Award in 2008. The name Sewell is well known locally — Sewell Brook, Sewell Meadow and the Sewell-Ware House reflect his substantial Sherborn land holdings in the 1600s.