Born: January 19, 1813, Windsor, Vermont.
Died: February 7, 1882, Brooklyn, New York.
Buried: Oak Ridge Cemetery, Southbridge, Massachusetts.
Sewall married twice: to Evelina C. S. Cutting and Elizabeth B. Cutting.
He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1835, and was ordained a Baptist minister at Boylston, Massachusetts, in 1836.
He served a pastorate in Southbridge, Massachusetts, 1837–45.
He edited the New York Recorder (1845–50 & 1853–55) and the Christian Review (1850–53 & 1855–68).
In 1868, he was appointed Professor of Rhetoric and History at the University of Rochester, New York, and Secretary of the American Baptist Educational Commission.