Jotham Bradbury Sewall

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Jotham Bradbury Sewall (born October 3, 1825 in Newcastle , Maine , † June 16, 1913 in Brookline , Massachusetts ) was an American pastor, classical philologist and university teacher who served as a professor at Bowdoin College (1865-1877) and as headmaster at the Thayer Academy (1877-1896) worked.

Life

Jotham Bradbury Sewall came from a family of pastors and farmers who had lived in New England since the 17th century . His grandfather Jotham Sewall (1760–1850) and his father Jotham Sewall jr. (1791–1884) were clergymen of the congregational church . Jotham Bradbury Sewall was the sixth child of his parents Jotham Sewall and Rachel Crosby Bradbury (1794-1837); he had ten siblings, including three half-brothers from his father's second marriage to Anna Baker († 1856). He grew up in Newcastle and Westbrook (Maine) , where his father took over his grandfather's pastor in 1838.

Jotham Bradbury Sewall followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps. He attended the schools in Newcastle, Bluehill and Yarmouth (Maine) with great success and then studied theology and philology at Bowdoin College , where he received his bachelor's degree (A. B.) in 1848 . He then taught at the municipal school in Winthrop , at the girls' school in Augusta and as principal at the Lewiston Falls Academy in Auburn (from 1849 to 1851). In 1851 he obtained his master's degree (A.M.) from Bowdoin College and taught Greek and mathematics as a tutor at the college for a year. In 1852 he interrupted his teaching post and deepened his studies in order to prepare for the ordination. He studied at Bangor Theological Seminary (1854) and the Andover Theological Seminary in Maine (1854-1855), earned the title Doctor of Divinity (D. D.) in 1854 and was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in 1855.

From 1855 to 1865 Bradbury was a pastor at the Central Congregational Church in Lynn, Massachusetts . In 1865 he left the ministry and returned to Bowdoin College as a professor. He was initially professor of rhetoric and sermons (Rhetorics and Oratory), from 1866 professor of Greek and Latin, from 1873 exclusively professor of Greek. In 1877 he moved to the Thayer Academy in Braintree (Massachusetts) as headmaster , where he retired in 1896. He remained associated with Bowdoin College as a member of the Board of Overseers until his death. In retirement he was also a member of the board of directors (Member of the Corporation) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1895 and a trustee of the Thayer Academy from 1899. For his services, Bowdoin College awarded him an honorary theological doctorate in 1894 .

Sewall was a founding member of the American Philological Association and served as president of the society in 1878/79. At Bowdoin College he founded the Sewall Greek Prize in 1878 , which is awarded once a year to the sophomore students with the best results in the Greek course.

His marriages with Frances Louisa Swett (1821–1900, from 1855) and Emelyn Louise French (* 1861, from 1909) remained childless.

Scientific work

In addition to his teaching post and his organizational tasks, Sewall rarely got into scientific work. He published obituaries for his grandfather and Rev. James Drummond in his early career, as well as a collection of essays entitled Evenings with the Bible and Science (1864). In these essays, Sewall dealt with the results of the natural sciences and their compatibility with the Bible . He took a decidedly creationist standpoint and stuck to the chronology and statements of the Bible. In the field of geology, for example, he was convinced that the numerous layers of the earth and the fossil deposits were created by God in the form they are today.

In 1870 the first printed catalog of the paintings at Bowdoin College followed from his pen. Sewall had studies of Greek syntax published in the journal Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association (TAPA). In 1896 he published a study edition of Lukian 's Timon based on the edition by Franz Volkmar Fritzsche .

Fonts (selection)

  • Memoir of Reverend Jotham Sewall . Boston 1853
  • In memoriam [Rev. James Drummond] . Springfield (MA) 1862
  • Evenings with the Bible and Science . Boston / New York 1864
  • The Timon of Lucian. Fritzsche's text . Boston / London 1896

literature

  • Ward W. Briggs : Sewall, Jotham Bradbury . In: Ward W. Briggs (Ed.): Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists . Westport, CT / London: Greenwood Press 1994, ISBN 978-0-313-24560-2 , pp. 574f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the genealogical website of the Sewell family / Sewall , accessed on April 22, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Sewall, Jotham Bradbury
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pastor, classical philologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1825
PLACE OF BIRTH Newcastle , Maine
DATE OF DEATH June 16, 1913
Place of death Brookline , Massachusetts