Background
He was son of Jacob Williamson Sewel, a free citizen and surgeon of Amsterdam where he was born. His mother, Judith Zinspenning, daughter of a German Catholic, afterwards a Baptist, joined the Quakers in 1657, after hearing William Ames.
historian linguist translator writer
He was son of Jacob Williamson Sewel, a free citizen and surgeon of Amsterdam where he was born. His mother, Judith Zinspenning, daughter of a German Catholic, afterwards a Baptist, joined the Quakers in 1657, after hearing William Ames.
At eight he was fairly proficient in Latin, but was soon apprenticed to a weaver.
She died at Amsterdam on 10 September 1664, aged 34. Her husband predeceased her. Sewel was brought up by an uncle.
At fourteen he visited his mother"s friends in England.
Returning to Holland after a sojourn of ten months, he obtained work as a translator, contributed regularly to the Amsterdam Courant and other papers, wrote verses, and conducted a periodical. In spite of an invitation from William Penn to become master of the Quaker school opened at Bristol, Sewel remained in Amsterdam until his death on 13 March 1720.