Thomas Sewall (1786–1845), physician and educator, was born in Augusta, District of Maine, and graduated from Harvard University with a medical degree in 1812. He afterwards practiced medicine in Essex County, Massachusetts, where he was heavily fined in 1819 for illegally disinterring bodies, presumably for dissections. The next year he resumed his medical practice in Washington, D.C. Sewall was a founder in 1821 of Columbian College (later George Washington University) and a trustee, 1821–23 and 1839–45. He also served there as professor of anatomy and physiology, 1821–39, and of pathology and the practice of medicine, 1839–45. Sewall belonged to numerous medical organizations and published works opposing phrenology and detailing the effects of drunkenness. He died of consumption in Washington (History of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, 1817–1909 [1909], 222; Harvard Catalogue description begins Harvard University Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates, 1636–1925, 1925 description ends , 712; Christopher Benedetto, “‘A Most Daring and Sacrilegious Robbery’: The Extraordinary Story of Body Snatching at Chebacco Parish in Ipswich, Massachusetts,” New England Ancestors 6 [spring 2005]: 31–4, 45; Sewall to TJ, 30 Mar. 1820; Howard L. Hodgkins, comp., Historical Catalogue of the Officers and Gradutes of The Columbian University, Washington, D.C., 1821–1891 [1891], 48, 50, 52; Sewell, An Examination of Phrenology; in Two Lectures [1837], and The Pathology of Drunkenness, or the Physical Effects of Alcoholic Drinks, with Drawings of the Drunkard’s Stomach [1841]; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 11 Apr. 1845; Baltimore Niles’ National Register, 17 May 1845; gravestone inscription in Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C.).