The Diary of Samuel Sewall
E92981
The Diary of Samuel Sewall is a detailed personal journal by the colonial New England judge that offers a rare, firsthand account of daily life, religion, and major events such as the Salem witch trials in late 17th- and early 18th-century Massachusetts.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Diary of Samuel Sewall canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T782534 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Diary of Samuel Sewall Context triple: [Samuel Sewall, notableWork, The Diary of Samuel Sewall]
-
A.
Of Plymouth Plantation
Of Plymouth Plantation is a 17th-century historical account by William Bradford that chronicles the experiences and development of the Plymouth Colony in New England.
-
B.
The Journal of John Winthrop
The Journal of John Winthrop is a detailed firsthand chronicle of early 17th-century New England, documenting the founding and development of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from the perspective of its Puritan governor.
-
C.
Essays in the Boston Gazette
"Essays in the Boston Gazette" is a series of influential political writings by Samuel Adams that helped galvanize colonial opposition to British rule in the years leading up to the American Revolution.
-
D.
Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Superior Court of Judicature of the Province of Massachusetts Bay
Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Superior Court of Judicature of the Province of Massachusetts Bay is an early American legal case reporter compiled by Josiah Quincy Jr., documenting colonial Massachusetts court decisions.
-
E.
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
The Diary of Samuel Pepys is a famous 17th-century personal journal that offers an intimate, day-by-day account of London life, politics, and major events such as the Great Plague and the Great Fire.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Diary of Samuel Sewall Target entity description: The Diary of Samuel Sewall is a detailed personal journal by the colonial New England judge that offers a rare, firsthand account of daily life, religion, and major events such as the Salem witch trials in late 17th- and early 18th-century Massachusetts.
-
A.
Of Plymouth Plantation
Of Plymouth Plantation is a 17th-century historical account by William Bradford that chronicles the experiences and development of the Plymouth Colony in New England.
-
B.
The Journal of John Winthrop
The Journal of John Winthrop is a detailed firsthand chronicle of early 17th-century New England, documenting the founding and development of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from the perspective of its Puritan governor.
-
C.
Essays in the Boston Gazette
"Essays in the Boston Gazette" is a series of influential political writings by Samuel Adams that helped galvanize colonial opposition to British rule in the years leading up to the American Revolution.
-
D.
Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Superior Court of Judicature of the Province of Massachusetts Bay
Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Superior Court of Judicature of the Province of Massachusetts Bay is an early American legal case reporter compiled by Josiah Quincy Jr., documenting colonial Massachusetts court decisions.
-
E.
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
The Diary of Samuel Pepys is a famous 17th-century personal journal that offers an intimate, day-by-day account of London life, politics, and major events such as the Great Plague and the Great Fire.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
diary
ⓘ
historical document ⓘ primary source ⓘ |
| associatedWithEvent | Salem witch trials ⓘ |
| associatedWithPerson | Samuel Sewall ⓘ |
| associatedWithPlace |
Boston, Massachusetts
ⓘ
Salem, Massachusetts ⓘ |
| author | Samuel Sewall ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Massachusetts Bay Colony ⓘ |
| describes |
economic activities in Massachusetts Bay Colony
ⓘ
legal and judicial practices in colonial courts ⓘ religious beliefs of New England Puritans ⓘ social customs in colonial Boston ⓘ |
| documentType | manuscript diary ⓘ |
| genre |
personal journal
ⓘ
religious diary ⓘ |
| hasPart |
entries describing court proceedings
ⓘ
entries describing family life ⓘ entries describing public events ⓘ entries describing sermons and religious observances ⓘ |
| historicalContext |
New England Colonies
ⓘ
surface form:
Puritan New England
Salem witch trials ⓘ
surface form:
Salem witch trials of 1692
|
| historicalUse |
source for biographies of Samuel Sewall
ⓘ
source for studies of colonial legal culture ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryForm | prose ⓘ |
| location |
Boston, Massachusetts
ⓘ
Massachusetts Bay Colony ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
Puritan religion
ⓘ
Salem witch trials ⓘ colonial Massachusetts politics ⓘ daily life in colonial New England ⓘ |
| medium | handwritten text ⓘ |
| notableFor |
detailed record of Puritan social and religious life
ⓘ
documentation of early American legal practices ⓘ firsthand account of Salem witch trials ⓘ insight into colonial commerce and trade ⓘ |
| perspective | first-person narrative ⓘ |
| religiousPerspective | Puritan ⓘ |
| significanceInAmericanHistory | major primary source for early American social history ⓘ |
| significanceInReligiousHistory | key source on New England Puritanism ⓘ |
| timePeriodCovered |
early 18th century
ⓘ
late 17th century ⓘ |
| usedAsSourceBy |
historians of colonial New England
ⓘ
scholars of the Salem witch trials ⓘ |
| writtenByOccupationOfAuthor |
judge
ⓘ
merchant ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Diary of Samuel Sewall Description of subject: The Diary of Samuel Sewall is a detailed personal journal by the colonial New England judge that offers a rare, firsthand account of daily life, religion, and major events such as the Salem witch trials in late 17th- and early 18th-century Massachusetts.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.