John de Sequeyra was a London-born physician who became a prominent documentarian of colonial Virginia health. He studied medicine at Leiden University, earning his degree in 1739. After losing his belongings when captured by a French ship en route to Virginia, he settled in Williamsburg by 1745 and built a successful medical practice, treating high-profile clients including Governor Norborne Berkeley, baron de Botetourt, and members of elite families. He never married and leased a house in Williamsburg. He owned two enslaved people in the 1780s and 1790s. He is sometimes credited with introducing tomatoes to Thomas Jefferson and American cuisine. De Sequeyra’s smallpox register (1747–48) is a major source of information on Williamsburg’s population, and his “Notes on Diseases of Virginia” (1745–1781) remains a key record of colonial-era illnesses and treatments. In 1773, he became a visiting physician at the Public Hospital for the insane in Williamsburg (later Eastern State Hospital), serving until 1795. While his involvement in mental health care appeared limited, he regularly evaluated and visited patients. De Sequeyra died on January 30, 1795, in Williamsburg; his burial place is unknown.
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