Selick Osborn; Silleck Osborn

Male

1793

1826

Sag Harbor, NY
Danbury, CT
Litchfield, CT
Bennington, VT
Wilmington, DE
Philadelphia, PA

Mary Hammond Osborn (1810)

Selleck Osborn was a Republican newspaper editor and poet. He came to Litchfield from Danbury in 1805 and began publication of the Witness that year. He was sued for libel and imprisoned for refusing to pay his bond. He continued publishing from prison, and newspapers around the country printed accounts of his suffering at the hands of the Federalists. He was honored by his party as a martyr at the "Litchfield Festival" on August 6, 1806. John C. Calhoun, then a student at the Litchfield Law School, wrote articles on Osborn's behalf. Osborn would later use his position to campaign for Calhoun's presidential canidacy. In 1807 Osborn discontinued the Witnessand moved to Boston.

Editor; Military; Poet