Author: Osborn, Selleck
Biography:
OSBORN, Selleck (c. 1782-1826: DAB)
The son of Nathaniel Osborn (whose wife's name has not been found), he was born in Trumbull CT. At twelve, he was apprenticed to a printer; by the time he was twenty, he had embarked on a lifelong career of editing newspapers, starting with the Suffolk County Herald in Sag Harbor NY. In 1805, having moved on to the Litchfield Witness, he caused such offence with anti-Federalist editorials that he spent a year in jail for libel (he is said to have declared that he would rather his body was imprisoned than his mind). He was fêted by sympathizers around the country and continued to edit the paper from his cell. After his release he enlisted as a cavalryman in the US army, fought in the War of 1812, and was honourably discharged as a Captain of Dragoons in 1814. He married Mary Hammond in 1810; the couple had two children. After the war, Osborn served as editor and for three years as owner of the American Watchman in Wilmington DE. In 1823-4 he worked at the New York Patriot in support of his friend John C. Calhoun, who was hoping to be nominated a presidential candidate but settled for vice-president. Osborn died in Philadelphia. (DAB; Appleton) HJ