History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog

210 History of Swansea
he went to New Bedford to learn the trade of mason, and it was in that city,
studying at night school, that he continued his education and prepared
himself during his spare time for the ministry in the Christian Church. He
was married March 3, 1841, to Miss Anna Buffington of Swansea, daughter
of Deacon John Buffington. While in New Bedford he was Superintendent
of the Sunday school of the Bonney Street Church and preached there
occasionally. From New Bedford he removed to Lynn in 1853, where he
remained as pastor of the Christian Church for six years. From there he
went to South Portsmouth, R. I. for a period of 11 years, going next to
Bristol, R. I. for four years. After being pastor in Westport, Fairhaven,
Newport and New Bedford, he finally went to Swansea for a permanent
residence about 1878. He was one of those who went to Cahfornia in 1849.
His wife died in 1901. Two daughters, Mrs. G. P. Sherman of South
Portsmouth, and Mrs. J. F. Marden of Newport, survive him. There are
eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Mr. Miller although he had no regular church since his residence in
Swansea, had preached many times and officiated at a great number of
funerals and weddings. He had kept in active work throughout his Hfe
and was a student of the Bible. Two weeks before he died he preached in
his former pulpit in Portsmouth. He had kept a journal through his life.
During this last summer he built a boat, which was launched July 15.
In 1891, he and his wife celebrated their golden wedding, at which
many were present, a detailed account of which he wrote in his journal.
He always felt youthful, and kept in remarkably good health. He was
possessed of a nobility of character clearly reflected in his bearing and
benign face. His profile was of the Roman type, clear cut and intellectual.
As a staunch Prohibitionist, a member of the Massachusetts and Rhode
Island Christian Conference, and as a citizen, his loss was mourned by a
large number.
Rev. Joseph W. Osborn, Ph. D.
Joseph Warren Osborn was born in Pembroke, Maine, July 23, 1836.
He was named after the Revolutionary hero who fell at Bunker Hill. His
father, Samuel Osborn, and his mother, Sophia Harding, were both born
in Barrington, Nova Scotia. I have been able to learn but little about
them or their ancestry. His grandfather died in Yarmouth, N. S., but
whence he came, or where he was born, I am unable to say. One of the lines
on his mother's side came from Nantucket. The name Osborn is found in
Enghsh history and it is doubtless of English origin. On his mother's side
were several ministers, one of v/hom. Rev. Theodore Harding, was quite
noted, traveling a great deal, preaching in school houses and private dwellings,
and carrying the Gospel to the destitute regions of the new country in
which he lived.
His father was a sea captain, but owned a farm in Pembroke. After
his son Joseph—our Bro. Osborn—went into the printing office at Eastport,
he bought out one of the owners of the Eastport Sentinel, and the business
was carried on under the name of "Nutt and Osborn. " Subsequently he
moved there and Joseph returned to and continued in his father's family.
He was the fourth in a family of six children, three of whom are still living.
His early boyhood life, until he was fourteen, was spent on his father's
farm at Pembroke. His school advantages were limited, and he attended
school less than the average New England boy of that time. But he was
from childhood a student, and learned very fast, always standing at the
head of his class. He was a very great reader, and once, when quite young,
all books were taken from him that he might recover from an illness brought