The early nineteenth century was a time of great religious change in New Hampshire. New Christian sects were sprouting up, including the Millerites, (now Seventh Day Adventists), the Mormons, and also a little known sect with its roots in Warner, New Hampshire called the “Osgoodites.”
The founder of the Osgoodites was Jacob Osgood, son of Philip & Mehitable (Flanders) Osgood. He was born in South Hampton, New Hampshire 16 March 1777, and moved to Warner with his family as a young boy. He married Miriam Stevens, daughter of Jonathan Stevens of Sutton. In 1812 he built a low, unpainted house with ragged chimneys on his hundred-acre farm on the Mink Hills in the upper part of Warner. His physical weight sometimes reached 350 pounds. He was “a man of considerable ability and of the warmest sympathies.” Continue reading
