Sarah Osborn

Sarah Haggar Wheaten Osborn was a teacher and spiritual revival leader in colonial Newport. She turned to teaching as a means to support her family after the death of her first husband, and again after her second husband fell ill. Her school was open to all children. Profoundly influenced by the Great Awakening of the 1730s, Sarah started a female religious society in 1741. Her teaching and spiritual leadership grew to include revival meetings for members of Newport’s free and enslaved African American community. By the mid-1760s, attendance at the meetings swelled to over 500.