THE WATCHMAN, Oswego, New York, February, 1850

• Rare piece of post-Millerite Adventist ephemera

Almost nothing is known about this title. It is not listed in Gregory's "Union List of American Newspapers", nothing can be found on the internet, and the Am. Antiquarian Society has but this same issue, with no known information as to how long it might have lasted. There is no issue or volume numbering, however we suspect this was the first (and perhaps only) issue as the front page begins be defining their purpose: "Object Of This Sheet" "The object of this sheet will be, to bring together in a condensed form, the evidence we have of the time of Christ's coming..." with more. This "prospectus" is typically found in the first issue.
Eight pages, never bound nor trimmed, 10 3/4 by 13 1/4 inches, minor margin wear and some rubbing at the front page fold, good condition.

Background: This single-issue eight-page publication of The Watchman (Oswego, N.Y., February 1850) is an extraordinarily rare piece of post-Millerite Adventist ephemera, representing a quintessential "time-setting" tract produced during the fragmented fallout of the 1844 "Great Disappointment". Omitted entirely from Winifred Gregory’s foundational Union List of American Newspapers and held in institutional collections by only a solitary copy at the American Antiquarian Society, its unnumbered status and front-page "prospectus" ("The object of this sheet will be...") strongly indicate it was a short-lived exploratory issue—or "extra"—designed to deliver urgent prophetic calculations regarding Christ’s return rather than establish a permanent periodical. Historically, its notable content directly captures the intense theological schisms in Upstate New York, where independent preachers published standalone papers like The Watchman to urge specific dates for the Second Advent, actively contending with contemporary movements in the region such as the early Sabbatarian Adventists led by James and Ellen White.