\osborne\biograph\bio23  9/6/2002

Bio. of Corra Osborn-9627


   History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey,
   Philadelphia, Everts & Peck, 1882.  Page 130.  (transcript)
   (Bio. is accompanied by a portrait on p124.)

DR. CORRA OSBORN,
son of Jonathan H. and Martha (Shotwell) Osborn, was born at Scotch Plains,
Union Co., N.J. May 12, 1793, and died at Westfield, June 7, 1868.  His early
education was obtained in the common school of his native place and under the
private instruction of Dr. Ludlow, with whom he subsequently studied
medicine.  He was graduated at a medical college in New York at the age of
nineteen, and began the practice of his profession at Acquackanonck, Passaic
Co., N.J., but soon afterwards formed a copartnership with Dr. Philemon
Elmer, of Westfield, which continued until the decease of Dr. Elmer, when he
succeeded to the entire practice, which he continued until about six years
before his death, having been in the successful practice of his profession
for a period of forty years.  Dr. Osborn, as a physician of the past
generation, ranked among the first of his day, and was known as a skillful,
painstaking, and devoted practitioner.  His ride extended over a large
territory in the vicinity of Westfield, and he was widely known as a safe
counselor and of quick perception in the diagnosis of complicated cases of
disease.  Dr. Osborn was a stanch member of the old Whig party, but never
sought office, or held any.  Upon the organization of the Republican party
he became a bold advocate of its principles, and remained a strong supporter
of its platform until his death.
   From the age of twenty-seven years he was a member of the First Baptist
Church at Scotch Plains, and served the church for many years as one of its
deacons.  He gave liberally of his means in the support of every worthy local
enterprise, and especially was he interested in the propagation of religious
doctrine and the establishment of morality, law, and order in society.  His
wife, Mary Hand, whom he married June 30, 1812, bore him the following
children: Mahlon, deceased; Mary, wife of Samuel Hayes; Letitia, widow of
David Miller; Ann, deceased, was the wife of Nathan Williams.  The mother of
these children died Oct. 26, 1826.
   The contributor of Dr. Osborn's portrait and sketch, Samuel Hayes, was
born June 3, 1816, and is a son of Dr. Samuel Hayes, who lived and died in
Newark, N.J., where he practised medicine of over forty years.
   Samuel Hayes has followed agricultural pursuits most of his life near
Scotch Plains, and is a supporter of the First Baptist Church at that place.
His wife, Mary, is a daughter of Dr. Corra Osborn, before alluded to, whom he
married on May 17, 1848.  His children are Mary, Hannah D., and Lydia K.
Hayes.


Bio. of Isaac Osborn-9580


   History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey,
   Philadelphia, Everts & Peck, 1882.  Page 293.  (transcript)
   (Bio. is accompanied by a portrait on p292.)

ISAAC OSBORN
is one of the oldest business men of Rahway, and has led an active life here
since 1822, a period of fifty-nine years.  The family were among the early
settlers at Scotch Plains, Union Co., N.J., where his great-grandfather,
John, resided, and where his grandfather, John B. Osborn, was born, spent his
life as a farmer, and died in 1848 at the age of ninety-six years.  The first
homestead of John B. Osborn consisted of forty acres of timbered land, upon
which he erected his log cabin, and which he cleared of its original forest.
To this he added until he was the possessor of some four hundred acres, which
he acquired solely by his own industry.  He was known as "Deacon Osborn," and
for seventy years officially served as deacon of the Baptist Church at Scotch
Plains.  Born in the middle of the last century, he lived during the
Revolutionary war, and served in that memorable struggle for the independence
of the colonies.  His wife was Mary, a sister of Hon. Ezra Darby, an early
member of Congress; she lived to be ninety-two years of age, and died in the
house where she had spent her married life only a few weeks before her
husband.  The children of this venerable couple were Patience, Joel, William,
Charles, John, Jonathan, and Mary, of whom Joel was father of our subject,
and inherited the homestead of forty acres, where he was born, and where he
died in 1853, aged seventy-five years and seven months.  Joel Osborn was a
carpenter by trade, and resided respectively at Scotch Plains, New York,
Rahway, and Westfield, where he worked at his trade.  His wife was Nancy,
daughter of Joseph Halsey, of Newark, who died in 1861 aged seventy-eight
years.  Their children were Isaac; Susan, wife of Isaac Moore of Rahway;
William, a carriage-maker of Rahway, who died in 1865, aged sixty; Joel, a
carriage-maker of Rahway; Ferdinand was in the same business, and died in
1860 in Rahway; Mary; and Albert, who is a tinsman near Bound Brook, N.J.
   Isaac, eldest of these children, born July 8, 1803, went with his parents
to lived in New York in 1809, and remembers that city when there where only
two houses on Canal Street between Broadway and Hudson Street, and of
crossing Broadway at Canal street on a wooden bridge.  He came with his
parents to Rahway in 1815, where his father had been engaged at work in
building the Taurino Factory, superintended by William Shotwell.  Here he
received three years' schooling, and for four years he was an apprentice to
the trade of harness-making and carriage-trimming.
   In 1822, as before stated, Mr. Osborn established himself in the business
of carriage-making in a small way, which he gradually increased and carried
on until 1830 on Mechanic Street, now Grand.  In that year he opened a
general store fo the sale of dry-goods and groceries at 91 Main Street, which
he successfully carried on until 1855, when he retired from the trade, and
has since given his attention to the care and improvement of his property.
The Rahway Mutual Fire Insurance Company was founded in 1833.  Mr. Osborn
succeeded Mr. Crowell as president of this concern in 1859, and his official
relations with the company have given it increased strength and confidence.
He was president of the Rahway Fire Association for twenty years prior to its
being a city, was a director and stockholder of the Farmers' and Mechanics'
Bank of Rahway from 1850 to 1864, was one of the incorporators of the
savings-bank and gas company, and since 1838 he has been a member of the
Methodist Church at Rahway, and since 1845 a trustee and president of its
official board.  Mr. Osborn remembers that in 1815 there were only
twenty-nine houses in upper Rahway, and no streets except St. George's Avenue
and Mechanic Street.
   His life has been one of industry, care, and honesty of purpose, and he
may be safely classed among the representative business men of a generation
nearly gone.
   His wife, Emily McDonald, died Jan. 11, 1879, aged seventy-seven years.
Of yis children, Uzal, eldest son, survives.  Eliza Augusta died at the age
of twenty-two, and Emily Caroline died Feb. 16, 1879.


Hist. of the Osborn(Fall River Family)


   Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts,
   Chicago, J.H. Beers & Co., 1912.  Vol. I, page 37.  (transcript)
   [See the bio. of Weaver Osborn-9430]
   [See the bio. of James Munroe Osborn-9431]

   OSBORN (Fall River family).  During the latter half of the century but
recently closed and on into the present one, during the period of the great
growth and development as an industrial center of Fall River, the name Osborn
has stood out conspicuously in the business life of the city.  Reference is
made notably to the Osborn brothers -- the late Hon. Weaver and James Munroe
Osborn -- for many years among the most prominent mill promoters and bankers
of Fall River; and they have been followed by a generation now representative
of the name and family, Mr. James E. Osborn, the son of James M., being now
active and prominent in the same line of operation the father followed, is
treasurer of the American Linen Company and Merchants' Manufacturing Company
and president of the Covel & Osborn Company, dealers in hardware and mill
supplies.  This Osborn family here treated is one of at least a century and
three quarters' standing in Rhode Island and the near-by part of
Massachusetts.  Still earlier than the beginning of the period just named
there is a record of the family of Jeremiah and Mercy Osband at Bristol, now
R.I., as early as 1684, the date of birth of their first child.  Their
children were: Robert, born Aug. 11, 1684; Katherine, born Nov. 12, 1686;
John, born Oct. 12, 1689; Jeremiah, born July 25, 1693; Margaret, born
May 27, 1695; Sarah, born May 11, 1701; and Jeremiah(2), born June 11, 1706.
   One Nathaniel Osband petitioned the General Court at its May session, held
at Newport, 1682.
   So far as has been traced the genealogy of the Fall River Osborn family,
the special branch to be here treated, extends to the family of William
Osband, who was born Aug. 16, 1729, and it is assumed at Newport, R.I., from
the fact that he came from that place when a boy and lived during his
minority with Samuel Hicks, of Tiverton.  He spelled his name Osband.  Of his
children Weaver alone so spelled it (Osband), the rest, Osborn.  This William
Osband was the grandfather of the late Osborn brothers of Fall River alluded
to above.
   William Osband, of Newport and Tiverton, R.I., born as stated Aug. 16,
1729, married May 28, 1752, in Tiverton, Elizabeth Shrieve, of that town,
daughter of William Shrieve.  Mr. Osband died Oct. 29, 1810.  His wife died
about 1814.  Their children were: Wilson, born June 3, 1753, died about 1757;
Weaver, born April 17, 1756; Elizabeth, born June 8, 1758; Patience, born
July 17, 1761, died quite young; Thomas, born March 31, 1766; and William,
born July 18, 1769.
   Thomas Osborn, son of William and Elizabeth (Shrieve) Osband, born
March 31, 1766, married in 1797 Ann, born March 6, 1775, daughter of Joseph
and Abigail (Borden) Durfee, of Tiverton, R.I.  He died there Oct. 7, 1833.
His wife Ann died May 23, 1845, in Tiverton.  Their children were: William,
born Nov. 26, 1798, married Ruth Hambly, and died in Tiverton, R.I., Jan. 28,
1829; Thomas, born Dec. 30, 1800, married Elizabeth S. Hambly and died in
Tiverton March 1, 1884; Joseph was born Aug. 20, 1803; Ann, born Dec. 4,
1805, died in 1812; Wilson, born April 15, 1808, married Mary Allen, and died
Aug. 29, 1873; Eliza Ann, born May 25, 1810, married Rev. Alexander Milne,
and died in Fall River, Aug. 18, 1887; Patience, born Aug. 29, 1812, died in
1817;; Weaver was born May 23, 1815; James Munroe was born Aug. 27, 1822.  Of
this family,
   JUDGE JOSEPH OSBORN, born Aug. 29, 1803, spent his entire life at
Tiverton, where for many years he was one of the foremost citizens of the
town.  In his early life he did a large business in the buying and selling of
live stock, and later invested heavily in the cotton mills of Fall River,
accumulating a fortune.  Under the old regime he was a judge of the court of
Common Pleas, was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1841,
represented Tiverton in both branches of the General Assembly of Rhode
Island, was treasurer of the town of Tiverton for the long period of
forty-four years, and was at one time a member of the Board of State
Charities and Corrections.  He was a director of the Osborn Mills, one of the
organizers and a director of the Pocasset National Bank and president of the
Fall River Savings Bank from its organization, in 1851, until his death.  He
married Eliza Gardner, and their children were: Ann Catherine, William
Joseph, Jason Woodward, Eliza Gardner and Henry Clay.
   WILLIAM JOSEPH OSBORN, son of Judge Joseph, was born Dec. 3, 1836, in
Tiverton, R.I., was educated in the public schools, at Peirce's Academy,
Middleboro, Mass., and at Bryant & Stratton's Business College, Providence.
After leaving school he accepted a position as clerk in the freight depot of
the Old Colony Railroad Company, at Boston, Mass., where he spent three
years.  He then came to Fall River and was a clerk in the Citizens' Savings
Bank, after which he became a partner of Frank A. Brackett, in the wholesale
and retail tea and tobacco business at Boston, under the firm name of
Brackett & Osborn.  Later, after the Civil war, he removed to New York, where
he became interested in railroading and banking.  He afterward became a
stockbroker and was a member of the Consolidated Stock Exchange.  He was
noted for his honesty and upright dealings, was fully trusted by his patrons,
and achieved well merited success.  While walking in a Benjamin Harrison
political procession in New York City, Nov. 3, 1888, he was taken suddenly
ill and died in the street.  He was buried in Oak Grove cemetery at Fall
River.  His religious connection was with the First Baptist Church, Pierpoint
street, Brooklyn, N.Y.; in politics he was a Republican; and in fraternal
circles a Mason.
   On June 19, 1873, Mr. Osborn married Hannah Humphrey French, daughter of
Stephen L. and Phoebe Ann (Dwelley) French (see French family elsewhere).
Mr. and Mrs. William J. Osborn had one son, Charles French, who was born
May 2, 1878.  After graduating from the Fall River high school, he entered
Williams College, where he graduated in 1901, with high honors, and winning
several special scholarship prizes.  He became connected with special
branches of the United States government service, serving for a time in the
Bureau of Animal Industry, and is now connected with the Bureau of Commerce
and Labor.
   After the death of her husband Mrs. Osborn returned to Fall River, where
she has since resided.  She is prominent in educational circles, and served
as a member of the school committee of Fall River in 1898, 1899 and 1900,
and again from 1902 to 1908, finally declining a renomination.  She is a
member of the First Baptist Church.
   WEAVER OSBORN, son of Thomas and Ann (Durfee) Osborn, was born May 23,
1815, in Tiverton, R.I.  Until eighteen years of age he remained at home,
alternating between work on the farm in season and attendance at the
neighborhood school, and for a short time he attended the seminary at Little
West Hill, South Kingstown, R.I.  Beginning an apprenticeship at the
blacksmith's trade at the age of eighteen years at Fairhaven, this State, he
completed it and followed that line of work until the year 1871.  From 1835
to 1843 he carried on blacksmithing in a shop of his own at Tiverton, R.I.
The next year was passed at work in Providence, R.I.  From 1844 to 1848 he
was in the employ, as journeyman, of Andrew Robeson.  Returning again to his
native town he resumed business there and carried it on until January, 1855,
at which time his shop was destroyed by fire.  He then removed to Fall River,
where he and his brother James M. Osborn entered into a co-partnership and
carried on business under the firm name of W. & J.M. Osborn until 1871,
though both brothers had long prior to this been identified with a number of
mills and enterprises and were active and influential in the growth of their
adopted city; and after they had dropped their blacksmithing business were
long associated together in business enterprises.
   Few men, perhaps, were more closely connected with the industrial growth
of Fall River than was Mr. Weaver Osborn.  He was chiefly instrumental in
getting the stock taken and building the first mill in 1872 and became
director and president of the corporation operating the mills which took his
name, the Osborn Mills.  He was a director of the Montaup Mills Corporation.
He was elected president of the Pocasset National Bank in 1873, and sustained
such relation to it for many years.  He became a director in the bank in 1854
when it was organized as the Pocasset Bank, under the State laws, and
continued such relation through life.  He had been a member of the board of
investment from the very start and was the last survivor of the original
board, and from 1873 to the end of life was chairman of the board.  For many
years before his death he was also a trustee of the Citizens' Savings Bank of
Fall River, and of the State Workhouses at Bridgewater and Tewksbury, Mass.
He was entrusted with the settlement of many estates.
   Originally a Whig, casting his first presidential vote for Henry Clay, Mr.
Osborn became a Republican on the organization of that party and ever
afterward acted with it, and as a Republican he represented Fall River in the
State Senate in 1847, 1858 and 1859 and again in 1879, and served on a number
of important committees, among them the Military.  In 1868, 1869, 1871, 1873,
1876 and 1877, he was a member of the lower house from his city.
   In his young life Mr. Osborn took an interest and was active in the
militia of the State, and passed through the grades from private to captain.
He was out in the "Dorr war." Among Mr. Osborn's chief characteristics were
strict integrity, sound practical judgment and unswerving fidelity to every
trust committed to his care.  As blacksmith, cotton-mill promoter, banker and
legislator, he achieved distinction and honor, and throughout an active
career enjoyed the confidence, respect and esteem of all who knew him.  He
was a man of decision, great force of character, and unfailing resources, and
in every sense a representative and enterprising citizen.  His sympathy and
practical assistance were always at the command of young men endeavoring to
get a start in life, and he was especially the friend of the poor.  He died
Feb. 6, 1894, at his home in Fall River.
   On Jan. 7, 1837, Mr. Osborn married Patience B., born May 27, 1817,
daughter of Daniel and Mary (Slade) Dwelly, of Tiverton, R.I., who survived
him.  She was born in Tiverton, R.I., and died June 2, 1901.  Mr. and Mrs.
Osborn were members of the Baptist Church, which they joined in 1843.  They
had children as follows: Mary Slade, born Feb. 23, 1838, a resident of Fall
River, was a teacher in the Morgan street school (now the N.B. Borden school)
for three years and for twelve years was a teacher in the Osborn street
school; Daniel Weaver, born June 7, 1840, died Feb. 5, 1863; Thomas
Frederick, born March 28, 1847, died May 11, 1857; Anna Jane, born March 3,
died July 11, 1861.
   JAMES MUNROE OSBORN, youngest son of Thomas and Ann (Durfee) Osborn, was
born at Tiverton, R.I., Aug. 27, 1822, and his mother being left a widow when
he was eleven years old he remained with her on the farm for the next six
years, meantime availing himself of such school advantages as the locality
afforded.  Then he learned the blacksmith's trade with his brother Weaver,
with whom he remained three years, until he was twenty.  Going back to the
farm he tried seine fishing for a time, but the results were unsatisfactory,
and he resumed blacksmithing, in Providence, working there and at other
places until 1845, the year of his coming to Fall River.  Here he entered the
employ of John Kilburn, with whom he remained until Mr. Kilburn died, a year
or so later.  He was next employed by Kilburn & Lincoln, until 1855, when he
joined Weaver Osborn in the purchase of the blacksmith shop of Gideon
Packard.  It was situated on ground now occupied by the postoffice.  There
the brothers did business under the name of W. & J.M. Osborn.  In 1859,
interesting themselves in the movement which had lately been begun to make
Fall River a manufacturing center, they helped to build the Union Mill, the
construction of which was soon followed by that of other cotton mills.
Subsequently they became identified with the Granite Mill, and in 1867
invested largely in the stock of the Merchants' Manufacturing Company, and
were also associated with others in the establishment of the Stafford Mill.
By this time other and more important interests had superseded the business
which the firm was organized to transact, and, retaining the name, they
dropped the blacksmithing.  In 1871 James M. Osborn was elected a director
and first treasurer of the Slade Mill, the construction of whose buildings
he superintended.  He next, with his brother, became interested in the Osborn
Mill, and later still in other manufacturing organizations.  The
copartnership of W. & J.M. Osborn continued until 1880.  James M. Osborn was
long a director in the Globe Yarn Mills, and remained for many years in the
directorate of the Merchants', the Osborn and the Stafford Corporations,
being president of the first two named.  He was also member of the board of
investment of the Five Cents Savings Bank.
   With all his business interests, Mr. Osborn managed to make himself useful
to his fellow men in various capacities and assumed many responsibilities not
at all obligatory except in a moral sense.  Throughout his active years he
gave much of his time and thought to ethical and religious matters.  On
April 2, 1843, he became a member of the First Baptist Church of Fall River,
and in 1846 was dismissed with others to form the Second Baptist Church.  It
would be difficult indeed to name any one person who has been a greater
friend to the latter body at any time during its history than Mr. Osborn.
From 1884 to 1896 he was one of the deacons, declining to serve longer.  For
a very long period he was chairman of the standing committee of the
corporation, and in that position did very efficient work in the care of the
real estate of the society, its home buildings and its chapels.  He
superintended the moving of the chapels at various times in the course of the
development of the chapel interests, and his devotion and unselfishness in
the vital work of the church were freely admitted on all sides.  Mr. Osborn
was never given to public speaking, and in all his close relations with the
church was conspicuous by his silence, but his actions were his best witness
to the interst he had in the welfare of the organization.  As he was a
valuable worker in religious circles, so he was also to be counted on for the
same service in the temperance and other causes for the betterment of
mankind.  Quiet but ever helpful and faithful, his cheerfulness, sincerity,
steadiness of purpose and perfect integrity commended him to all.
   In politics Mr. Osborn was first a Whig, later a Republican, and he took
part in public matters as he did in every other line in which his sympathy
or interest was aroused.  In 1856, and again in 1858, he was a member of the
board of aldermen, and in 1866 and again in 1871 he served the city as a
member of the common council.  His substantial citizenship and high position
gave his influence much weight, and as a progressive but conservative worker
he was considered a valuable public servant.
   In 1859 Mr. Osborn completed the residence at No. 540 Cherry street where
he made his home during the remainder of his life and where Mrs. Osborn still
resides.  He died there May 13, 1898, after an illness which lasted nearly a
year, and was laid to rest in Oak Grove cemetery.  On Aug. 9, 1847, Mr.
Osborn married Mary B. Chace, born June 11, 1826, daughter of Nathan and
Elizabeth (Buffinton) Chace, of Somerset, and three children were born to
them: Anna Elizabeth, born April 5, 1850, who died July 1, 1850; Nathan
Chace, born Aug. 9, 1852, who died Jan. 28, 1855; and James Edward.
   JAMES EDWARD OSBORN was born in Fall River Jan. 24, 1856, and there
received his education, graduating from the high school in 1872.  He then
entered the office of the Merchants' Manufacturing Company as clerk under
Treasurer William H. Jennings, remaining there two or three years.  He next
engaged in the cotton brokerage business, associated with B.F. Randall under
the firm name of B.F. Randall & Co., and was thus occupied until 1884, in
which year he purchased the interest of A.B. Sanford in the firm of Sanford
& Covel, dealers in hardware and mill supplies, the firm becoming Covel &
Osborn.  Still later it was incorporated, under the name of the Covel &
Osborn Company, of which Mr. Osborn became president, a position he has since
filled.  In July, 1896, Mr. Osborn was elected treasurer of the American
Linen Company, succeeding the late Philip D. Borden, and in April, 1898,
he became treasurer of the Merchangs' Manufacturing Company, succeeding
Andrew Borden.  Mr. Osborn maintains many important business relations, being
a director of the Merchants' Manufacturing Company, the American Linen
Company, the Osborn Mills, the Ancona Company and the Parker Mills, all of
Fall River; the Corr Manufacturing Company, of East Taunton; the Warren
Manufacturing Company, of Warren, R.I.; and the Newmarket Mills, of
Newmarket, N.H.  He is a trustee of the Citizens' Savings Bank and of the
Home for Aged People, both of Fall River.
   In political sentiment Mr. Osborn is a Republican, though not an active
one, and fraternally he is a Mason, belonging to King Philip Lodge, A.F. &
A.M., Fall River Chapter and Council and Godfrey de Bouillon Commandery, K.T.
He is prominent socially, holding membership in a number of such
organizations.  He attends the Central Congregational Church.
   In 1880 Mr. Osborn married Delia S. Carr, born Dec. 4, 1856, daughter of
William and Elizabeth V. (Durfee) Carr, of Fall River, and they have had four
children: Marion, born July 21, 1881, now the wife of Joseph F. Sherer and
residing in Worcester, Mass. (she has two children, Osborn and Jeanette);
Helen, born Sept. 22, 1882, who died Oct. 7, 1882; Elizabeth Carr, born
Jan. 28, 1889, who married Nov. 8, 1911, Leeds Burchard, son of the late Dr.
Thomas Burchard of New York, and they reside in Fall River; and Richard, born
July 22, 1891.


Bio. of Weaver Osborn-9430


   History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches,
   of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.,
   1883.  Page 400.  (transcript)
   [See the hist. of the Osborn(Fall River Family)]
   [See the bio. of James Munroe Osborn-9431]

WEAVER OSBORN.
   Weaver Osborn, son of Thomas and Anna (Durfee) Osborn, was born in
Tiverton, R.I., May 23, 1815.  He remained at home until he was eighteen,
working on the farm and attending the common school, which furnished his
early advantage for an education, except a few months' instruction at the
seminary at Little West Hill, South Kingston, R.I.  At eighteen he began to
learn the blacksmith's trade in Fairhaven, Bristol Co., Mass., and having
served his apprenticeship pursued that occupation till 1871.
   In 1835, Mr. Osborn bought out Nathaniel Peirce, of Tiverton, and carried
on his trade there about eight years, and in 1843 he removed to Providence,
where he remained one year, when he returned to Tiverton.  In 1844 he began
to work for Andrew Robeson as a journeyman, and continued in that capacity
four years, when in 1848 he resumed business in his native town, continuing
till January, 1855, when his shop was destroyed by fire.  In this juncture of
affairs he removed to FAll River and entered into copartnership with James M.
Osborn, his younger brother (firm of W. & J.M. Osborn).  Their shop was
situated where the new post-office now stands, and the partnership lasted
till 1871.
   Since then Mr. Osborn has been closely connected with manufactures and
and with the growth and development of Fall River.  He was elected president
of the Pocasset National Bank in 1873, an office which he still holds.  He
has been a director in the same bank since its organization in 1854, when it
was known as the Pocasset Bank under the State laws.  In 1873 he was elected
chairman of the board of investment, and still holds the position.  He has
been a member of the board since its organization in 1851, and, with the
exception of William C. Chapin, of Providence, he is the only living member
of that original board.
   Mr. Osborn is president and director of the Osborn Mills, which take his
name.  He was chiefly instrumental in getting the stock taken and building
the first mill in 1872.  Since the last date he has also been a director in
the Montaup Mills.  He is a trustee of the Citizens' Savings-Bank of Fall
River, one of the board of water commissioners, and one of the trustees of
the State workhouse at Bridgewater, Mass.
   As a Whig in politics, he cast his first vote for Henry Clay, but became
a Republican upon the organization of the latter party in 1856.  As such he
was elected to represent the town of Fall River, R.I., in the State Senate
in 1857, 1858, and 1859, and served on the military and other committees.
He has since served in the Legislature of Massachusetts for the
following-named years, 1868, 1869, 1871, 1873, 1876, 1877, and in 1879 he was
a member of the State Senate, and served on several important committees.
   As a military man, he has served through the various grades from private
to captain in the State militia, and was in the Dorr war.
   Mr. Osborn has had much experience in the settlement of estates, and his
labors in that direction have given general satisfaction.  He is a man of
strict integrity and sound practical judgment.
   He married, Jan. 7, 1837, Patience B. Dwelley, daughter of Daniel and Mary
Slade.  They have had four children, as follows: (1) Mary S.; (2) Daniel W.,
died in his twenty-third year; (3) Thomas F., died age nine; (4) Anna Jane,
died age nine.
   Mrs. Osborn was born May 27, 1817, in Tiverton, R.I.  Mr. and Mrs. Osborn
have been members of the Baptist Church since 1843.
   The nine children of Thomas and Anna (Durfee) Osborn were (1) William,
(2) Thomas, (3) Joseph, (4) Anna (deceased), (5) Wilson (deceased),
(6) Patience (deceased), (7) Eliza, (8) Weaver, (9) James M.
   Thomas Osborn died October, 1833, aged sixty-six.  His wife died May 23,
1845, aged seventy-two.


Bio. of James Munroe Osborn-9431


   History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches,
   of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.,
   1883.  Page 401.  (transcript)
   [See the hist. of the Osborn(Fall River Family)]
   [See the bio. of Weaver Osborn-9430]

J.M. OSBORN.
   James Munroe Osborn, son of Thomas and Anna (Durfee) Osborn, was born at
Tiverton, R.I., Aug. 27, 1822.  His grandfather, William Osband, was a native
of Newport, R.I., where he ws born Aug. 16, 1729; he married Elizabeth
Shriove<sic> in 1751; had children, Weaver, Elizabeth, Patience (died young),
Thomas, William, and Wilson, and died Oct. 29, 1810, aged eighty-one.  Thomas
Osborn, father of J.M., was born at Tiverton, R.I., March 31, 1766; was a
ship's cooper, and when not on a voyage engaged in farming.  He married Anna
Durfee in 1797, had nine children, of whom James M. was the youngest.  He
died, age sixty-seven, Oct. 7, 1833.  His mother being left a widow when
James was eleven years old; he remained with her on the farm, availing
himself for six years of such common-school advantages of education as were
given by the town schools, when he learned the blacksmith trade of his
brother, Weaver, with whom he stayed three years; he was then twenty.  Going
back to the farm, he tried seine fishing with unsatisfactory results, and
relinquishing this field of labor he resumed blacksmithing in Providence and
worked in other places until 1845, when he came to Fall River and entered the
employ of John Kilburn, for whom he worked until the death of Mr. Kilburn,
some eighteen months thereafter.  Mr. Kilburn's shop was shortly after taken
by Kilburn & Lincoln, and Mr. Osborn began work for them and continued there
until 1855.  In February of that year he joined his brother, Weaver, in the
purchase of the shop of Gideon Packard, No. 44 Bedford Street, where they
commenced business for themselves under the firm-title of W. & J.M. Osborn.
   In 1859 the incentive of making Fall River a leading manufacturing centre
of the State was given to the live business men of the city, and W. & J.M.
Osborn became interested in and helped build the Union Mill, so soon to be
followed by others.  The firm afterwards took stock and were interested in
the Granite Mill, and in 1867 invested largely in the Merchants'
Manufacturing Company, in which corporation Mr. Osborn was made a director.
Companies desiring to establish themselves here soon saw that the assistance
of this active and progressive firm was a step, and not an unimportant one,
to success, and the members of it were soon associated with others in the
erection of the Stafford Mill.  By this time other and weightier duties
superseded the busines which the firm was organized to transact, and,
retaining the firm-name, the blacksmithing was dropped.  Mr. Osborn, in 1871,
was elected director and treasurer of the Slade Mill, then organized, and
devoted himself to the duties of that office, and superintended the building
of the mill.  The next corporation in which the brothers were interested was
the Osborn Mill.  The copartnership of W. & J.M. Osborn continued until 1880.
They were interested in the Union Belt Company, Fall River Bobbin Mills,
Montaup Mills, and other corporations.
   Mr. Osborn married, Aug. 9, 1847, Mary B., daughter of Nathan and
Elizabeth (Buffinton) Chace, of Somerset.  (See history of Chace family in
history of Fall River in this volume.)  They have had three children, only
one of whom, James E., now survives.  He was born Jan. 24, 1856, graduated at
Fall River High School, married Delia S., daughter of William and Elizabeth
(Durfee) Carr, and has one child, Marion.
   Mr. Osborn is a director of the Globe Yarn-Mill, Merchants' Manufacturing
Company, and a trustee of the Fall River Five Cents Savings-Bank.  In
politics Whig and Republican.  He has been from early life a temperance
worker in connection with the order of Sons of Temperance.  He has never used
tobacco or liquor.  He has been a member of the city government, serving in
both branches.  He and his wife have been long connected with the Second
Baptist Church of this city as members, and Mr. Osborn erected the pleasant
residence which is now his home in 1859, occupying it the same year.  He is
a pleasant, affable man, and has been truly the architect of his own fortune,
and enjoys a warm place in the regards of many friends.


Military Services of the Osborne Family


   The New-England Historical and Genealogical Register,
   Boston, The New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1900.
   Vol. 54, page 283.  (transcript)
   [See Hist. of the Osborne(East Bridgewater Family)]

MILITARY SERVICES OF THE OSBORNE FAMILY.
   By William H. Osborne, Esq., of Boston,

   Considering the great interest now felt in every thing pertaining to the
history of the period of the American Revolution, it has occurred to me that
the following facts concerning the military record of an old colony family,
might properly be given a place in the columns of your highly treasured
periodical.  I do not claim that this record, which is drawn from official
sources, not family tradition, is unequalled in its patriotic features; but
it is my belief, based upon the results of careful investigation, that it has
few superiors, and in many respects is unique and remarkable.  The subjects
of this record were all humble men, wholly unknown to fame, except as their
devoted service to their country has earned them such distinction.
   George Osborne of Pembroke, Massachusetts, was forty-two years of age at
the breaking out of the Revolution.  He had eight sons, seven of whom,
together with himself, served terms of varying lengths in the army and navy
during that war.  The name of the father and his sons, George, Jr., and
Thomas, are first found on a roll of a company of minute men, commanded by
Captain Cushing, that marched from the West Parish of Pembroke on the alarm
of the 19th of April, 1775.  The father's name further appears on the roll of
Capt. Hamlen's Company, Col. Thomas' Regiment, for service at Roxbury, from
May 1st to August 1st, 1775; on the roll of Capt. Hatch's Company for service
at Weymouth and Braintree Farms on the alarm of March, 1776; on the roll of
Capt. Stetson's Company, Col. Dyke's Regt., at Dorchester Heights in
November, 1776, and again on the roll of Capt. Hatch's Company at Bristol,
Rhode Island, on the alarm of December 8th, 1776.
   His seven sons emulated his patriotic example in this wise: George,
Junior, as stated, served first with his father on the alarm of Lexington.
He was with Capt. Hatch at Weymouth and Braintree Farms on the alarm of
March, 1776.  Enlisting in Capt. Nelson's Company, Colonel Willard's
Regiment, he served in the campaign against Burgoyne, under Gates, in 1777.
In January, 1780, he again entered the army, serving in Capt. Bailey's
Company, Col. Bailey's Regiment, under two enlistments, to the close of the
war, being twenty years of age at the time of his first enlistment.
   Peleg was twelve years of age when the war began, and when fourteen years
of age in 1777, he served from April to June on the "forty days' expedition"
to Rhode Island.  From July, 1777, to January, 1778 he was under enlistment
for service in the New England States in Col. Robinson's Regiment.  For
fifteen days in March, 1781, he served again in Rhode Island, and wound up
his service by enlisting as a marine on the frigate "Deane" in December,
1781, being in the course of a few days after transferred, together with
several of his brothers, to the famous frigate "Alliance," under Capt. John
Barry, and serving till June, 1782, practically to the end of the war.
   The third son, Michael, commenced his service in Capt. Sparrow's Company,
Col. Nathan Tyler's Regiment, serving four months and twenty days in Rhode
Island, between July and December, 1779.  He served in the same company one
month in 1780, and later in the same year his name appears on a roll of six
months' men, raised by the town of Pembroke, serving under this enlistment in
Washington's army at the camp at Totawa and Preakness, New Jersey, till
January, 1781.  He served in Col. Cotton's Regiment on the "forty days'
expedition" to Rhode Island, and concluded his service on the frigate "Deane"
between December, 1781, and May, 1782.
   John enlisted as a "Boy," and served three times in the navy, once on the
brigantine "Tyrannicide" in 1779; again in 1779 on the ship "General Putnam,"
and lastly, in 1782, on the frigate "Deane."
   Hugh Osborne was fourteen years of age when the war broke out, and in 1776
performed service at Dorchester Heights in Col. Dyke's Regiment, and again
the same year in Rhode Island in Capt. Hatch's Company.  In 1777 he served
again in Rhode Island, in Col. Titcomb's Regiment, for a period of two months
and six days.  Between July, 1778, and April, 1779, he served in
Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey in Col. Bailey's Regiment, and
concluded his service, as did several of his brothers, by enlisting as a
marine on the frigate "Deane" in December, 1781, and serving till May, 1782.
   The son William enlisted with his brothers, Thomas, Hugh, John and Peleg,
on the frigate "Deane" in December, 1781; was afterwards transferred to the
frigate "Alliance," on which he died in 1782.
   We conclude this record with that of Thomas Osborne, who marched with his
father and brother George on the alarm of Lexington.  A few days after his
return from this march he joined Capt. Hamlen's Company of Col. Bailey's
Regiment, marched to the siege of Boston, and was present during the entire
siege.  After the evacuation of Boston he marched with Washington's army to
New York city, and was in the battles of Long Island, August 27, 1776; Harlam
Heights, September 16, 1776; White Plains, October 28, 1776; Trenton, N.J.,
December 26, 1776, and Princeton, N.J., January 3, 1777.  He went with
Washington's army, after the latter battle, to Morristown Heights, where he
was discharged January 15, 1777, making a continuous service of twenty-one
and one-half months.  In April, 1777, he enlisted in Col. Staunton's
Regiment, to serve in Rhode Island.  After his return from this service in
June, 1778, he enlisted in Capt. Hatch's Company for nine months and went to
West Point, New York.  Immediately after the completion of this service, he
entered the Pennsylvania Line for one year.  In March or April, 1780, he
returned to his home, but at once entered the sea service, and is reported to
have enlisted on the Massachusetts armed vessel, the "Protector," commanded
by Capt. John Foster Williams of Boston.  In June of that year the
"Protector" had an engagement with the British ship "Admiral Duff," and
captured her.  While on a second cruise on the "Protector" (1781), he was in
the engagement with the English vessels the "Roebuck" and "Mayday," was
severely wounded and captured with his vessel and her officers and crew,
carried to Halifax, Nova Scotia, a prisoner of war, where he was detained six
months.  Upon being released toward the close of the year he enlisted on the
frigate "Deane" (December, 1781), was transferred to the "Alliance" a few
days later, and set sail on her December 25th (1781), for L'Orient, France,
having on board as Passengers the Marquis de la Fayette and the Count de
Noalles.  As is well known, the "Alliance," which was thought to be the
finest ship in the American navy, was at this time commanded by Capt. John
Barry.  After leaving her distinguished passengers at L'Orient, she proceeded
upon a successful cruise, fighting, as is claimed, the last battle of the war
for American independence upon either land or sea.  Thomas Osborne, as
appears by his sworn statement, served on this gallant ship till she went out
of commission in March, 1783, and thus served, including six months'
imprisonment, a period of seven years and about nine months.  He died at
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1837, at the advanced age of seventy-nine
years, having entered the army at the age of seventeen years.


Hist. of the Osborne(East Bridgewater Family)


   Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts,
   Chicago, J.H. Beers & Co., 1912.  Vol. II, page 750.  (transcript)
   [See the bio. of Eben Sumner Osborne]

   OSBORNE (East Bridgewater family).  The Osborne family here briefly
reviewed is one of long and honorable standing in the Old Colony and of
especial interest, owing to its devotion to country during the American
Revolution and the distinction earned in that struggle.  Reference is made to
what may more properly be termed the Pembroke-Hanson family -- that of the
immediate family of George Osborne, of Pembroke, one of whose descendants was
the late Judge William Henry Osborne, of the Third Judicial district of
Plymouth county, himself a soldier of gallant service in the Civil war, and a
lawyer and justice of high reputation.  A native of the town of Scituate,
Plymouth county, Judge Osborne was a great-grandson of George Osborne of
Pembroke, the head of the family so distinguished for patriotism and service
in the American Revolution.
   George Osborne was twice married, and by his first wife, Sarah Wade, had
twelve children: George, born in 1753; Hannah; Thomas, born in 1758; Hugh,
born in 1763; Michael; Peleg; William; John; Sarah; Betsey; Levi, and Susan.
By his second wife, Deborah Atwood, of South Hanson, he had three children:
Deborah and Barbia, twins, born in 1780; and Ebenezer, born in 1781.  The
father, George Osborne, died Sept. 16, 1816, at the age of seventy-nine
years, and is buried in Fern Hill cemetery, at Hanson.
   Of the family of George Osborne of Pembroke we quote from an article
prepared by Judge Osborne and printed in the New England Historical and
Genealogical Register some years ago, the writer stating that the record is
drawn from official sources, not family tradition.

   [Appearing here, with minor changes in words, is an extended quote from
the article "Military Services of the Osborne Family", except for its
introductory paragraph, beginning on page 283 of Vol. 54(1900) of The
New-England Historical and Genealogical Register.]
[See Military Services of the Osborne Family]

   Ebenezer Osborne, son of George, was born in 1781 in Hanson, Mass.,
married and had the following named children: Ebenezer, Abigail, Deborah,
Henry, Joseph and Mabel.
   Ebenezer Osborne, son of Ebenezer, born in Scituate, Mass., grew to
manhood there.  From early boyhood he followed a seafaring life, and became a
master mariner, sailing to foreign ports and in the coastwise trade, and
after giving up sailing he was appointed lighthouse-keeper at Scituate.
In 1850, after his retirement from that position, hemoved with his family to
East Bridgewater, where he passed the remainder of his life, his death
occurring there.  He is buried in the cemetery at Elmwood.  A man well known
and respected, he was an industrious worker, faithful in all the relations of
life, and a loyal citizen.  On Dec. 5, 1822, he married Mary Woodman, who was
born Aug. 17, 1801, at Freeport, Maine, daughter of James and Leah (Mann)
Woodman, and they had a family of eight children: Mary (born Sept. 13, 1823),
Ebenezer (born Oct. 13, 1825), Elizabeth (born Feb. 19, 1830), Olive Forbes
Hudson (born April 20, 1833), Joseph, William Henry (born Sept. 16, 1840),
Edward E. and James B.
   WILLIAM HENRY OSBORNE, son of Ebenezer and Mary (Woodman) Osborne, was
born Sept. 16, 1840, in Scituate, Mass.  He accompanied the family on their
removal to East Bridgewater in 1850, and lived afterward in Bradgewater about
three years, returning to East Bridgewater in 1854, which place continued his
home until his death.  He was educated at the public schools in East
Bridgewater and Bridgewater, at the East Bridgewater Academy and the State
normal school at Bridgewater, from which latter institution he was graduated
in July, 1860.  He taught a public school during the autumn of 1860 and the
winters of 1860 and 1861.
   In the spring of 1861 young Osborne's patriotism was stirred by the
excitement of the times, and he resolved to serve his country in the war.  As
has been noted in the foregoing, he belonged to a patriotic family, and it
required but little to arouse his patriotism.  On May 18, 1861, at East
Bridgewater, he enlisted, becoming a private soldier in Company C, which
company formed a part of the 29th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
His regiment remained in the Department of Southeastern Virginia until June,
1862, during which time he was in the engagement of March 8th and 9th, 1862,
at Newport News, and was with his regiment in the expedition at Norfolk and
Portsmouth.  On June 9, 1862, his regiment joined the Army of the Potomac at
Fair Oaks, Va., and made part of the famous Irish Brigade under Gen. Thomas
F. Meagher.  This regiment was at the front nearly every day for several
weeks and constantly under fire.  Mr. Osborne, with his company, was engaged
in a sharp skirmish with the enemy June 15, 1862, when his company suffered
its first loss in battle.  He was in the battles at Gaines' Mill, one of the
bloodiest engagements of the campaign, June 27, 1862; at White Oak Swamp,
Charles City Cross Roads, June 30, 1862, and Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862.  In
the last-named battle he was struck by a musket-ball in the chest, and was
carried off the field insensible, and left as dead.  By the efforts of
surgeons, however, he was restored to consciousness, when he seized the gun
of a dead soldier and in the darkness found his way to the front and joined
the Irish regiment of the brigade.  He had been in the ranks, however, but a
short time, when he was struck in the left leg by a fragment of a shell and
and severely wounded.  He was taken to the field hospital at the Pitts House.
After remaining there and at Savage Station some fifteen days he was carried
by the enemy to Richmond, and paroled July 18, 1862.  He was then conveyed to
St. Luke's hospital, New York City, where he was treated till January, 1863,
and then discharged as unfit for service.
   Returning home with a most honorable war record, Mr. Osborne resumed the
profession of teaching, taking charge of a school at the village of Elmwood,
East Bridgewater, and in April, 1863, he began to read law with the late Hon.
B.W. Harris, of East Bridgewater.  He was admitted to practice at the
Plymouth county Bar at the October term, Superior court, 1864.  He began the
practice of law at once after his admission, and as stated above continued a
resident of that town.  Some twenty-five years ago it was said of him:
   "As a lawyer and advocate, Mr. Osborne is able and eloquent, also
industrious, zealous, and persevering in the interests of his clients; the
large and increasing business of his office and his practice in the courts
show that his ability is recognized, and the value of his professional
services appreciated, and that he ranks among the most successful lawyers of
the court."
   In 1871 Mr. Osborne represented the Eleventh Plymouth district in the
General Court of Massachusetts, being an active and useful member of the
committee on Probate and Chancery.  He was again chosen to that body in 1883,
this time form the Eighth Plymouth district, and served on the Judiciary
committee.
   In June, 1894, Mr. Osborne was appointed United States pension agent at
Boston.  In 1906 he was appointed justice of the courts for the Third
Plymouth district, with jurisdiction in Plymouth, Kingston, Plympton,
Pembroke, Duxbury and Mansfield, succeeding the late Judge Charles C. Davis,
and he continued in that capacity with dignity and ability until his death,
which occurred June 5, 1910.
   Judge Osborne had been a member of the G.A.R. since it was organized, and
for many years was commander of the post at East Bridgewater.  He has ever
been the zealous friend of the soldier.  He had many times addressed the
Grand Army at some place in public discourse on Memorial Day.  He wrote and
published, in 1877, by request, the "History of the 29th Massachusetts
Regiment," a most gracious and feeling tribute to his comrades, a work
showing marked ability and involving a great deal of labor.  He was a member
of the Georgetown Lodge of Masons, the Sons of the American Revolution and
the Old Bridgewater Historical Society.  He never married.