In 1819 Eli begins to appear in the Owen Co., KY tax records. Owen Co. was created in 1819 and Eli evidently lived in the part of Pendleton Co. that became part of Owen Co. in 1819. Eli's name appears close to that of Richard Osburn, which is one of the reasons why it is believed that Eli is a son of Richard Osburn. Eli is gone from the 1821 Owen Co tax rolls and deed records in Fayette Co., IN show that he had moved there along with his father-in-law, Joseph Hawkins. Eli was a frequent mover though and was back in the Grant and Owen Co. area by 1824 when he again appears in the Owen Co. tax rolls. 1829 is the last year Eli is listed in the Owen Co. tax rolls and in 1830 Eli is listed in the Grant Co. census. After that Eli seems to be gone from Kentucky. By 1837 he is living in Fountain Co., IN as a Fayette Co., IN deed by heirs of Joseph Hawkins Sr. shows that Eli and his wife Sarah were living in Fountain Co. Eli doesn't appear in the census in 1840, but in 1850 is found in Cain Township with his second wife Matilda, who was widow of Joseph Hawkins Jr. They were living on land Matilda had inherited from her husband. Deed records show this was in a section of land on the southern border of Cain Township with Jackson Township.
Eli was married by the 1810 Pendleton Co., KY census. No marriage record has been found. Probably Eli was married to Sarah Hawkins in Scott Co., KY, whose marriage records were destroyed by fire in 1837. Eli's father Richard Osburn lived in Scott Co. in the part that became part of Owen Co. in 1819.
The 1830 Grant Co., KY census shows that Eli and Sarah had a number of children. Unfortunately, Eli died without leaving any direct record of who his children were. However, Fountain Co., IN marriage records show the marriages of a number of Osborns to people whose families lived in the northern portion of Jackson Township, not far from where Eli lived in 1850. One of these was a Richard Osborn who was married in 1839 to Rosetta Parkhurst. In 1850 Richard and Rosetta were living in White Co., IN. According to the pension papers of Eli's second wife Matilda, Eli died while on a visit to White Co. Undoubtedly Richard Osborn who married Rosetta Hawkins was a son of Eli's. All of the other Osborns marrying members of Jackson Township families are also presumably Eli's children. While there were a number of Osborn families living in Fountain Co. at the time, they lived in other parts of Fountain Co. and all of these other Osborn families left records indicating who the children were.