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BYRON H. OSBORN.
––Byron H. Osborn, one of the most intelligent and thriving
agriculturists of Morrow county, owns and occupies a valuable
homestead in South Bloomfield township, which is his native
place, his birth having here occurred on Wednesday, February 4,
1846, at half after nine in the morning. He is a son of the
late John H. Osborn, and grandson of Thomas Osborn,
who settled in Ohio in pioneer days.
Thomas Osborn was born and reared in Connecticut,
and as a young man followed the sea, being captain of a vessel.
In 1814 he was wrecked and cast on the Isle of Jimairi [sic].
He subsequently landed in New York, and having determined to
abandon seafaring pursuits was engaged in farming in Connecticut
for a year. A brother-in-law, a Mr. Manning, who was
then surveying land in Knox county, Ohio, induced him to come to
this state in search of a home. He located in the late fall of
1815 in Knox county, and having taken up one hundred and sixty
acres of heavily timbered land cleared and improved a homestead,
on which he spent the remainder of his years. He married
Olive Manning, and to them two children were born, a son and
a daughter.
John H. Osborn was born in October, 1815, in
Connecticut, and as an infant was brought by his parents to
Ohio. He remained beneath the parental roof-tree until eighteen
years of age, assisting in the farm labors, and then served an
apprenticeship of three years at the carpenter’s trade, which he
subsequently followed until seventy-five years old, being active
in business pursuits until his death. He married Nancy
Severe, whose father was Jesse Severe, who came from
his home at Point Pleasant, Virginia, to Knox county, Ohio, in
1805, making the long journey on horseback, and being the second
householder to locate in Liberty township. Seven children were
born to their union, as follows: Thomas E. Laduska E.; Byron
H., the special subject of this sketch; William D.,
deceased; Mary J.; Rose L.; and Clarinda,
deceased.
Educated in the district schools and acquiring a practical
knowledge of the science of agriculture while young, Byron H.
Osborn subsequently assumed the management of his father’s
farm, of which he had charge until 1871, three years after his
marriage. Lured then to the fertile fields of the west, he
spent a year in Illinois, but not at all satisfied with his
prospects in the Sucker state he returned in 1872 to Ohio, and
located on his present fine estate in South Bloomfield
township. Mr. Osborn has one hundred and seventy-six
acres of highly productive land, which he has placed under
excellent tillage and on which he has made substantial
improvements. He makes a specialty of stock growing and
raising, breeding Short-Horn Durham cattle from the registered
stock of John Lyle. On October 16, 1861, Byron H.
Osborn, then a lad of fourteen years, enlisted as a drummer
in the Forty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served
until honorably discharged in 1862. In 1864 he enlisted, in the
same capacity, in the One Hundred and Forty-second Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, and was at the front in the battle of the
Wilderness, in the engagement at Coal Run and at the seige [sic]
of Petersburg. For fifteen years he was engaged in the lumber
business, but has since confined his attention to farming. A
stanch Republican in politics, he has served on the local school
board, and he is a member of Joe Hooker Post, No. 21, G.
A. R., at Mount Vernon, Ohio.
Mr. Osborn married, October 24, 1867, Emma Brokaw,
who was born in Knox county, Ohio, November 28, 1847. Her
father, Henry Brokaw, born February 10, 1814, died
December 12, 1897, and his wife, whose maiden name was Louisa
Coffin, was born August 30, 1816, and died October 13, 1875,
her birth having occurred in Pennsylvania, and his in New
Jersey. They became the parents of thirteen children, as
follows: Joshua, born May 11, 1836, died April 13, 1870;
Johanna, born June 11, 1840, died June 14, 1876; Marie,
born December 13, 1841; Mary G., born October 28, 1843;
William H., born September 11, 1845; Emma, wife of
Mr. Osborn; Jackson C., born August 7, 1849;
Jane A., born February 9, 1851; Effie E., born April
13, 1853; Abraham, born March 30, 1855; Charles B.,
born February 28, 1857; Frank, born June 27, 1858; and
Delmar, born January 25, 1863.
Ten children have blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs.
Osborn, namely: Burton A., born October 9, 1868;
Lola G., born January 27, 1870; Laura T., born
October 24, 1872; Eugene Alphonse, born March 11, 1875;
Maud L., born April 18, 1878, died May 15, 1892; Mary
L., born September 26, 1881; William D., born May 7,
1883; Estella L., born September 18, 1886; Ben J. H.,
born October 18, 1888; and Clarence R., born April 16,
1892. Mrs. Osborn is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church and takes an active interest in its work.
Source: History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol.
II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp.
686-688
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist. |
