- F. E. OSBORN, a retired farmer residing in Milton, was born
in Wyoming County, N.Y., on the
- 21st day of March, 1827, and is a son of Chancey and Polly
(SKINNER) OSBORN. His father was born in New York in 1798.
By his trade he was a carpenter, but he engaged in farming while
yet quite young. When only fourteen years old he enlisted for
service in the war of 1812, serving a year and a half as drummer-boy
and part of the time on picket duty. He was mustered out in
1814, and returned to his home and re-engaged in farming. He
was married in New York in 1816 and had twelve children. His
wife was born in 1798. When our subject was five years old his
father, with his family, removed to Erie County, Pa., becoming
one of the early settlers of that community, where he built a
double log cabin, into which the family at once moved. After
ten years residence in Pennsylvania, Mr. OSBORN left the East
and started for the Territory of Wisconsin, which he reached
in the month of June, 1843. That was before the day of railroads,
when the means of travel were quite inferior to the improved
methods of our day. Locating at Oconomowoc, Waukesha County,
in the midst of the timber, Mr. OSBORN developed another farm
which he bought in 1844. At that time the Indians had not left
their home on this side of the Mississippi for the Western reservations,
but were still quite numerous in the neighborhood. There the
family lived until 1857, when they removed to the town of Harmony,
Rock County, where Mr. OSBORN bought a farm of 160 acres. He
died in 1876, but his wife is living at the advanced age of ninety
years.
- In 1853 our subject bought a farm of eighty acres on section
12, in the town of Harmony. Only
- ten acres had been broken, and a little log cabin constituted
the only improvement. Immediately, as was his habit when any
labor awaited him, he began the development and cultivation of
the raw prairie, which, in the course of time, he converted into
one of the finest farms in the community, extending its boundaries
by subsequent purchase until it comprised 160 acres of highly
improved land. Neatness and order reigned, and the thick and
rank growth of prairie grass was replaced by fields of waving
grain.
- In the month of January, 1852, Mr. OSBORN married Miss Lydia
CARY, a daughter of Rev.
- Richard CARY and a native of Boston, Erie Co., N.Y. The
young couple began their domestic life upon the farm in the town
of Harmony, and there many happy years were spent. In 1862 Mr.
OSBORN could no longer resist the country's call for aid to put
down the rebellion, and bidding goodbye to his wife, enlisted
in September in the 22d Wisconsin Regiment, in Company E, under
Captain Mills, entering the service at Janesville. For three
weeks the regiment was encamped at Racine, and was then ordered
to Cincinnati, Ohio. He was one of the soldiers who crossed
the pontoon bridge over the Ohio at that point. By exposure
in service he was taken sick and was laid up in the Lexington,
Ky. hospital for eight weeks. In December, 1862, he was discharged
on account of physical disability and returned to his home, where
for four months he was confined to his bed. In 1888, accompanied
be his excellent wife, he left the farm which had been their
home for so many years and removed to Milton, where he is now
living a retired life. He has one of the finest homes in that
pleasant village, modeled after his own design, and its entire
surroundings indicate thrift and refinement. He is one of the
honored citizens of the community, and is numbered among the
early settlers of Rock County. For thirty-six years he has been
a witness of the rapid changes that have taken place within its
borders, has participated in its growth and development, and
has borne no inconsiderable part in the promotion of its enterprises.
Though his path through life has been surrounded by many difficulties,
and though the obstacles to be surmounted have been not small,
he has pressed forward, undaunted by trials, and his labors have
prospered.
-
- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 750-751.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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