OSBORN-E.M. - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

E.M. OSBORN, furniture dealer and undertaker, Veedersburg, came to Fountain county from Ohio in 1829, with his parents, Oliver and Hulda Osborn; the former a native of New Jersey, the latter of Ohio. They settled on Coal creek, three miles east of Osborn Prairie. Here he finished a mill which has been begun some time previous. He continued to operate till his death, which occurred in 1838, when he was thirty-eight years of age. By his trade he was a mason, and built many of the brick dwellings in Fountain county which are still standing. His wife is still livening on the old homestead, and is in her seventy-seventh year. He was married in 1846 to Catherine Applegate, a native of Ohio, and daughter of Aaron B. and Jane (Blackburn) Applegate, by whom he has five children; Orpha W., Oliver S., Mary C., Elizabeth E. and Freman. He and his wife are members of the denomination known as Christians or Disciples, in which he has filled the office of elder for the past seven years. Mr. Osborn began life with fifty-one acres of land and $10 in money, and an education such as he was a able to obtain in the pioneer schools. He operated a saw mill from 1834 to 1847, wholly within Van Buren township. In 1872 he and his brother E.B. Osborn, erected a planing-mill in Veedersburg, which he was connected with till, 1874, when he sold his interest to his brother, E.B. and engaged in furniture dealing and undertaking with his son, in which he still continues. He owns a good farm of 160 acres and considerable town property. In politics he is thoroughly republican. Mr. Osborn has ever been an active industrious citizen, and one who has paid close attention to the moral standing of the community and how it might be improved.