OSBORN, James - Putnam

Deceased - A pioneer of Wilson county and a scion of a pioneer family who helped in some degree to perform the labors of opening up this section to settlement as his antecedents had done the middle west was the late James Osborn of Chetopa township, who was not only one of the early settlers of Wilson county but was a man highly esteemed for his sterling worth and up-right Christian character. He was born in Scott county, West Virginia, November 174, 1826, and was taken when young by his parents to Kentucky where he grew up. His early advantages in the matter of education amounted to but little. He attended school in the old log school house where he obtained only the rudiments of learning, and before he was out of his teens began doing for himself working as a farm hand and at common labor. At about the age of thirty, March 1856, he married Nancy Hale, a daughter of Benjamin and Catherine Hale and a native of Pulaski county, Kentucky, and the same year moved to Indiana and settled in Putnam county. He lived in that and Sullivan county till 1869 when he came to Kansas and located in Wilson county, which was ever afterward his home.

On settling in Wilson county Mr. Osborn took a claim in the vicinity of the Five Mounds in what is now Chetopa township, but when he settled there the township had not been organized, and was not organized till some months later. The county was all open and there were numerous claims still untaken. The Osages raised their last crop of corn, beans and watermelons on Chetopa creek and along the Verdigris river the year before, but struggling bands of them remained in the country, and to the west and south there were no towns and but few settlements to speak of. Humboldt was then the terminus of the old L. L. & G. railway and to that point and to Ottawa, Lawrence and Kansas City the settlers went for their supplies, such as they were able to afford. The first settlers did not enjoy very many of the luxuries of this life; in fact they had but few of what are now regarded as the necessities; but even such as they had were thus brought from a distance, and the going to the store, mill or black-smith shop was an event of sufficient importance to necessitate a day's preparation, while two or three days were consumed in going and returning.

Mr. Osborn settled at once on his claim after making selection of it and put forth his best efforts to make of it a home. The process was tedious and the transformation slow; for the task was pursued under the same difficulties that all the old settlers labored under: scant means to go on, drouth, grasshoppers, and the like. If the value of his services should be measured by the extent of his accumulations there are others who would outrank him in the community, but this is not the test nor should one be singled out for distinction on account of any particular possession or accomplishment. A man is useful to a community by virtue of the fact that he is a man if he is all that the name implies, and Mr. Osborn was that. To the common virtues of honesty, industry and general uprightness of character were added, in his case, a strong attachment for his family and home, a disposition to be helpful to his neighbors and a great love for his church and all church work. He did not give anything out of the ordinary to charity, because there were no special calls for it nor was he able; but he had that better sort of charity in his makeup which prompted him to look with indulgence on the shortcomings of others, and he helped with the kind and encouraging word, the gentle hand-grasp and the token of sympathy, which were more in place and did more good than lavish expenditure. What this disposition and manner of living led to, supplemented as they were by the equally honest and zealous efforts of a good wife, is clearly discernable in the sons and daughters brought up in the Osborn household. This family is on of the largest in the township, has always lived in perfect harmony and has prospered accordingly. The father was not able to accumulate very much, but with the aid of his good wife he laid the foundation for his children's success.

Mr. and Mrs. Osborn had six sons and five daughters, all of whom became grown and all of whom until a comparatively recent date remained at home.in the order of their ages they are, John M., Arthur H., James E., Sarah C., now wife of William Morris; Nancy Florence, who was married to Edward Goff and is deceased, William E., Martin O., Charles B., Mary, wife of Charles Conn; Martha and Susie.

Mr. Osborn died October 6, 1895, and his remains rest in the cemetery at Altoona. He has been for many years a member of the Methodist church to which church his widow and a number of his sons and daughters now belong.