The Proeger Family · Generation 7 — Kristin's 4th-great-grandparents

Stephen Osborn

Father of John W. Orsborn · born about 1822, Ohio

Stephen Osborn

Confirmed

Father of John W. Orsborn · born about 1822, Ohio

Born
about 1822
Died
Not found
Married
Martha J. Heron
Sources
10

Research status

Research status: CONFIRMED as the father of John W. Orsborn. John’s own marriage-licence application, sworn at Dearborn County, Indiana, on 9 August 1921 and read from the image, gives his birth as 1 June 1848 at Cleves, Ohio, the full name of his father as Stephen Osborn, born Ohio, deceased, and the full maiden name of his mother as Martha J. Heron S1075. In August 1850 Stephen, 27, and Martha, 20, had John, 2, and Mary, 4 months, with them in Miami Township, Hamilton County, Ohio S1053

Life in the order the records give it

Birth1822
Born about 1822 in Ohio, by his age of 27 in the 1850 census S1053. In 1860 a Stephen Osborn, 38, farmer, with Jane, 31, and John, 12, was in Whitewater Township, Hamilton County; whether Jane is Martha under another name, or a second wife, is not settled S1048
Death1921
His death is not on any record read for this page; the 1921 application says he was dead by then, and the county directories list Martha as his widow by 1907 S1085S1086. The birth of 19 October 1822 and death of 26 June 1886 that circulate online rest on Find a Grave and are not used
Work1863
🆕 He was alive and at Elizabethtown in June 1863, when S. W. Osborn, 42, a farmer born Ohio, registered there for the Civil War draft S1083. In 1860 he farmed 90 acres in Whitewater Township, 80 of them improved, worth $7,200, with 277 bushels of wheat and 3,000 of corn S1084. His widow is listed at Elizabethtown in 1907 and, as “Martha J wid Stephen W”, in 1909–10, so he died before 1907 S1085S1086
Census1870
🆕 In July 1870 Stephen, 48, was farming in Whitewater Township with Jane, 40, and Emma, Josephine, Douglass and Laura Confirmed S1148. In June 1880 Stephen W. Osborn, 58, was a justice of the peace there, with his wife Jane, 50, and their daughter Laura, 18; his father was born in New York and his mother in New Jersey Confirmed S1149.

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Marriage
Husband of Martha J. Heron. Father of John W. Orsborn, and so a great-great-grandfather of Benjamin LaRoy “Pete” Peters Sr.
Marriage1847
🆕 He married Martha Jane Hearn in Hamilton County on 31 March 1847, with the consent of her father, James H. Hearn, given at Cincinnati Confirmed S1137.

In the record Generation 7 — Kristin's 4th-great-grandparents

Stephen Osborn · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

10 of the record's sources are cited here. The numbering is the record's own; the full list, with where else each is cited, is at Sources.

  1. S10481860 United States Federal Census — Whitewater Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, page 55, dwelling 394. Ancestry record 42826535. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Probable 13 July 1860: Stephen Osborn, 38, farmer, born Ohio; Jane, 31; John, 12, at school; Mary E., 11; Emma, 8; Joseph, 4; Stephen A., 1; all born Ohio. The 1860 census states no relationships; this is John W. Orsborn’s probable childhood household by name, age and place (Whitewater Township borders Dearborn County, Indiana).
  2. S10531850 United States Federal Census — Miami Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, dwelling 196. Ancestry record 15899233. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Probable 30 August 1850: Stephen Osborn, 27, laborer; Martha, 20; John, 2; Mary, 4 months; all born Ohio. Next door, dwelling 197: John Osborn, 58, farmer, born New Jersey, and Eliza, 58, born New York. The 1850 census states no relationships. Stephen’s age and the children John and Mary fit the 1860 Whitewater household (S1048), but the wife is “Martha”, 20, here and “Jane”, 31, in 1860: one woman (Martha Jane?) or a second wife, unresolved.
  3. S1075Indiana marriage-licence application (male), Dearborn County, register pp. 448–449 — John W. Osborn and Nannie Johnson, sworn 9 August 1921. FamilySearch Indiana, Marriages, 1811–2019, index 1:1:XXY9-DX6, image 3:1:S3HY-6FH4-V8. Image examined, read 30 September 2026. Confirmed John W. Osborn, of Homestead, Indiana, retired, born June 1st 1848 at Cleves, O.; full name of father Stephen Osborn, white, born Ohio, deceased; full maiden name of mother Martha J. Heron, white, deceased; his third marriage, the previous one dissolved by death in 1918; signed by mark, before James G. McKinney, clerk. The groom is Edna B. Orsborn’s father: the birth month and state match the 1900 census [S974], Dearborn County is where the family was in 1880 [S980], and a son Stephen, named for this grandfather, is in that household. No conflicting parents were found in a FamilySearch search for the same man.
  4. S1083U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863–1865 — Schedule II, Class II, 2nd Congressional District, Ohio (Hamilton County), volume 1046, page 89. Ancestry record 3339031. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed Dated 25 June 1863: Elizabethtown, Osborn S. W., 42, white, farmer, born Ohio; no former service. Linked to Stephen Osborn by the initials, the place and the trade: his widow is “Orsborn Martha J wid Stephen W” at Elizabethtown in the 1909–10 county directory (S1086). The age gives a birth about 1821, two years off the 27 of the 1850 census (S1053), within census tolerance.
  5. S1084U.S., Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850–1880 — 1860 agricultural schedule, Whitewater Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, page 9, line 30. Ancestry record 6097893. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed Stephen Osborn: 80 acres improved and 10 unimproved, farm worth $7,200, implements $450; 2 horses, 4 mules, 3 milch cows, 16 swine; 277 bushels of wheat, 3,000 of Indian corn and 150 of oats. The same township as his 1860 population-schedule household (S1048).
  6. S1085U.S., City Directories, 1822–1995 — Hamilton County, Ohio directory (1907 by the index), page 637, “Name, Post Office and Township”. Ancestry record 332684321. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed “Orsborn John W. farm hand, Elizabethtown, Whitewater Tp” and “—Martha J wid. Elizabethtown, Whitewater Tp”. The index places this at the city of Hamilton; the page is the county directory and the entry is Elizabethtown.
  7. S1086Ohio and Florida, U.S., City Directories, 1902–1960 — Williams’ Hamilton County Directory (1909–10 by the index), page 82, Elizabethtown section. Ancestry record 1961708. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed “Orsborn John W lab” and “Orsborn Martha J wid Stephen W”, Elizabethtown, Hamilton County, Ohio. The husband’s name and the Orsborn spelling match John W. Orsborn’s 1921 licence application (S1075).
  8. S1137Hamilton County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas marriage record, p. 260, no. 538 — Stephen W. Osborn and Martha Jane Hearn (26–31 March 1847). Ancestry record 900124906. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 30 September 2026. Confirmed Affidavit of Stephen W. Osborn, over 21, no lawful wife living, that Martha Jane Hearn is over seventeen, with no lawful husband living, and resident in Hamilton County, sworn 26 March 1847. In the margin, the consent of James H. Hearn, “father of Martha Jane Hearn”, given at Cincinnati the same day. Return: married 31 March 1847; the officiant’s name is blank. “Seventeen” is written over a struck-out “eighteen”.
  9. S11481870 U.S. census, Whitewater Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, dwelling 221 (21 July 1870). Ancestry record 38791830. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 30 September 2026. Confirmed Stephen Osborn, 48, farming, real estate $1,000, personal $600, born Ohio; Jane, 40, keeps house; Emma, 18; Josephine, 14; Douglass, 12; Laura, 8; all born Ohio. Enumerator I. N. Butler. The 1870 schedule states no relationships. The surname is faint.
  10. S11491880 U.S. census, White Water Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, ED 107, p. 5, dwelling 38 (2 June 1880). Ancestry record 23411154. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 30 September 2026. Confirmed Stephen W. Osborn, 58, husband, Justice of the Peace, born Ohio, father born New York, mother New Jersey; Jane, 50, wife, keeping house, born Ohio, father born North Carolina, mother Ohio; Laura, 18, daughter. Next door, in the Hayes household, Douglass Osborn, 21, farm labourer. Enumerator I. N. Butler.

Know something this page doesn't? Send it to Earl — corrections, names, dates, documents. Nothing appears here until he has reviewed it.

Compiled for the Proeger family

Living adults appear by name and relationship, with the year only: no full date of birth and no home town on any page that search engines index, and a living person’s own page is kept out of search engines. Minors appear by name only — no date of birth, no birth year, no age, no school, no place, no address, no other identifying detail. A minor may be named and may appear in a family photograph; nothing further about them is published. Where it is not established whether someone is an adult or a minor, the minor rule applies.

Know something this record doesn't? Send it to Earl.

Top