Timothy Osborn (1805-1898)

Timothy Osborn (1805-1898), my 3rd great grandfather, was born in Winslow, Maine, located in Kennebec County, to sea captain Isaac Osborn & his wife Sarah Wyman. 

At some point after the 1820 Census, Timothy and his brother William moved to Fairfield and started a farm, where they had adjoining houses on the same homestead (now known as 189 Skowhegan Road, Fairfield, ME).  William never married, and lived in his house alone until he passed in 1880. 

Timothy, on the other hand, had a large family.

He married twice:

1.  First marriage was to his sister-in-law Lydia Burrill-Osborn-Osborn of Fairfield (who was recently widowed from marriage to his elder brother Jacob).  They raised Lydia and Jacob's son Milton as their own and had three daughters:  Mary Ann Osborn-Gifford (who had many descendants, but died of confinement in Palmyra), Emily Frances Osborn (died at age 4 of bowel inflammation), and their youngest, my 2nd great grandmother, Lydia Osborn-Fuller. 

2.  Four months after his wife Lydia Burrill-Osborn-Osborn had died in 1836, Timothy remarried on Christmas of that year to neighbor Olivia Noyes-Haskell, who was rumored to be part American Indian, and was herself a recent widow.  Her husband had been recently crushed by a boulder he was trying to wrangle (his death had been witnessed by poor Olivia).  Timothy had reached out to Olivia (who had four young boys) and created a 'marriage of necessity', joining both their families  and had an additional four children together (Eva, William, Mabel and Clara).  An old time "Brady Bunch", for sure.  Timothy's daughter Mabel, who was quite the seamstress, died at 26 years of age, in September 1882, during a thunderstorm.  She was struck by lightning which came right through the roof of the Fairfield homestead!  The bitter irony was that she had been safe in bed, but the family had beckoned her to come join them in her father's bedroom so they could all brave the storm together.  It was only while she was getting up to join the family, that she was struck while going through in the doorway.  Below is a report from the local paper.  I was lucky enough to get a tour of the house when it was on sale in October 2011, and I got to see the doorway, which still had some evidence of burning.

Timothy & Olivia's only son together was named William Noyes Osborn (after Timothy's closest brother). 

Timothy purchased additional land in Fairfield from Samuel Bean Fuller (another 3rd great grandfather of mine) in January of 1844 for $225.  Timothy's daughter Lydia would later marry Samuel's son Charles in 1859.  Timothy's mother, the crazy Sarah Wyman, was sister-in-law to Samuel Fuller.

Interestingly, Fairfield has streets named Osborne Street and Burrill Street. I wonder who these streets were named after?  Both streets are mentioned as early as the 1900 Census, so it would have to be someone pretty far back.

At some point, Timothy purchased the home of Jonathan Emery (the "Emery House"), which was the headquarters of General Benedict Arnold in his October 1775 Quebec Expedition.  It was this house which he let his daughter Lydia live in when she returned penniless from Iowa, after her husband Charles had died.

Timothy & his brother William, both yeomen (non-slaveholding, small landowning, family farmers)  lent money to several people who failed to pay them back.  Timothy appeared to be quite litigious in general, as shown below.  He and William sued and won this case in November of 1836 against the Emery brothers (all images can be enlarged by clicking on them), who likely were descendants of Jonathan Emery:

In March of 1839, they won a claim against David Hudson & Increase Kendall:

Below, Timothy lost a land claim against George Fitzgerald in March of 1840:

In the summer of 1845 the Osborn brothers won a foreclosure proceeding against Rufell Ellis & Moses Whitten for some extra land in southern Fairfield:

In January of 1856, Timothy sued the Somerset & Kennebec Railway Company for some reason, but nobody appeared in the court room, so there is no record of why he sued them.

In April of 1857, sued his cousin Joseph Osborn for back rent (about $27):

In October of 1879, he sued his cousin William Osborn of Harmony, Maine for nonpayment of debt.  Timothy recovered the money owed him here.

In May of 1882, Timothy transferred the Homestead to his son William, who was then only 21 years old.  In December of 1885, Timothy sold the additional Osborn lot to William for $1600, a property that served William well, given the number of successful mortgages he had placed on it.

Obituary of Timothy Osborn
The Independent Reporter
Skowhegan, ME
13 Oct 1898

Death Record for Timothy Osborn

ORIGINAL GRAVESTONES OF TIMOTHY & OLIVIA OSBORNE

(as discovered in the trees across the street from the homestead):

REPLACEMENT PLAQUES FOR TIMOTHY & OLIVIA OSBORNE

(Maplewood Cemetery, Fairfield, Maine):

GRAVES OF CHILDREN OF TIMOTHY & OLIVIA:

Here's a pedigree chart for Timothy.  It appears that he is 100% English descent, with one very distant Welsh line involved (Bethia Day's paternal great grandfather).