E.F. and Rachel F. Osborn

According to the 1850 U.S. Census for Erie County, Ohio, E.F. Osborn (sometimes spelled Osborne) was born in the very early 1800s in Massachusetts. Details about Ebenezer Francis Osborn are found in the Finding Aid to the Camp Family Papers at the Cornell University Library. As a young man, E.F. Osborn worked as a clerk for the firm of Osborn and Young in New York City. From 1825 to 1828, Mr. Osborn embarked on a voyage to South America. In 1850, he was residing in Sandusky, Ohio. He listed his occupation as Railroad Superintendent in the 1850 U.S. Census.  His wife Rachel was age 45. The children residing in the Osborn household included: Fanny, age 7; Mary, age 4; and Ellen, age 1. Three individuals who were natives of Ireland also lived at the Osborn residence. In the 1855 Sandusky City Directory, E.F. Osborn was listed as president of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, and he also was director of the Union Bank. In the book AT HOME IN EARLY SANDUSKY, Helen Hansen wrote that Ebenezer Francis Osborn was the owner of a prosperous flour mill in Missouri before he came to Ohio.  E.F. Osborn  moved to Sandusky in 1845 to become the superintendent of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, when Ebenezer Lane was the president of the railroad. Eventually E.F. Osborn  became the fifth president of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad.

Mrs. Rachel Osborn died on June 17, 1851, at the age of 46 years, 1 month, and 23 days. She was buried in the North Ridge section of Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

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E.F. Osborn died on May 17, 1857. He was buried beside his wife Rachel in Oakland Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Osborn were survived by several children. One daughter, Elizabeth Francis Osborn,  became the wife of Jacob Andrus Camp.  According to the HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY, OHIO, the town of Osborn, Ohio was named for E.F. Osborn. (The town of Osborn no longer exists.)