The Thomas Osborne text indicates that another Thomas Osborn, the sone of John and Thomasin Osborne, was born at Ashford in 1595, and it is possible, but unlikely, that he, and not the son of Jeremy, was the American settler. But, as David Lines Jacobus has pointed out, circumstanial evidence favors Jeremy's son. For instance, he was known from Jeremy's to have been a tanner, and his second son was named Jeremiah, after his father. John's son named his fourth son Jeremiah.

After 1636 the family disappears from the Ashford records. Richard Osborne in his 1646 will names his own children and those of his brother Joseph but makes no mention of Thomas or his children, probably because they had removed to America.

Thomas and Richard Osborn arrived in Boston on June 26, 1637. They and the entire New Haven Colony stayed in Boston until the spring of 1638 when they continued on to the area where they Founded the town of New Haven, Connecticut. The entire trip is described in the book "The Colony of New Haven" by Edward E. Atwater. The book describes life in England at the time, why they wanted to come to America, the trip aboard ship, and the way the land in New Haven was divided up.

History of New Haven County edited by J. L. Rockey, 1892, page 7-9 tells that the party of fifty men and another 200 women and children were part of the company of the Reverend John Davenport arriving on the Hector and her consort. The company was composed of men of wealth, education and influence. Almost immediately upon arrival there was civil and religious conflict with the current residents of Massachusetts. In the spring of 1638 the company moved on to settle the Colony of New Haven.

History of New Haven Colony, Edward R. Lambert, 1838, page 54 indicates that Planter Thomas Osborne was responsible for six persons and had an estate valued at 300 pounds. Richard Osborne was responsible for three persons and had an estate valued at 10 pounds.

East Hampton History Including Genealogies of Early Families, by Jeannette Edwards Rattray, 1953, contains detailed genealogies of our Osborn family and many of the collateral lines. However, before I cover the genealogies, there is a section in the book entitled, Where They Came From, and Why. Here are some excerpts from that section:

Most of East Hampton's first settlers had been in America for ten, fifteen, or even twenty years before coming here. None, as far as we know, had been passengers of the Mayflower although some married into Mayflower families. They crossed the Atlantic, most of them , in the great Puritan migration from England that followed the granting of a charter to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629.

Some of our 17th century forefathers were born into the gentry, some were ministers or merchants, others tenant-farmers or servants. But most were sturdy yeomen who came from the rich agriculture district in and around Maidstone in Kent and so, in the early years, they called the new settlement "Maidstone."

It was said that serfdom was almost unknown in Kent; that to say your father was born in Kent meant that you were free-born. A Man of Kent was an honorable appellation.

In the very early 17th century, King James began to exert the theory of Devine Right of Kings which became increasingly hard to swallow. Then the Thirty Years' War in Germany created a slump in English trade, there was a depression which made the prospect of new lands still more attractive. The depression lasted through King James' death in 1625, into the reign of Charles I and into the civil war of 1641. When King Charles surrendered to the Puritans in 1646 the Devine Right of Kings idea exploded. King Charles lost his head in 1649, just as East Hampton pioneers were drawing lots for Main Street homesteads.

Thomas Osborne and his son Thomas were not among the original nine settlers of East Hampton but became their very early associates, possibly still in 1649. The old Osborn family is listed as an early builder of a house on Main Street in 1680.

The introduction of the Osborn genealogy is now quoted:

OSBORN OR OSBORNE

THIS NAME, variously spelled, has existed more than a thousand years. In ancient Saxon England it was sometimes spelled Osbjorn; the wife of King Egbert was an Osborne. Egbert of the house of Cedric, King of Wessex, united the seven Saxon kingdoms of Britain into one kingdom under the name of England in 827, A.D. Earliest record of the Osborn family appears in the will of Harjanna and Julian Osborn of Kent, bearing date of 1404. The family lived in and around Maidstone then, and is still represented there. The first Osborn in East Hampton was Thomas of Ashford in Kent who owned land in Hingham, Mass. before 1635, moved to Windsor, Conn. by 1637, and was one of the early settlers of New Haven, Conn. in 1639. Thomas came to East Hampton in 1650 to 1651. His son John 2 was one of the first settlers of Wainscott, five miles west of East Hampton village, and in the township. East Hampton was first named Maidstone because so many of its first settlers had come from that vicinity; and Wainscott was doubtless named after a hamlet named Wainscot in England, near Rochester, and not very far from Maidstone. Mrs. George Odell (born Mary Osborn of Wainscott) visited the English Wainscot looking up her ancestors; and Ernest Clowes of Bridgehampton has located church records in that parish which give marriage of early 18th century Osbornes.

Preparation of the following genealogy (which does not attempt to carry the family far out of East Hampton Township) would have been impossible without data furnished by Osborn Shaw of Bellport, L.I., Brookhaven Town Historian and himself a descendant of East Hampton Osbornes; by William E. Osborn of Mt. Vernon, N.Y.; by Raymond H. Osborn, Mrs. Ralph Frazee, Mrs. Amy Osborn Bassford, Nelson C. Osborne, Mrs. Alice Dayton LaPointe, also Dr. Frederick A. Finch's notes and Judge Hedges' genealogies have given some basic information. Miss Minnie L. Hunting, who with her brother Daniel Osborn Huntting occupies one of the few East Hampton homesteads which have never passed out of the family, has prepared the whole of one section: "Descendants of Daniel Osborn 3."

Early American Osborns were tanners; Thomas 1, trained in that trade by his father in England, was given liberty to cut trees on the common in New Haven for his tanning. In 1660 Thomas 1 deeded to his son Jeremiah his house and tanyard in New Haven. Deacon Abraham Osborn 6 (1776 - 1855) grandfather of the late Burnett Mulford Osborne who lived on the property now that of Maidstone Arms, said that Thomas 1 and 2, Joseph 3 and his three sons Joseph 4, Jeremiah 4, and Thomas 4, Lewis 5 and Abraham 6, all tanners, worked for six generations at that trade on the hill where he resided; also for generations the family and descendants of Daniel 3 and his son Deacon Daniel 4 so wrought.

A beautifully carved chest, said to have been brought from England by the first Thomas Osborne, was given to the John Howard Payne memorial house "Home, Sweet Home," by the late B. M. Osborne.

It is interesting to note that Thomas and John Osborn were promoters for East Hampton of an agreement between the offshore whaling companies of East Hampton and Southampton, in January 1667. Descendants of John 2, John M. and Oliver S. Osborn of Wainscott, were among the last of the offshore whalemen here - Oliver S. Osborn headed the crew that captured the last right whale off Wainscott in 1907.

According to East Hampton History, 1953, page 490, Thomas 1 was baptized April 4, 1594/5 in Ashford, County Kent, England and died in either East Hampton or New Haven between 1677, when he made his will, and 1686, when his son Thomas is called Senior. He is thought to be the son of Jeremy and Joan Wybourne Osborne (due to cousins being named Thomas, there is some doubt) and is known to be the grandson of Thomas and Wilmeth Osborne.

In 1897, Judge Henry P. Hedges wrote an earlier East Hampton History from which Ms. Rattray quotes frequently. Rather than copying the complete Osborn section, I will only include parts that are not in the 1953 version.

THE OSBORN FAMILY

Thomas Osborn, Sr., was father of Thomas, Jr. 2, John 2 and Benjamin 2, and conveyed to the latter in 1687 all his lands in East Hampton, see T. R. Vol. I, pp. 84, 300, 406. From Savage's Gen. Dictionary and otherwise we know that this Thomas 1 had in New Haven a son Jeremiah and other children, and a brother Richard, the tanner there. The tradition that he returned to New Haven and died there is consistent with the deed and all the known facts. The Thomas 2 dying in 1712 at age 90, was son of Thomas 1. The Joseph, Jr. 3 was son of Thomas 2 dying in 1743 at age 83, and by will proved Sept. 9, 1746, devised to his son Joseph 4 the old Deacon Osborn homestead, to his son Jeremiah 4 the house on the corner bought of Capt. Thos. Wheeler, and to his son Thomas 4, the Pudding Hill lot. Four generations of the family are traced and located on three homesteads, at so late a date and so clearly as to leave little if doubt so far. The same will names his brother Daniel 3.
....
In Munsell's History of Suffolk County, the Osborn genealogy is erroneously traced from Robert and Elizabeth of Maidstone, Kent, Eng., to Thomas 2 who died at age 90 in 1712, to Daniel 3 d. Jan. 6, 1713 at age 48 yrs., Daniel 4 d. May 18, 1757, Jonathan 5 d. Nov. 1, 1781, Joseph 6 b. 1754, d. 1844, Joseph 7 b. 1789, d. 1872, Sylvanus M. 8. The partial genealogy of this family by Judge Thomas A. Osborn, late of Maybille, Chautauqua Co., N.Y., County Judge in 1843, Member of Assembly in 1868, contains the same mistake. Thomas 1 Sen. father of Thomas 2 Jr. who died in 1712 may have been son of that Robert and Elizabeth, but not of Thomas 2. The Town Record proves Thomas 2 son of Thomas 1.

Deacon Abraham Osborn 6, son of Lewis 5, son of Joseph 4, son of Joseph 3, son of Thomas 2, son of Thomas 1 was a man of devout soul, good memory and good sense, versed in treasured traditionary lore.

"And many names he would repeat,
Whose pulses long have ceased to beat."

He said that Thomas 1, Thomas 2, Joseph 3 and his three sons Joseph 4, Jeremiah 4, and Thomas 4, Lewis 5 and Abraham 6, all tanners, worked for six generations at that trade on the hill where he resided, now the residence of his grandsons William A. and Burnet M. Osborn. For generations the family and descendants of Daniel 3 and his son Deacon Daniel 4 so wrought. Judge Thomas A. relates that the family have tradition that they are of Norman origin, and came with William the Conqueror. He had an account of the family Coat of Arms which writing from memory, is not given. Believing that what we do and not what our ancestors have done will be our true measure I have made no inquiry in that direction. Dea. Joseph 4, grandfather of Dea. Abraham 6 was a man of strong convictions and in the Revolution a resolute patriot. During the Revolutionary war, on his way to church, he was ordered by a British officer to appear forthwith with his team and cart, at an appointed place to do service for the British army. The Deacon inquired by what authority the officer commanded him and was answered "by the authority of the King." "What King do you serve?" asked the Deacon. The answer was "King George the Third." The Deacon replied "My King is greater than your King. I serve King Jesus. He commands me to go to meeting and I shall go." With this the old hero marched on to the church. To such a man titles and coats of arms are baubles. Having known the strong personality and power of Dea. Abraham, his grandson, I can better conceive the master manner of his grandsire.

The source for all of Thomas's children is the LDS Ancestral File with corrections and additions made from East Hampton History, 1953.

In preparing this compilation of descendants of Thomas Osborn, the immigrant, I have mostly limited the content to the direct ancestors of our Cornelius Osborn (1814 -1879). Exceptions to this are other descendants who settled in Rensselaer and Monroe Counties, New York where our Cornelius's immediate ancestors resided.

For the interest of other researchers, I have photocopies of most of the Osborn sections of the East Hampton History, both the 1898 and 1953 versions.

Here is a message I received after publishing the Osborn text:
Thomas Osborn and his brother Richard [b. 1598] came to America in 1637 aboard the ship "Hector" which was commissioned by the New Haven Colony by a Mr. John Davenport and Mr. Theophilus Eaton. You will find Richard's name on the Passenger List on the Olive Tree Website (http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/neship.htm#hector ) Thomas and Richard arrived in Boston on June 26, 1637. They and the entire New Haven Colony stayed in Boston until the spring of 1638 when they continued on to the area where they Founded the town of New Haven, Connecticut. The entire trip is described in the book "The Colony of New Haven" by Edward E. Atwater. The book describes life in England at the time, why they wanted to come to America, the trip aboard ship, and the way the land in New Haven was divided up.

Thomas was still fathering children in Ashford, Kent, England in 1636, so he COULD NOT have been in "New England" in 1635 ! (Joseph Osborn [b. Dec. 4, 1636, Ashford, England] [d. 1732-1733 in Newark, Essex, New Jersey]).

I am a descendent of Thomas Osborn(1), Benjamin(2), Benjamin(3), Samuel(4), etc.

Jerry R. Osborn
P.O. Box 339
Los Alamos, NM 87544-0339

E-mail : Osborn jro@aol.com

• Married: 18 Jan 1622 in Ashford, Kent, England
• Change Date: 28 Jul 2001

1. Thomas Osborn b: 6 Nov 1622 in Ashford, Kent, England c: 24 Nov 1622 in Christ Church, Ashford, Kent, England
2. Jeremiah Osborne b: 20 Mar 1625 in Ashford, Kent, England c: 20 Mar 1625 in Christ Church, Ashford, Kent, England
3. Richard Osborn b: 15 Jul 1627 in Ashford, Kent, England c: 15 Jul 1627 in Ashford, Kent, England, Great Britain
4. John Osborne b: 31 Jul 1631 in Ashford, Kent, England c: 31 Jul 1631 in Christ Church, Ashford, Kent, England
5. Stephen Osborne b: 24 Feb 1634 in Ashford, Kent, England c: 24 Feb 1634 in Christ Church, Ashford, Kent, England
6. Joseph Osborne b: 4 Dec 1636 in Ashford, Kent, England c: 4 Dec 1636 in Christ Church, Ashford, Kent, England
7. Rebecca Osborn b: 23 Oct 1642 in New Haven, New Haven, CT c: 23 Oct 1642 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut
8. Increase Osborne b: 5 Feb 1644 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut
9. Benjamin Osborn b: 4 Dec 1646 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut c: 3 Jan 1647 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut

1. Abbrev: East Hampton History
   Author: Judge Henry P. Hedges, 1897 and Jeanette Edwards Rattray, 1953
2. Abbrev: Savage
   Title: A GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY of THE FIRST SETTLERS OF NEW ENGLAND, SHOWING THREE GENERATIONS OF THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE MAY, 1692,
   ON THE BASIS OF FARMER'S REGISTER.
   Author: James Savage