Mildred
Dixon Harrod
Flat Rock,
Indiana
December
2, 1969
Dear Mrs. Cora Beldon,
This past Sunday I took a trip to Crothersville and Seymour in order to find some of the Cox family who are descended from John and Nancy Osborn. My Dad's cousin, Florence Wetzel, in Seymour referred me to Samson Mitchell at Crothersville, stating he knew everybody in that area. I had a pleasant chat with him in which he gave me several names and referred me to Mrs. Lewis, the school teacher. For many years I have been interested in genealogy but always come to a blank on the Osburn side, as I have been told some of the Osborn girls married men from Howard County. This seems to be an error, because I find John and Lurena (Osborn) are mention in the Jackson County history as moving from Owen County, Kentucky to Jennings County, Indiana.
In case you are not familiar with the Jackson County history I will quote the article under Grassy? Fork township - "Jesse Cox was born in 1825 in Owen County, Kentucky and in 1833 he moved with his parents to Jennings County, Indiana. He is the second of a family of severn born to John and Lurana (Osborn) Cox. The Coxes came originally from Virginia and the Osborns from North Carolina. Jesse was born and raised on a farm and followed farming in Jennings County until the spring of 1860 when he moved to Kansas. He, however returned in the fall of the same year. February 12, 1846, he was married to Polly A. Hill, daughter of Allen and Elisabeth Hill of Jennings County. She died in 1862. To them were born five children: John A. (deceased), Lurena (deceased), James M, Levin, and Thomas O. John A. was a soldier three years in the Tenth Indiana Cavalry. In 1862 Jesse was again married to Margaret Cregg, daughter of William Cregg of Jennings County. She was born in 1842. To them have been born eight children: Martha (deceased) Manderson, May, Charlotte, Vestine, Earnest, Rily and Bertha. He is a member of the IOOF and of the Baptist Church. He is a Republican in politics and, as he says, he was born a Democrat and was reared at the breast of a Negro woman, but was first a Whig and then a Republican; he is now engaged in the manufacture of barrel heading and lumber sawing at Tempiee. He produces about 300,000 heading annually, and about 50,000 feet of lumber. He also owns about 155 acres of land. He is truly a man of enterprise." This history was published in 1866. I have a reprint of 1969.
Hettie says you are the daughter of May, who was the daughter of Jesse Cox. That would therefore be the granddaughter of Jesse Cox, the great-granddaughter of Lurena Osborn Cox, and the great-great-granddaughter of John Osborn and his wife Nancy Robertson.
I have a letter dated August 30, 1908 from Catherine Cox, postmarked Crothersville, to Weir Dixon at Hope. Weir was my grandfather. Who was this Catherine Cox? Part of her letter reads "We are all pretty well. Father looks a little thinner, I think, but is well for his years." Enclosed in this letter is Osburn information, part of which I did not know previously.
It would be wonderful if I could get in touch with some of the LETT family and see this Bible and get a photostatic copy made. I have made one trip to Owen County, Kentucky several years ago and found that John Osborn sold land there in the spring of 1827. He bought land in Jennings county, Indiana the fall of the same year.
Here is the listing - John Osborn was born October 11, 1773; died September 6, 1863; married Nancy Robertson April 26, 1798. His first wife having died July 13, 1825, he married Elisabeth Foster May 17, 1827. His children are as follows
Jesse Osborn
born November 9, 1800
Sally Osborn
born November 3, 1802 - married Behlan Lett
Lurania
Osborn born December 9, 1805 - married John Cox
Rebecca
Osborn born July 13, 1808 - married Henry Cobb
Catherine
Osborn born May 28, 1811 - married Andrew
Bennett
Elisabeth
Osborn born December 22, 1813 - married Leven Malcolm and Simeon
Robinson
Nancy Osborn
born August 8, 1816 - married Williamson Dixon
Polly Osborn
born July 25, 1820 - married John Cox and ? Wilson.
Nancy Osborn Dixon was my great-grandmother. She died December 5, 1895 at Old Paris, Jennings County, Indiana. Her husband, Williamson Dixon, was a tailor. He died March 21, 1886.
You are the first actual descendant of John and Nancy Osborn that I have been able to contact for thirty years, when I first became interested in family history. I sure need your help with names, dates, places and interesting stories of the families. I belong to the DAR at Columbus through Jeremiah Wilson of Woodford County, Kentucky, through my grandmother Dixon, who was a JAMES of Jennings County. Another of my hopes is to get in contact with a descendant of the other sisters of Lurania and Nancy Osborn.
An old letter dated June 10, 1883 to my grandfather, Dixon, from Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, addressed him as "Dear Cousin" and is signed Wm. S. Bennett. Part of the letter reads, "Can you tell me anything about Jesse Cox or John as I have lost tack of them. You wrote me once that Aunt Rebecca Cobb was sick. That is all the news I have heard from that part of the country since I was there.
Do you know where any of the Osborns are buried? I have never been able to find John Osborn's grave. I have been told his second wife died at the home of Nancy Osborn Dixon in Old Paris. I imagine that most of John Osborn's girls were married in Owen County, Kentucky before the families came to Jennings County in 1827. Nancy Osborn and Williamson Dixon were married in Jennings County January 14, 1836.
The only son of John Osborn, namely Jesse, must have lived and died in Owen County, Kentucky. He was a slave owner and being afraid during the Civil War came to stay at the home of his sister, Nancy Dixon, at Old Paris, Jennings County.
Marriage Book A, Page 24, Owen County, Kentucky, give John Osborn and Elizabeth Fortner (Foster) May 27, 1827, Page 20, Jesse Osburn and Elizabeth O'Banion, August 14, 1825.
In the last Kentucky Ancestors booklet I have an inquiry about the Osborns. Did not have all the information above when I sent that. I want to find out the parents of John Osborn (1773-1863).
This is lengthy, but wanted you to know some of my information.
Sincerely,
Mildred
Submitted
by Barbara Wilson. If
you have additional
information
on this family or questions, please -email Barb.
Used
with permission.