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Title: Memorial record of the Northern Peninsula of
Michigan
Collection: Michigan County Histories Pages 417 - 418
CHASE S. OSBORN, State Game and Fish Warden for the State of
Michigan, and editor of the Sault Ste. Marie News, is one of the
most prominent citizens of this section of the State, a leader in
political and business life and a prominent journalist, who has
exerted a strong influence in behalf of all that tends to the
advancement and development of his adopted State. He was born in
Huntington county, Indiana, January 22, I860, descending from a
family of Danish and ancient English origin. The name Osborn
originated in Denmark and was first spelled Osbjerne, the meaning of
which is polar bear or god bear. About 300 A. D. a Danish Jarl or
Earl named Osbearne, invaded England at the head of an army of
Norsemen, whence started the English family. The name on reaching
America had become Osborne, but a division in the family arising
over the American Revolution, led the patriot branch to drop the
final e, while the Tory branch retained it. A grandfather and
granduncle of our subject were soldiers in the Colonial army, one
serving as a Captain and the other as a preacher under the immediate
command of Washington. His grandmother, during the war of 1812,
moulded bullets for the use of the Federal army in the defense of
Washington city, when the British came up the Potomac. Her husband
was a Lieutenant in the service. The paternal grandfather, Isaac
Osborn, was a river trader, running between Cincinnati and New
Orleans, and was murdered for his money on one of those trips. A
native of New Jersey, he removed thence to New York in 80o6, and
afterward crossed the mountains, settling in Indiana. He married a
Miss Pardee, a descendant of George, the "Settler," who was a
passenger on the Mayflower. The father of our subject, Dr. George A.
Osborn, was born in Madison, Indiana, February 28, I823, was
educated in the university of his native State, and is now a
physician of State reputation, residing in South Bend, Indiana. He
was reared in Ohio, and was a promoter of the " underground
railroads" in ante-bellum days. On the organization of the
Republican party he joined its ranks and has ever since been one of
its stalwart advocates, but has never sought office. He married
Margaret A. Fannon, who was born in Circleville, Ohio, April 30,
1829, a daughter of John Fannon, who was a native of Virginia, but
his father was born in the north of Ireland. The maternal
great-grandmother of our subject, Martha McKenna, was born in
Kentucky, and there married James McGrath, a native of the north of
Ireland. The children of Dr. and Mrs. Osborn are as follows: Eugene
B., a resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Stephen P., a farmer of
Indiana; Emma, wife of David N. Reed, of Octagon, Indiana;
Georgiana, wife of F. W. Brown, an attorney of Chicago, connected
with the Armour Packing Company; Chase S.; Horace E.; Charles R., a
dealer in horses; and William D., who is with the firm of Studebaker
Brothers, of South Bend, Indiana. Chase S. Osborn was reared in La
Fayette, Indiana, began his education in its public schools and
completed it in Purdue University, which he left at the age of
seventeen to enter a newspaper office. He had prevoiusly done
newspaper work as correspondent and reporter on the La Fayette Home
Journal. Later, going to Chicago, he did miscellaneous newspaper
work until I88o, when he went to Milwaukee and became the managing
editor of the Signal. He subsequently filled an editorial position
on the Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin, and in 1883 he went to Florence,
Wisconsin, where, in connection with James I. Toner, he purchased
the Florence Mining News, editing it as an independent Republican
paper, its columns being devoted to the development of the mining
interests in that portion of the country. After the first year he
purchased his partner's interest and conducted the paper alone for
three years, when he sold out to Messrs. Campbell & Youngs, of
Milwaukee. He then returned to Milwaukee, and in April, I887,
established the Miner and Manufacturer, in connection with leading
newspaper men of that city, but managed and edited that paper only a
few weeks when he sold out and became city editor of the Milwaukee
Sentinel. He took this only as a temporary position and looked about
him in search of another location. He visited Sault de Ste. Marie,
and, being much pleased with the place, purchased the News of
William Chandler & Company, beginning its publication in November of
the same year. His purchasing partner was Melville A. Hoyt, owner of
the Milwaukee Daily News, and a year later Mr. Dingwall was admitted
to partnership; but in I889 Mr. Osborn bought out his partners and
has since been sole owner. The News is the oldest and the leading
Republican paper on the peninsula. Mr. Osborn has been a contributor
to many periodicals and magazines, of articles mostly of a
descriptive nature. He is a vigorous and fluent writer, making every
sentence count, and is a ready and entertaining speaker. His ably
conducted paper has won a liberal patronage and the owner has become
prominent in journalistic circles. Mr. Osborn takes a very prominent
part in political affairs and is a stalwart advocate of the
Republican party. In I889 he was appointed Postmaster of Sault de
Ste. Marie by President Harrison, and held the office for four
years. In I892 he purchased the Sault de Ste. Marie Tribune, and
consolidated it with the News, with the view of furthering the
interests of the Republican party. In 1894 he was elected
vice-president of the Michigan Press Association, and president of
the Michigan Republican Press Association, composed of the daily and
weekly Republican papers of this State. In January, 1895, he was
appointed, after an excited contest of more than two hundred
competitors, as State Game and Fish Warden, for a term of four
years. He is chairman of the Assembly District Republican Committee,
a member of the Republican Congressional Committee, and through the
columns of his paper and upon the platform he also labors earnestly
in support of his party. He is also actively interested in several
social organizations, and holds membership in La Sault de Sainte
Marie Club, the Fellowcraft Club, of Detroit, Milwaukee Press Club
and the St. Paul Press Club. He affiliates with the Masonic
fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows, having taken
the Encampment degrees, and is also connected with the Protective
and Benevolent Order of Elks. He has made a special study of the
geology of the Lake Superior region, of the ornithology of Michigan,
and is a member of the American Ornithologists' Union, the American
Academy of Political and Social Science and of the Michigan Academy
of Science. Mr. Osborn was married in Milwaukee May 7, 1881, to Miss
Lillian G. Jones, a daughter of Edward Jones, deceased, who was born
in Wales and was formerly a manufacturer of Milwaukee. He married
Louisa A. Irvine, a native of Dublin, Ireland, and and to them were
born the following children: Frank P., a resident of Wyoming; Delia,
wife of Frank Carney, of Milwaukee; Emma, wife of M. J. Hogan, a
custom broker of Milwaukee; Edward, of Chicago; and John A. and Mae,
of Milwaukee. Mr. and Mrs. Osborn have four children, —Ethel L.,
George A., Chase S. and Emily F.
Title: History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore.
Author: Moore, Charles, 1855-1942.
Collection: Michigan County Histories Pages 2294 - 2295
CHASE S. OSBORN spent most of his early life at Lafayette,
Indiana. For three years he was a student at Purdue University,
but did not graduate. His scholarly attainments and distinguished
public service subsequently brought him the honorary degree LL. D.
from the University of Michigan in I91 I, from Olivet College and
from Alma College. At the age of twelve he gained his knowledge of
printing at Lafayette and was also a newsboy, and his early
enterprise gained him the control of the sale of Chicago papers at
Lafayette. He did his first work as a newspaper reporter on the
Lafayette Home Journal, and at the age of nineteen went to Chicago
and worked as a reporter there, and in 1880 went on the staff of
the Milwaukee Sentinel. He was connected with several of
Milwaukee's papers, and also had charge of the Chicago Tribune
bureau in that city. In 1883 he bought an interest in the Florence
Mining News at Florence, Wisconsin, and while editor of that
journal came into close touch with the mining interests in the
northern part of the state. During I887 he was again in Milwaukee,
assisted in founding the Miner and Manufacturer, for a time was
city editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel, but toward the close of the
same year moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and with M. A. Hoyt
bought the Sault Ste. Marie News. In I889 he became sole
proprietor of that journal. He published it until 1901, and then
sold out and bought the Saginaw Courier-Herald, which he published
until 1912. Few of Michigan's newspaper men have been more
successful both as editors and managers than Mr. Osborn. He made
the News a great influence for the general development and civic
improvement of the Northern Peninsula and one of the most
important factors in advancing the interests of the Republican
party in that part of the state. In the meantime he also carried
his work as a writer into more general fields, became a
contributor to various magazines, and has long enjoyed a
reputation both as a vigorous writer and an entertaining public
speaker. He is the author of an interesting book of travel, "The
Andean Land," published in I909, an able contribution to South
American descriptive literature. He is an extensive traveler, and
has made discoveries of scientific interest in many out of the way
corners of the globe, and especially in Africa and Madagascar, and
has visited the colonies of every suzereign power engaged in
colonizing Africa. Mr. Osborn is a naturalist and scientist of
more than ordinary distinction. Many years ago he began a special
study of the geology of the Upper Peninsula, and he is credited
with being the discoverer of the greatest iron range in Canada,
the Moose Mountain District, into which region he also extended
his geological investigations. He possesses a rugged physique
which has served him well in his travels and investigations in the
realm of nature. He is regarded as an authority on the bird life
of the entire state and is a member of the American
Ornithologists' Union, the American Academy of Political and
Social Science, the Michigan Academy of Science, the Lake Superior
Mining Institute and is the only American who has an honorary
membership in the Madagascar Academy of Science. He is a member of
the Presbyterian Church, is a thirty-third Scottish Rite Mason and
also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the
Knights of Pythias. He is a member of various social and civic
organizations in his home City of Sault Ste. Marie, belongs to the
Prismatic, the Detroit and University clubs at Detroit, and the
Milwaukee and Chicago Press clubs. For more than twenty-five years
Mr. Osborn has been a factor in the public life of his home state.
In i889 he was appointed postmaster of Sault Ste. Marie and held
that office four years during the administration of President
Harrison. In January, I895, he was appointed state game and fish
warden, and held that office until January i, I899. He retired
from that position to become state railroad commissioner, and
served in that capacity during the administration of Governors
Pingree and Bliss. As railroad commissioner he rendered his most
admirable public service prior to his election as governor. He is
credited with having given efficiency to the commission, and made
it an instrument for the correction of many abuses, and showed
neither fear nor favor in the performance of his duty. He retired
from that office in I903. In I9IO he was elected on the Republican
ticket to the office of governor, and during the following two
years gave the state the benefit of his broad experience, a
comprehensive knowledge of men and affairs, and a service actuated
by the highest ideals. From I908 to I9II he served as a regent of
the University of Michigan. Mr. Osborn was married May 7, I88I, at
Milwaukee to Lillian G. Jones. They are the parents of four
children: Ethel L., George A., Chase S., Jr., and Emily F.
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