The first settlers to arrive, and farm, in what is now Fountain County, included one Col. Osborn, that the name Osborn Prairie is named after. Oliver Osborn was born in New Jersey, in 1799, and died, at the age of 37 years, in October 1837, at which time his wife, Hulda, was away visiting family and friends in Ohio. A Christian Minister, John Dudley, was asked to hold a funeral service for Oliver. Later, when Hulda returned home, she asked the Minister to hold another service for her late husband.
According to Wikipedia (
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According to Ancestry.com (
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In 1838, Hulda was one of thirteen founding members of the Osborn Prairie Church, which was held at the farm of her father Jonathan Crane, located, on a hill, about half a mile west of the site of the current church. John Dudley was the first minister.
The first building was built next to where the current building now stands. In 1857, during a Sunday service, a fire spread from the fire flue, to the roof. The building was destroyed, but was quickly rebuilt, by the next year. More land was purchased, next the first church, and construction of the current church was started in 1891, and completed in 1892.
The smaller cemetery, to the west of the church, contains the remains of the early settlers, and was established at the same time as the first church.
The land for the larger cemetery, to the east of the church, was purchased at the same time as the current church. Further extensions being acquired since.
Osborn Prairie is in Van Buren township, to the west of the small town of Stone Bluff, itself north of the town of Veedersburg, in Fountain County, Indiana.
Van Buren Township is one of eleven townships in Fountain County, Indiana. (
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Fountain County lies in the western part of the U.S. state of Indiana on the east side of the Wabash River. The county was officially established in 1826 and was the 53rd in Indiana. The county seat is Covington. (
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Find A Grave memorial for Oliver Osborn (
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