The Proeger Family · Generation 7 — Kristin's 4th-great-grandparents

Martha J. Heron

Mother of John W. Orsborn · born about 1830, Ohio

Martha J. Heron

Confirmed

Mother of John W. Orsborn · born about 1830, Ohio

Born
about 1830
Died
Not found
Married
Stephen Osborn
Sources
8

Research status

Research status: CONFIRMED as the mother of John W. Orsborn. His 1921 Dearborn County, Indiana marriage-licence application, read from the image, gives the full maiden name of his mother as Martha J. Heron, deceased S1075. She is the Martha, 20, in the 1850 household of Stephen Osborn, 27, at Miami Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, with John, 2 S1053

Life in the order the records give it

Birth1830
Born about 1830 in Ohio, by her age in the 1850 census S1053. The 1860 household names a Jane, 31, in her place S1048; one woman or two is not settled
Death1913
Her death is not on any record read for this page. An Ohio death index entry for a Martha J. Osborn of Hamilton County, dated 3 July 1913, is a lead that has not been read from the image, and the English death at Reading that some online trees attach to her belongs to another Jane Hearn
Census1907
🆕 She outlived Stephen: the Hamilton County directories list her as a widow at Elizabethtown, Whitewater Township, in 1907, beside John W. S1085, and as “Orsborn Martha J wid Stephen W” in 1909–10 S1086

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Marriage
Wife of Stephen Osborn. Mother of John W. Orsborn
Marriage1847
🆕 She married Stephen W. Osborn as Martha Jane Hearn in Hamilton County on 31 March 1847. Her father, James H. Hearn, gave his written consent at Cincinnati on 26 March, and the affidavit gives her age as over seventeen Confirmed S1137. Her middle name makes it likely that the Jane, 31, of 1860 is the same woman.
Marriage1870
🆕 Stephen’s wife is Jane, 40, in 1870 Confirmed S1148 and Jane, 50, his wife, in 1880 S1149. Her ages run cleanly from the 1847 marriage (over seventeen) and 20 in 1850, which strengthens the case that Martha Jane and Jane are one woman. The 1880 census gives her father’s birthplace as North Carolina and her mother’s as Ohio, a lead on James H. Hearn’s origin.

In the record Generation 7 — Kristin's 4th-great-grandparents

Martha J. Heron · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

8 of the record's sources are cited here. The numbering is the record's own; the full list, with where else each is cited, is at Sources.

  1. S10481860 United States Federal Census — Whitewater Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, page 55, dwelling 394. Ancestry record 42826535. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Probable 13 July 1860: Stephen Osborn, 38, farmer, born Ohio; Jane, 31; John, 12, at school; Mary E., 11; Emma, 8; Joseph, 4; Stephen A., 1; all born Ohio. The 1860 census states no relationships; this is John W. Orsborn’s probable childhood household by name, age and place (Whitewater Township borders Dearborn County, Indiana).
  2. S10531850 United States Federal Census — Miami Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, dwelling 196. Ancestry record 15899233. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Probable 30 August 1850: Stephen Osborn, 27, laborer; Martha, 20; John, 2; Mary, 4 months; all born Ohio. Next door, dwelling 197: John Osborn, 58, farmer, born New Jersey, and Eliza, 58, born New York. The 1850 census states no relationships. Stephen’s age and the children John and Mary fit the 1860 Whitewater household (S1048), but the wife is “Martha”, 20, here and “Jane”, 31, in 1860: one woman (Martha Jane?) or a second wife, unresolved.
  3. S1075Indiana marriage-licence application (male), Dearborn County, register pp. 448–449 — John W. Osborn and Nannie Johnson, sworn 9 August 1921. FamilySearch Indiana, Marriages, 1811–2019, index 1:1:XXY9-DX6, image 3:1:S3HY-6FH4-V8. Image examined, read 30 September 2026. Confirmed John W. Osborn, of Homestead, Indiana, retired, born June 1st 1848 at Cleves, O.; full name of father Stephen Osborn, white, born Ohio, deceased; full maiden name of mother Martha J. Heron, white, deceased; his third marriage, the previous one dissolved by death in 1918; signed by mark, before James G. McKinney, clerk. The groom is Edna B. Orsborn’s father: the birth month and state match the 1900 census [S974], Dearborn County is where the family was in 1880 [S980], and a son Stephen, named for this grandfather, is in that household. No conflicting parents were found in a FamilySearch search for the same man.
  4. S1085U.S., City Directories, 1822–1995 — Hamilton County, Ohio directory (1907 by the index), page 637, “Name, Post Office and Township”. Ancestry record 332684321. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed “Orsborn John W. farm hand, Elizabethtown, Whitewater Tp” and “—Martha J wid. Elizabethtown, Whitewater Tp”. The index places this at the city of Hamilton; the page is the county directory and the entry is Elizabethtown.
  5. S1086Ohio and Florida, U.S., City Directories, 1902–1960 — Williams’ Hamilton County Directory (1909–10 by the index), page 82, Elizabethtown section. Ancestry record 1961708. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed “Orsborn John W lab” and “Orsborn Martha J wid Stephen W”, Elizabethtown, Hamilton County, Ohio. The husband’s name and the Orsborn spelling match John W. Orsborn’s 1921 licence application (S1075).
  6. S1137Hamilton County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas marriage record, p. 260, no. 538 — Stephen W. Osborn and Martha Jane Hearn (26–31 March 1847). Ancestry record 900124906. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 30 September 2026. Confirmed Affidavit of Stephen W. Osborn, over 21, no lawful wife living, that Martha Jane Hearn is over seventeen, with no lawful husband living, and resident in Hamilton County, sworn 26 March 1847. In the margin, the consent of James H. Hearn, “father of Martha Jane Hearn”, given at Cincinnati the same day. Return: married 31 March 1847; the officiant’s name is blank. “Seventeen” is written over a struck-out “eighteen”.
  7. S11481870 U.S. census, Whitewater Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, dwelling 221 (21 July 1870). Ancestry record 38791830. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 30 September 2026. Confirmed Stephen Osborn, 48, farming, real estate $1,000, personal $600, born Ohio; Jane, 40, keeps house; Emma, 18; Josephine, 14; Douglass, 12; Laura, 8; all born Ohio. Enumerator I. N. Butler. The 1870 schedule states no relationships. The surname is faint.
  8. S11491880 U.S. census, White Water Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, ED 107, p. 5, dwelling 38 (2 June 1880). Ancestry record 23411154. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 30 September 2026. Confirmed Stephen W. Osborn, 58, husband, Justice of the Peace, born Ohio, father born New York, mother New Jersey; Jane, 50, wife, keeping house, born Ohio, father born North Carolina, mother Ohio; Laura, 18, daughter. Next door, in the Hayes household, Douglass Osborn, 21, farm labourer. Enumerator I. N. Butler.

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Compiled for the Proeger family

Living adults appear by name and relationship, with the year only: no full date of birth and no home town on any page that search engines index, and a living person’s own page is kept out of search engines. Minors appear by name only — no date of birth, no birth year, no age, no school, no place, no address, no other identifying detail. A minor may be named and may appear in a family photograph; nothing further about them is published. Where it is not established whether someone is an adult or a minor, the minor rule applies.

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