Democrat • Rawlins
Governor 1893-1895
US Representative 1897-1899
John Eugene Osborne was born in Westport, Essex County, New York on June 19, 1858. He attended the University of Vermont and graduated in 1880 with a degree in medicine. Hired as a surgeon by the Union Pacific Railroad, Osborne moved to Rawlins and became successful in the drug and livestock industries, eventually becoming known as the largest individual sheep owner in the Territory. He was elected to the House of the Territorial Assembly in 1883 but resigned upon leaving the Territory.
After returning, Osborne was appointed chairman of the Penitentiary Building Commission in 1888 and was elected mayor of Rawlins later that year. He was elected Governor and served from January 1893 to January 1895. Following his election in November 1893, Osborne refused to wait until January for his inauguration and insisted that he should take office immediately. When Secretary of State and Acting Governor Barber declined to accept his signed oath of office before the appointed time, Osborne and his compatriots physically took control of the governor's office in the Capitol Building, refusing Barber access to the governor's records.
Osborne was also a member of Congress from March 1897 to March 1899, first assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State from April 1913 to December 1915, and chairman of the board of the Rawlins National Bank. Osborne died in Rawlins on April 24,1943.
Message to the Legislature, 1893
The John E. Osborne Collection
The records from Governor Osborne's term in office include:
- General Record
- Administrative Records
- Correspondence
- General Correspondence
- Land Correspondence
- Immigration Correspondence
- Appointment Records
- Proclamations
- Petitions for Pardons
- Requisitions and Extraditions
- Request
- Rewards
- Indian and Military Affairs
Additional Resources
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