OSBORN, FLOYD (COLONEL) FAMILY

by Donna (Osborn) Cox

Entry F319 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Rush Floyd (Colonel) Osborn was born in
Grayson County, Virginia, in 1866. He came
to Nebraska with other members of his family
about 1886 but did not settle north of Mullen,
Nebr. permanently until around 1898. In
1902 he was married to Jenny Strange, also
from Grayson County, Va. They were
married at his brother's (Hoyt Osborn's)
homestead at Meadow Grove, Nebr. Jenny
was born in Grayson County in 1870. She
filed on a homestead in Cherry County, Nebr.
as had Colonel a few years before.

Colonel had been in partnership with a
nephew, Loy Boyer, and the nephew's wife
wasn't happy in the Sandhills so Colonel
bought Loy's place. There was a frame house
on the place so the Osborn's never had a
"soddy". Their ranch was 12 miles north of
Mullen at a sort of crossroads location so the
Cherry Post Office was established there in
1907 and also a country store. Trips to Mullen
were made with horses and wagons or
buggies. Trips by wagon were long, hard,
dirty trips. The family didn't often go.

There used to be a spring along the road
on what is now the Christy place. Jenny had
a great nostalgia for the streams and springs
of her native Virginia. She would have the
family get out and have a drink at the spring
when they were traveling by.

Three children were born to this family -
Charles, Mamie and Donna. They are all
graduates of Mullen High School. Charlie was
a geologist after his graduation from the
University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Nebr. He
was very interested in meteorites and some-
one told him of seeing a meteorite fall near
Seneca, Nebr. Charlie went to that location
and found a small one. It is now on display
at Morrill at the University of Nebraska,
Lincoln. Charlie married Geraldine Wyman
and lived in McCook, Nebr. Both Charlie and
Gerladine are deceased. Mamie married
Kermit Collier and lives in Dunning, Nebr.
Donna married Donald Cox and has always
lived in or near Mullen.

Most every homestead had a milk cow or
two so, in connection with the Country Store
by Cherry Post Office, Colonel set up a cream
testing station. Very few people had separa-
tors. Their cream was obtained by skimming
the cream off the milk by hand after it had
set in a cook place overnight. It was surprising
how much butterfat was found in the cream
from a good Jersey or Guernsey milk cow's
milk. Cream Day was on Friday and it was
sort of a holiday for the community. Whole
families would go to the store for most of the
day. One day when Colonel was stirring up
the cream brought in by a spinster who took
great pride in her good housekeeping, what
should come up on the ladle but a mouse!
This was much to the amusement of Mr.
Osborn who loved his jokes. He took the
mouse by the tail and showed it to all the
ladies who were gathered in the house
visiting. This caused much laughing and
joking to the embarrassment of Lorene!
There was always lots ofvisiting and laughing
when the settlers got together.

Another time a neighbor man sat down on
the sulpheric acid jug. The acid was used to
determine the amount of butterfat in the
cream. Although the man sat there only a
jiffy, he felt a strong stinging sensation and
immediately went and jumped in the horse
tank! The overalls disintegrated so the store
sold a new pair of overalls that day.

A letter written by Colonel told of his
plowing a fire guard to stop a prairie fire.
Prairie fires were numerous in those days and
the only way to put them out was men using
shovels and plows. People would see the
smoke and would come from far and near to
help fight. Sometimes the fire fighters didn't
come home for two or three days.

The Osborn's always did their share of
what went on in the community - helping
build a school, helping with Red Cross drives,
and aid to anyone in the community who
needed help.

Rush (Colonel) and Jenny Osborn are
buried in CedarView Cemetery at Mullen.