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“Norris Galpin Osborn,” The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. XXV (25), Page 418.  

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OSBORN, Norris Galpin, journalist, was born in New Haven, Conn., Apr. 17, 1858, son of Minott 
Augur and Catherine Sophia (Gilbert) Osborn, and a descendant of Thomas Osborn, who came 
from County Bedford, England, in 1639 and settled in New Haven, Conn.  The line from Thomas 
is through Jeremiah; Jonathan; Jeremiah; David and wife Elizabeth Sperry, and Eli and Mary 
Talmadge, who were the journalist’s grandparents.    His father was proprietor and publisher of 
the New Haven “Register,” which he made one of the leading Democratic newspapers on the 
Atlantic seaboard.  

He prepared for college at the Hopkins grammar school, New Haven, and was graduated A. B. at 
Yale in 1880.  In college he rowed on the class crew and was an editor of the “Yale Record.”  He 
was president of the glee club in his senior year, class historian and, after graduation, class 
secretary, and he was elected to Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the Scroll and Key Society.  

His career began as a reporter on the New Haven “Register” and four years later he became its 
editor, a position he held for twenty-three years, although ownership of the “Register” had passed 
from the hands of the Osborn family in 1895.  In 1907 he transferred his services to the New 
Haven “Journal-Courier,” and was editor of that newspaper until his death.  In addition to his 
editorial work on the Journal-Courier” he contributed a column of political comment to the New 
York “Sunday Herald” for twenty-five years, using the non-de-plume “Trumbull.”  An able and 
forceful editorial writer, Osborn was one of the most respected figures in Connecticut journalism 
and wielded a strong influence upon the course of public events in his state.  He was a leader in 
the civil service reform movement and held various offices in the Connecticut Civil Service Reform 
Association.  He was also a student of prison administration and prison reform; was a director of 
the state prison at Wethersfield, Conn., and president of its board of directors for twenty years 
and chairman of the board of parole.  A Democrat in politics, he was a delegate to the 
Democratic national convention of 1892, a leader of the anti-Bryan faction of his party and 
vice-president of the Connecticut Sound Money League in the campaign of 1896.  Thereafter 
he was an Independent.

He was a strong advocate of the repeal of the 18th (prohibition) Amendment to the U. S. 
Constitution and was a director of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment.  
He was a devoted alumnus of Yale, which gave him an honorary M. A. degree in 1886; 
was president of the Associated New England Yale clubs, 1921-22, and the Graduates’ 
Club Association of New Haven.  He delivered the Bromley lectures on journalism at Yale in 
1920.  

Osborn was the author of “A Glance Backward” (1905), a book of essays, and was nominal 
editor of “Men of Mark in Connecticut,” a collection of local biographies, and “History of 
Connecticut State” (1925).  He was a member of the Connecticut committee of the American 
Historical Research Fund, Connecticut Editorial Association, Sons of the American Revolution 
and Masonic order.  Osborn was a deep thinker and an able writer and political commentator.  
His indomitable courage and trenchant attacks upon whatever he believed to be wrong, made 
him a power in the public life of his state.

He was married Dec. 27, 1881, to Kate Louise [Gardner], daugher of Rev. Charles Huntington
Gardner, founder of Gardner Institute, New York city, and they had five children:
	1- Innis Gardner Osborn.
	2- Minott Augur Osborn.
	3- Doronty Osborn, wife of Ernest Milford Bristol.
	4- Gardner Osborn.
	5- Katherine Osborn, wife of Chandler Bennitt.

He [Norriss Galpin Osborn] died in New Haven, Conn., May 6, 1932.

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Transcribed by Gloria Odom - record [OSBORN CT26]; paragraphing changed for use here & a 
few brackets added by this transcriber - 2/1999.

In transcribing Families of Ancient New Haven, by Donald Lines Jacobus, regarding Descendants 
of Thomas OSBORN, I found on page 1329: 

“Eli OSBORN, b. 4 Nov. 1777 NHV, NHT1, d. 9 Sep. 1844 ae. 67 NHT1; m. (1) 18 Mar. 1805 
NHV - Elizabeth AUGUR, da. Hezekiah & Lydia (ATWATER) AUGUR, b. 4 Oct. 1779 NHV, 
d. 18 Jan. 1817 ae. 37-3 NHT1; m. (2) Dec. 1818 ColR - Anna THOMPSON, da. Isaac & 
Elizabeth (THOMPSON) THOMPSON, wid. Kierstead MANSFIELD, bp. 17 Jan. 1779 NHC2, 
d. 6 Oct. 1849 ae. 70-9 NHT1.

		Children of Eli OSBORN by first wife Elizabeth AUGUR:

		[1] Walter OSBORN, b. 21 Dec. 1805 NHV.
		[2] Elizabeth Susan OSBORN, b. 8 Jan. 1808 NHV.
		[3] Minot Augur OSBORN, b. 28 Apr. 1811 NHV, d. 22 Oct. 1877; m. (1) 4
 				Nov. 1834 Caroline McNEIL, da. Wm. & Nancy (PRINDLE) McNEIL,
 				who d. 1 Feb. 1839;  m (2) 31 May 1841 Catherine GILBERT, dau. of
 				Ezekiel & Sarah (HURD) GILBERT, b. 19 Nov. 1821, d. 24 Dec. 1899.”

For further research on the ancestors of this line, please see the transcript of 
Families of Anicent New Haven, included on the internet.

You will see that [3] Minot Augur OSBORN with his second wife Catherine GILBERT are the
couple mentioned initially in this biography of Norris Galpin OSBORN.

 An error was made by the compiler of this biography... The first progenitor identified, Thomas
OSBORN(E) was from Ashford, Co. Kent, England, NOT the mentioned County Bedford,
England.