The Osborne family had been located in Stafford for some years. A Richard Osborne had been appointed as County Commissioner to the new Prince William County in November 1731 by Governor Gooch. A Thomes Osborne represented Prince William in the House of Burgesses in ______. We have evidence leading to John.

John Osborn (Osborne, Osbourne, Osburn) has been traced to the will of John Osborn senr, which was probated in Loudoun Co, Va, on 8 January 1787. John Osborn senr is believed to be the son of Richard Osborn. Sarah Morris, consort of John senr, is believed to be the daughter of Thomas Morris and his wife, Ann Howard. John Osborn senr was born cir 1712, and died in December 1786. Sarah Morris was born cir 1719 and died in March 1804, and both are buried in the Ketoctin Baptist Cemetery in Loudoun Co, Va. John Osborn junr was born cir 1741, and was believed to have eventually moved to Kentucky, although I would have doubted his leaving Bedford Co, Va. Eury Thurman Hedges, identified her grandparents as John Osborn and Rachel Mead, in the 1880s, with no additional data. I surmise that Rachel Mead was born cir 1740-1750, and died in Bedford Co, Va.

1761, 1769, 1771, 1772. Loudoun Co. Tax Rolls. John Osborne
1761. Prince William Co. John Osborn was a paid witness from Farquier Co. 26 miles away.
1782-1787 Bedford Co. Pole Tax John Osborn 1 pole, 0 slaves.
December 1786 Loudoun Will Bk C p. 244
John Osborn senr aged 74, wives Margaret, Sarah Morris,

Councilors gave "Rede" or advice, and in fact, Ethelred the Unredey was called the Unredey because he refused to take the advice offered him by his advisors. We were told that the name Reader was applied to the people who read to and for the King in the Court in England, which explanation certainly seems to match the definition of "rede" .

A John Reeder arrived in Boston in 1637 on the ship "Hector".
A Jacob Reeder was in Philadelphia in 1742, probably just emigrating.

John Reeder

Samuel Parker Reader (10 April 1804- 12 Aug. 1867)

Elijah Applegate

Samuel Parker Reader wed Cynthia Ann Applegate, daughter of Elijah Applegate, who had wed Jenny Phariss, daughter of Samuel Phariss on 19 April 1802. Though we do not know all about Elijah Applegate, the biography of Elisha Applegate will give us some incites. Elijah and Elisha were the sons of Thomas and Mary Applegate, who, with Thomas's father and mother, Joseph and Mary Applegate, migrated from Pennsylvania in 1782, and settled at Sullivan's Station, which was situated in Jefferson Co. about six miles from Louisville on what is now known as the Bardstown Pike.

Elisha was born 25 Mar. 1782 at Sullivan's Station. Thomas Applegate's will, dated 25 Dec. 1806, states that Elisha was one of ten children, there being eight boys and two girls. History records that Elisha was the first male white child born in the very large Jefferson County. He underwent the hardships of the youth of the pioneers of our State. He received but little education from books, but rather from the strict honesty, stern integrity and splendid bravery of Kentucky's first sons.

During his last days Elisha Applegate was a veritable storehouse of information regarding the early customs and happenings of his time. He narrated many incidents of terrible scalpings and murders committed by lndians to which he was eye witness, and of his own narrow escapes.

When but 18 years of age he built for himself a flatboat at the mouth of Salt River, which he loaded with produce and floated down to New Orleans. Soon disposing of his wares and his boat, he took passage on a vessel for New York. He walked all the way from New York to Louisville, stopping for a visit with relatives in Pennsylvania. The route which he chose from New Orleans was the popular one of the times.

After his return to Jefferson Co. he engaged in salt-making, near Paroquet Springs in Bullitt County.

He was married in 1803, but his wife lived but a few years. To them were born one son and a daughter.

In 1808 Elisha Applegate moved to Louisville, where there were comparatively few houses in the lonely wilderness. He engaged in the business of brewing. After several years he abandoned this and began trading in tobacco. According to family tradition he made a trip to Virginia and brought back the first tobacco seed, which he planted, and raised the first crop of tobacco in Jefferson Co., thus being the pioneer of that very important branch of Louisville's mercantile and commercial interests . He remained in this business over a period of forty years, holding at the same time the office of Tobacco Inspector, until 1860, when he retired. He built the first tobacco warehouse in the city which was on Main St. between seventh and eighth. Shortly after its completion the building was destroyed by fire. Another was soon erected in the same square. As late as 1835 there was but a single tobacco warehouse in Louisville. This was the Todd, whose proprietors were Elisha Applegate and James Pickett. It was located on the Southwest corner of Seventh and Main Streets. It is said that this warehouse was little more than a shed, with an earthen floor where hogsheads of tobacco were dumped from wagons and drays.

Elisha Applegate erected a hotel on the south side of Main Street between Seventh and Eighth, in 1831/32, giving it the name of the United States Hotel. It was later changed to the Western Hotel, this being the second hostelry erected in Louisville.

Elisha Applegate married a Mrs. Morrison in 1809, by whom he had two sons and five daughters. One of the daughters married a Mr. R. Burge.

Elisha Applegate purchased from the Pierce heirs, old Fort Nelson, on Seventh Street between Main and the River where he built a modest frame house for his home, about 1845 . Later Mr. Burge erected an elegant residence on this site.

Elisha Applegate did much to adorn the old cemetery on Jefferson Street, between Eleventh and Twelfth, where his children and brother (Elijah?) were buried. When the war broke out in 1860 he retired from active business. About the close of the war he divided most of the large amount of property he had accumulated, among his children.

Elisha Applegate was a member of the fire department when the bucket system was used, during the early days of the city. He was captain, for several years, of the hand fire engine in vogue before the advent of the steam fire engine. He served for many years as one of the patrons of the city. When the first election under the first city charter was held 4 May 1828, he was elected a member of the City Council. He was one of three men who wrote the City Charter.

He was one of the incorporators of the Street Railway System, the Charter for which was obtained March 1844, for the purpose of running a line of cars, with steam as the motive power, between Louisville and Portland, a distance of three miles, and an important shipping point because of the difficulty of navigation in low water. It was operated for the benefit of the Ky. Institution for the Blind

At the opening of the Exposition in Louisville in 1872, the three oldest men in the city, Elisha among them, were wheeled through the buildings in a carriage. Elisha Applegate was a Unitarian and contributed liberally toward the construction of the old Fourth Avenue Unitarian Church. He was also a Jacksonian Democrat.

Elisha Applegate passed away 25 May 1874, and was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery near Louisville. Elisha and Elijah Applegate were instrumental in the founding of Cave Hill Cemetery on 25 Jul. 1847 upon 40 acres of Cave Hill farm on the outskirts of Louisville. He had lived to see a city of beauty, refinement and culture spring into existence, where he once listened to the cries of wild animals, and shivered with fear at the sight of red men among the thick forest trees, which surrounded the crude houses and homes of the early Louisvillians. [based upon a radio statement by Bird Calhoun Greer. 1941, an Applegate heir.]

Prior Gimbert (1844- 7 Sept. 1906) from Sutton, Lincolnshire

William Henry Gimbert (1 Dec. 1880- 9 Oct. 1969)