Chase Salmon Osborn was born on January 22, 1860, and died on April 11, 1949. He was an American politician, newspaper reporter, publisher, and explorer. Osborn served as the 27th governor of Michigan from 1911 to 1913. During his time away from work, he spent time at Possum Poke in Georgia, where he used the location as a place to rest and write. He passed away there on April 11, 1949, at the age of 89.
Early life in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin
Osborn was born in a log house in Huntington County, Indiana, to George A. Osborn and Margaret (Fannon) Osborn. His parents named him Chase Salmon after Salmon Chase, who later became the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln and then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He attended Purdue University, where he joined the Sigma Chi fraternity, but left before graduating. Afterward, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, and worked briefly for the Chicago Tribune. On May 7, 1881, while working as a reporter for the Evening Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he married Lillian G. Jones. The couple moved north, near the Michigan border, to Florence, Wisconsin, where he operated a local newspaper and looked for iron deposits.
Life and politics in Michigan
Osborn later moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, where he worked at a newspaper called The Sault News and began participating in politics. In 1889, he was named Postmaster of Sault Ste. Marie, and in 1895, he became the state Fish and Game Warden. In 1898, Governor Hazen S. Pingree appointed Osborn as Commissioner of Railroads, a role he held from 1899 to 1903. After selling his newspaper, he and Walter J. Hunsaker purchased The Saginaw Courier Herald. In 1900, he did not win the Republican nomination for Governor of Michigan, losing to Aaron T. Bliss, who later won the general election. In 1908, he served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention from Michigan to support William Howard Taft for president. That same year, he joined the University of Michigan Board of Regents and remained a member until 1911.
In 1910, Osborn was elected the 27th Governor of Michigan, serving from 1911 to 1913. During his time as governor, he focused on reforms, including eliminating the state’s budget deficit, passing a workmen’s compensation bill, and authorizing a law for presidential primaries. In 1912, Osborn supported Theodore Roosevelt’s campaign for president to challenge the current president, William Howard Taft. After Roosevelt lost the Republican nomination and left the party to form the Progressive Party, Osborn continued to campaign for him in Illinois, Missouri, and Oklahoma but not in Michigan. Osborn did not seek a second term and remains the only governor of Michigan from the Upper Peninsula.
After leaving office, Osborn traveled internationally and later tried again to become governor to replace his successor, Democrat Woodbridge N. Ferris, but was not successful. In 1918, he ran in the primary for U.S. Senator from Michigan but lost to Republican Truman H. Newberry. He supported Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations and encouraged U.S. involvement in global affairs during the 1920s and 1930s, even though most people favored staying out of international conflicts. In 1924, Osborn met Stellanova Brunt, who later became his researcher and secretary. In 1928, he ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. vice president but lost to Charles Curtis, who later became vice president under Herbert Hoover. In 1930, he ran again for U.S. Senate but lost to Republican James Couzens. In 1931, Chase and Lillian Osborn legally adopted Stellanova, and she changed her last name to Osborn. In 1934, Osborn was elected chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. In 1936, he ran for Presidential Elector to support Alfred Landon, who lost to Franklin Roosevelt. In 1939, Osborn met with Roosevelt to advocate for the construction of the Mackinac Bridge, which was completed in 1957 after both Osborn and Roosevelt had passed away.
Retirement, death, and legacy
After leaving politics, Osborn went back to working in newspapers and became involved in searching for iron ore. He belonged to many groups, including the Audubon Society, National Rifle Association of America, Sons of the American Revolution, Freemasons, Elks, Kiwanis, Knights of Pythias, Lions Club, Odd Fellows, Sigma Chi, and Sigma Delta Chi. He also wrote several books.
Osborn used a wheelchair, and Stellanova became his full-time nurse. After his wife, Lillian, died, Stellanova’s adoption was canceled. On April 9, 1949, at Osborn’s home in Georgia, he married Stellanova when he was 89 years old and she was 54. He died two weeks later at his home in Poulan, Georgia, called Possum Poke. He is buried at Duck Island, his home in Michigan on Sugar Island, near Sault Ste. Marie in the St. Marys River.
Osborn’s book The Iron Hunter (1919; republished 2002) is about his own life. The title refers to his work searching for iron ore in Wisconsin and the Michigan Upper Peninsula and shows his love for the outdoors. He wrote other books and co-wrote some with his adopted daughter, Stellanova, who also wrote books herself.
A portrait of Governor Osborn is in the collections of the Michigan State Capitol. Painted in 1931 by Robert Grafton, the portrait shows him realistically from the waist up. The painting is not on display now, but more details can be found on the Capitol’s website.
An oil painting of Governor Osborn, with no date, is on display at the Bay Mills Community College Library and Heritage Center in Brimley, MI. The riverfront walk in downtown Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, has a historical monument and bust of Osborn. The Student Union at the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan also has a bust of Osborn on the first floor. The female freshman dormitory at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie is named after him.