Yellowstone Genealogy Forum
Mrs. Mary Osborne – Homesteader &
Nurse
Revised 20 June 2001c
Mrs. Mary James Osborne homestead cabin with sod roof pictured here lived on Flat Willow Creek 27 miles north of Roundup. She was the only registered nurse in the area in 1909. She assisted at most of the births in the area. There was one doctor in Roundup, but Mrs. Osborne used to beat him out of his normal fee as it took quite a while to get word to the doctor, and for him to get his rig on the road. Often a rancher would gallop to her door and she would jump on behind him and race to a ranch located miles away, and then wait two or three weeks for the birth to occur. She covered most of the pine-forested Bull Mountain area, and provided care to a variety of patients.
In 1960 she was still on-call as a private duty nurse in Los Angeles at age 80.