Thomas Burr Osborne

Thomas Burr Osborne (July 8, 1798 – September 2, 1869) was a U.S. representative from Connecticut. He also served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives and Connecticut Senate.

Early life and family Born in Easton, Connecticut (called Weston at the time), the son of Jeremiah and Anna (Sherwood) Osborne, he graduated from Yale College in 1817. He was married to Elizabeth Huntington Dimon, daughter of Ebenezer Dimon. His son Thomas Burr Osborne (August 5, 1859 – January 29, 1929) was a biochemist and co-discoverer of Vitamin A.

Political career He was admitted to the bar in 1820 and commenced practice in Fairfield, Connecticut. He served as clerk of the county and superior courts 1826–1839. He served as member of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1836.

Osborne was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1843). He served as chairman of the Committee on Patents (Twenty-seventh Congress).

He served in the Connecticut Senate in 1844, and the same year was appointed judge of the Fairfield County Court, which office he held for several years.

He was again a member of the state House of Representatives in 1850. He served as judge of probate for Fairfield district in 1851.

Later life He moved to New Haven in 1854. Osborne was a professor at Yale Law School from 1855 until 1865, when he resigned. He died in New Haven, Connecticut and was interred in Evergreen Cemetery.