Duffield Osborne was born on June 20, 1858 in
Brooklyn, New York. He was a son of Samuel Smith and Rosalie Willoughby (Duffield) Osborne; grandson of Samuel and Abbie M. (Theall) Osborne, and of James Murdoch and Margaretha A. (Prince) Duffield, and a descendant of George Duffield, who emigrated from Ireland to
Pequea Township, Pennsylvania, in 1720, and of Carel de Beauvais, who emigrated from France and settled in New York in 1659. Osborne attended the
Polytechnic University of New York and was a graduate from
Columbia College, A.G., 1879, A.M., 1882, and from the
Columbia Law School, LL.B., 1881. He was admitted to the bar in 1881 and practised in New York City, 1881–92. He was assistant secretary of the Brooklyn department of city works, 1892–94; traveled in Europe, 1895–96, and on his return settled in New York City and engaged in literary work. He was elected a member of the
Linnaean Society in 1878; a corresponding member of the
Nuttall Ornithological Club in 1879, and an associate member of the
American Ornithologists' Union in 1883. ==References==