In 1903, Henry told his interviewer that he married a Lima girl. Probably she was from South Lima, which was forever getting lumped together with Livonia Center. Census records show Jerusha's family living in Livonia for at least a decade before the nuptials, which took place in 1840. John Backus, Jerusha's father, appears in the 1830 census with 5 females at home, ages 10-20.
One would think that if both bride and groom were from Livonia, the happy event would have been celebrated in the warm embrace of Livonia. Instead, they all got in the wagon and shlepped themselves to Pine Plains, New York. That is Dutchess County, 300 miles back east. That is where John Backus was born, and possibly Jerusha.
In 1840, they might have made the trip by taking the Erie Canal to Albany, then down the Hudson, or they could have gone The Catskill Turnpike, which ran along the southern part of the state, touching just the heads of the Finger Lakes. It existed as early as 1808, but it was a long time in the building. The land was dense hardwood forest.
Before the Erie Canal, major migration trails westward were primarily the Mohawk and Genesee roads to Lake Erie, or the Catskill and Jericho Turnpikes. The Catskill ran west, skirting the north edge of the Catskills, then through the southern part of the state, below the Finger Lakes. At Bath, the routes split. You could keep going west on to Pennsylvania, or you could head northwest, which would lead to Rochester and Buffalo.
John Backus went northwest, and found their way to Livonia. You wonder if they were aiming for Livonia or they just got there and were tired of migrating, so pulled off the turnpike and stayed.
Henry Osborne and one female, same age, are living in Lima in 1840. No children yet. By 1850, there were Mary, Frederick, and Franklyn. There would eventually would be six for her, including three more daughters, and a grand total of ten for Henry. Henry won. But he cheated.