When William Ballard Osborn was born in 1804, in Grayson, Virginia, United States, his father, Jonathan Osborne, was 32 and his mother, Martha Gray, was 19. He married Dorcas Wheatley in 1825, in Scott, Virginia, United States. They were the parents of at least 6 sons and 5 daughters. He lived in Scott, Virginia, United States in 1850 and Wise, Virginia, United States in 1860. He died in 1865, in Wise, Wise, Virginia, United States, at the age of 61.