 The family occupied the parsonage at the top of Gun Hill, which is pictured in a lithograph of 1845 by D. Walton.Osborn lived for some eight years at the parsonage, though she afterwards recalled that her "early surroundings ... were not such as to develope artistic proclivities, there being but little natural beauty in the country around West Tilbury ...".There, her mother encouraged her "and watched with pride the clever portraits Emily drew of her brothers and sisters".