Ellen Free Pickton Osler was born on December 14, 1806, in Cornwall, England. After her mother’s death in 1811, she was adopted by her mother’s sister Ann Wigmore and her husband Captain Britton. In 1837, she married Rev. Featherstone Lake Osler (1805–1895) and they moved to Canada where he worked as a missionary. They settled at Bond Head, Ontario, where they experienced the trials of pioneer life. Mrs. Osler, with a true spirit, devoted her efforts to helping her husband in his mission work. In 1876, they retired in Toronto. She was the mother of Featherston Osler (1838–1924), Justice of the Court of Appeal, Sir Edmund Boyd Osler (1845–1924), M.P., and Sir William Osler (1849–1919), professor of medicine. She died on March 18, 1907, in York, Ontario.