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{{Infobox person
| name = Isobel Osbourne
| image = Photo of Isobel Osbourne.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Osborne {{circa}} 1898
| birth_name = Isobel Osbourne
| birth_date = September 18, 1858
| birth_place = [[Indianapolis]], [[Indiana]], U.S.
| death_date = June 26, 1953 (aged 94)
| death_place = [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]], [[California]], U.S.
| nationality = American
| other_names = Isobel Strong, Isobel Field
| known_for = Stepdaughter of [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]
| occupation =
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Joseph Dwight Strong]]|1879|1892|reason=div}}
* {{marriage|[[Edward Salisbury Field]]|1914|1936|reason=died}}
}}
| children = 2
| parents = Samuel Osbourne<br/>[[Fanny Stevenson|Fanny Van de Grift]]
| relatives = [[Lloyd Osbourne]] (brother)
}}

'''Isobel "Belle" Osbourne Strong Field''' (September 18, 1858 – June 26, 1953) was an author and the daughter of [[Fanny Stevenson]] and sister of [[Lloyd Osbourne]]. Through her mother's second marriage, she was a stepdaughter of [[Robert Louis Stevenson]].

==Biography==
Osbourne was born in [[Indianapolis]] to Samuel and [[Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne]].<ref name="rlsw" /> She married the artist [[Joseph Dwight Strong]] (1853–1899) in 1879, and had a son, Joseph Austin Strong (1881–1952) who later became a successful playwright.<ref name=rlsw>[http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/family/83-belle-strong Belle Strong - Stepdaughter] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320151351/http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/family/83-belle-strong |date=2012-03-20 }} at Robert Louis Stevenson website.</ref> A second son was born to the Strongs, but he died before his first birthday.{{cn|date=March 2020}} Belle and her family lived in Hawaii from 1883 to 1889.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tranquada|first1=Jim|last2=King|first2=John|title=New History of the Origins and Development of the ʻUkulele, 1838–1915|journal=The Hawaiian Journal of History|location=Honolulu|publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society|volume=37|year=2003|hdl=10524/382|oclc=60626541|pages=1–32|url=https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10524/382/JL37007.pdf}}</ref> She designed the [[Royal Order of the Star of Oceania]] in 1886 for King Kalakaua and was one of the few women to be awarded the honor.<ref name="GilderGilder1905">{{cite book|last1=Gilder|first1=Jeannette Leonard|last2=Gilder|first2=Joseph Benson|title=The Critic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OarPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA8|year=1905|publisher=Good Literature Publishing Company|page=8}}</ref><ref name="Gonschor2019">{{cite book|last=Gonschor|first=Lorenz|title=A Power in the World: The Hawaiian Kingdom in Oceania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ddvFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA95|date=30 June 2019|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-8001-9|page=95}}</ref>

Belle and her family moved to [[Vailima, Samoa]], in May 1891 with her mother and step-father. There she was Robert Louis Stevenson's literary assistant transcribing his words when he was too ill to write.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://robert-louis-stevenson.org/family/ |title=Robert Louis Stevenson's Family |work=The RLS Website |date=September 25, 2015 |access-date=September 25, 2015}}</ref> Her husband Joseph Strong had a drinking problem and Belle divorced him in 1892.<ref name=rlsw/>

In 1914, she married her mother's secretary (and possibly lover; Robert Louis Stevenson had died in 1894), the younger journalist [[Edward Salisbury Field]], six months after her mother died.<ref name=rlsw/> Field was only three years older than her son Austin. When oil was discovered on property owned by Field they became wealthy.<ref name=harman>Claire Harman. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvSJNR0lqcQC ''Myself and the Other Fellow: A Life of Robert Lewis Stevenson''], HarperCollins 2006, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvSJNR0lqcQC&pg=PA460 pg.460]</ref> In 1926 Field purchased [[Zaca Lake]] and surrounding land in the [[Figueroa Mountains]] near [[Los Olivos, California]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zacalakeretreat.com/history.html |title=Zaca Lake history |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522165251/http://www.zacalakeretreat.com/history.html |archive-date=May 22, 2010 |publisher=Zaca Lake Foundation}}</ref>

Isobel built an artists' studio there and the Field home became a popular meeting place for writers and actors.<ref name=imdb-bio>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0276040/bio Salisbury Field], bio at IMDB</ref> Isobel and her brother Lloyd wrote about Robert Louis Stevenson and their experiences in Samoa in ''Memories of Vailima'' (1902). Later Isobel wrote her memoirs in two books ''This Life I've Loved'' (1937) and ''A Bit of My Life'' (1951).

<gallery>
File:'Allen Herbert's House', 1896 watercolor by Isobel Osbourne, Honolulu Academy of Arts.JPG|''Allen Herbert’s House'', 1896 watercolor painting by Isobel Osbourne, [[Honolulu Museum of Art]]
File:Hawaiian Naval Ensign (PP-23-4-004).jpg|Isobel Osbourne designed a royal naval ensign similar to this for the [[Kaimiloa]], the flagship of the Royal Hawaiian Navy.
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*
*[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007109820 ''This Life I've Loved''], scanned ebook at [[Hathi Trust]]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osbourne, Isobel}}
[[Category:1858 births]]
[[Category:1953 deaths]]
[[Category:American women writers]]
[[Category:Robert Louis Stevenson]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Royal Order of the Star of Oceania]]

Isobel Osbourne - Revision history

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