Owsley Family Historical Society newsletter
(Periodical)

Quarterly

Two or three issues per year (1978-fall 1986); quarterly beginning with (Dec. 1986), published in March, June, September, and December.

Issue 1 (Sept 1979) - issue 28 (Mar 1988); vol. 20 no. 2 = issue 29 (June 1988) -

Variant title: Owsley news, on issue 6 (Feb 1980) only.

Editor: Charles & Elizabeth Rawls; Frances L. Martin; G. Randle Pace; Mansel W. Lane; Ronny O. Bodine; Milancie H. Adams.

Whole issue numbers, month and year designations used for issue 1 (Sept 1978) - issue 10 (summer/fall 1981). Whole issue 11 (winter 1982) was designated as vol. 11 no. 1 = issue 11 (winter 1982), and from that point on, all issues had volume, number, and whole issue designations, with a month or season and year. Issue 25 = vol. 16 no. 2 (June 1987) is followed by three unnumbered issues, issue 26 = [vol. 17?] (Sept 1987), issue 27 = [vol. 18?] (Dec 1987), issue 28 = [vol. 19?] (Mar 1988), and then by numbered issue, iss. 29 = vol. 20 no. 2 (June 1988). The designation vol. 20 no. 1 was never used.

Newsletter for the interchange of genealogical data and history of the Owlsey (and variant spellings) and their allied families who came mainly from England, France, and Scotland. Some focus is on (but not limited to) the family of Reverend John Owsley (1634-1687), the Rector of Glooston Parish, which was formally known as the St. John the Baptist Church in Leichestershire, England. He married Dorothea Poyntz. Extensive tracing is featured for both family lines, which include British and European nobility and royalty. Their son, Thomas Owsley (1658-1700) immigrated to America in 1677. Thomas married Anne Harris, the daughter of William Harris. In the 1600-1700s, Owsley families settled in Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. During the 1800s, some moved to South Africa, and to Alabama, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Later descendants also lived in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and elsewhere. Some had African American bloodlines.

Organizing of the Owsley Family Historical Society was proposed by Charles and Elizabeth Rawls. In June 1979, the Society was established at a meeting held in Lexington, Kentucky. Its constitution and by-laws were ratified in May 1980 at Richland, Virginia. The Society was organized for the collection and preservation of genealogical research for the descendants of Reverend John Owlsey and his wife, Dorothea Poyntz. It also supports maintenance of the old Glooston Church in Leichester, England where Reverend John Owsley was Rector from 1660-1687. In 1995, genealogical records which were previously kept at the Filson Club in Louisville, Kentucky, were moved in to Garrard County Public Library in Lancaster, Kentucky. For a list of articles in the 2000 and later issues, and other information, see their Web site.

A cumulative subject index was published for 1979-1999, and may be available from Ronny O. Bodine at 916 Northridge Drive, Columbus, Georgia 31904-2425, or ordered on the Society's web site.