Early Owsley History amd Lore
Rev John Owsley's , father of Thomas I, ancesteral tree have been traced as far back as 1500's in Somertshire, England.
Geneologist Harry Owsley states that there is some evidence that the name in its earliest forms (Ouselea) means "The meadows upon the banks of the river Ouse" Also evidence points to the fact that an one ancestor may be listed on the Battle Rolls of the companions of William the Conqueror.
Perhaps more intriguing is the lore that grew up about our Coat of Arms. Apparently legend has it that a gallant young warrior by name Oseley was married to a beautiful maiden name Agnes. In the legend we find Agnes embarking on a short journey to join her husband and their King Edward I. Apparently upon arriving a huge black wolf jumped out of a holly thicket a bit off her hand. Her enragged husband seized the wolf and with his bare hands strangled him and ripped off his head. The King was so impressed he granted the augmentation of three holly leaves and a crest of a wolve's head with a hand in its mouth and the motto "Mors lupi. Agnis vita" to family arms, which was a chevron on chief stable.
The first recorded ancestors were John Owslie, and his wife Eme both of whom died in 1592. Eme names five children in her will, two sons both named William, a son named John and two daughters named Agnes and Elizabeth, but there were apparently a total of seven children.
Our ancestor was the younger of two sons named William who married about the age 14 and died quite young (in his thirties). His will shows his wife to be Mary Owsley and lists five children the first being born soon after his fifteenth year.
His second son was John who married Edith Edwards in 1623 and fathered five sons. John died in 1651. Their third child was Reverend John Owsley, born in 1630, who married Dorthea Poyntz by whom he had twelve children, the fourth of whom was our ancestor Thomas Owsley I. John is to believed to have been well educated. His name appears on the matriculation rolls for both the University of Oxford and Cambridge. He served first as a clerk at Whittlebury Church, Northampton. Following that he was appointed of vicar of Stogursey Parish in Somersetshire and later Rector for the Glooston Parish in Leicestershire. Thomas, his son and our ancestor came to America by 1677 where he married Ann Harris. They had six children.
Sources: assorted notes of Edna B Owsley (Heaton's daughter), "Owsleys in England and America", and Ronnie Bodine (President of Owsley Historical Society).
