32nd Annual Meeting

of the

OWSLEY FAMILY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Ann Hudson (recently discovered wife of Thomas Owsley II), new Owsley DNA findings, the Bate Owsley House restoration (oldest extant ante bellum plantation house in Union County with slave made bricks), plus the story of John Owsley II (Revolutionary War soldier:  his life with wife Charity Barton and his adventures with Miss Grainger County) are just some of the topics we'll hear about.  We'll visit the Museum of Appalachia (75 acre outdoor museum with 35 furnished log structures and over 200,000 artifacts inside a museum building--affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution), the restored art nouveau Tennessee Theatre, and take a ride up river to the source of the Tennessee in a 1940 railroad car pulled by a 1928 steam engine.

We'll stay right in the midst of newly gentrified downtown Knoxville in that city's premier hotel, the Crowne Plaza.  Connie Howard, who makes our hotel and meal arrangements, negotiated a better rate at $98 with the fancy Crowne Plaza than others with meeting rooms were offering--so we're going "first class."  The Crowne Plaza is centrally located and no more than .3 mile from the Tennessee Theatre and the newly enlarged McClung Collection at the East Tennessee Historical Society.  Crowne Plaza is at 401 W. Summit Hill Drive.  It's 15 miles from McGee Tyson Airport (TYS)--$30 taxi ride. Amenities include restaurant, lounge, exercise room, indoor and outdoor pools, gift shop and newsstand, ATM, and business center.  Pets welcome.

CROWN PLAZA - KNOXVILLE 

www.CrowneKnox.com or (877) 270-1393.

The McClung has the premier collection of East Tennessee records and is the depository for the extensive Edith Owsley Reed collection on the Owsley family.  The Museum of the East Tennessee History Center is not to be missed with displays from Cherokee to Civil War days.  Researchers already are planning to come early and stay late to have access to the McClung www.east-tennessee-history.org or (865) 215-8824.

There is much more to do than we have time for--James White's Fort and the Governor Blount Mansion can be toured with four other historic homes for just $19.95.  Marble Springs State Historic Farmstead (www.DiscoverET.org/jsma) is the original home of Tennessee's first Governor, John Sevier, to whom some of us are related.  And there is the Knoxville Zoo, Art Museum, Botanical Gardens, and a Mast General Store circa 1898.  The excellent Knoxville visitor's guide is available from www.Knoxville.org or (800) 727-8045.

Saturday morning will open with the life of John Owsley, his wife Charity Barton, and his friend in Grainger County.  We then will hear from the descendants of John's children about their ancestor, e.g., Matthew, Isaac, Joseph, Robert, Anna, etc.  Each "child", e.g., Isaac, will have one descendant who organizes the presentation of his/her cousins re Isaac.  We'll share family stories about the "child", what happened to his/her descendants, and how each of us wound up where we are.  For example, several of Joseph's children went to Missouri, what happened to them there, and how their descendants wound up in California, Oregon, Indiana, Florida and so on.  Others stayed in Tennessee.  Be thinking about your family stories.

We will open the 2010 annual meeting, as usual, with early registration at 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 3rd.  We'll visit in the lobby as cousins arrive that afternoon.  Thursday evening is our dessert social--bring photos, new genealogical discoveries, and tall tales to share.

As always we conclude with our Saturday evening banquet.  After dinner we'll be honored with the presence of Dragging Canoe, War Chief of the Southern Cherokee.  Warning:  he may be after captives!

Save the date, make plans, and tell your relatives we'll gather in Knoxville for three days in June for Owsley, Ousley, Housley history, sharing and fun. The registration packet with details will be mailed to members in spring.

Updates will appear on our OFHS website thanks to Floyd Owsley, webmaster.  Visit this site (www.ofhs.org/) for information on the Society and membership; lists of meetings; links to other Owsley, Ousley, and Housley websites and forums; Floyd's extensive genealogical work on his line, and much more.  See you in Knoxville!

Sheila Patterson, Co-Program Director (541) 343-8093 Pacific Time