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"Welcome to the website of the Owsley
Family Historical Society.
We hope you enjoy your visit."
Owsley Family Historical Society
Established 1979
Lexington, Kentucky
OWSLEY * OUSLEY
* OUSELEY * HOUSLEY * HOWSLEY
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The Crest
Antiquus Restituatur Honor.
Ancient Honor
Restored.
The arms depicted on the Main Page are
a modern rendering of those borne by the family of Owsley, of Skeffington, Leicestershire. These arms were a subject of correspondence
in 1796 between Major William Ouseley, then posted to the Ayrshire Light Dragoons and Dr. John Owsley, of Blaston, Hallaton,
Leicestershire, and is included in Harry Bryan Owsley's The Owsley Family in England and America 1635-1890 [Chicago: 1890].
Dr. Owsley wrote that these arms were borne by Newdigate Owsley [1660-1714], then by his son, John Owsley [1690-1754]. Charles
Owsley, younger brother of John, died in 1731, and was buried at Lowlaton Church, county Essex. The arms appear there on a
marble monument erected to the memory of his father. John Owsley, being unmarried, as were all of his brothers, gave the seal
bearing the Owsley arms to Dr. John Owsley [1717-1808], a grandson of Newdigate Owsley's sister, Edith [1662-1714] and her
husband and cousin, Rev. William Owsley [1662-1733].
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The arms appear as blazoned by
John Burke in Burke's Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland[London: 1834-1838], volume 3, page 675, for Owsley, of Skeffington,
Leicestershire.
Or. A chevron sable between three holly leaves vert.
On a chief of the second a lion passant, between two fleurs-de-lis, argent.
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The original granting of these arms has been investigated by The Institute
of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies, in Canterbury, Kent, England. In a letter of 15 January 1998, Cecil R. Humphrey-Smith,
F.S.A., Principal of the Institute, wrote-
"There is no coat of arms recorded for OWSLEY. As likely as not, it is
descended from OUSELEY and at the time of the Heralds' Visitations in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were
families in Cheshire and Northamptonshire. The Cheshire family appears to have disclaimed the title of gentility and use of
arms. The Northamptonshire family of OUSELEY of Courteen Hall appears in the Visitation records of that county dating from
1564, 1610, 1613 and 1618. This was the work carried out in preparation for the 1617-1619 Visitations completed by William
Camden, Clarenceux King of Arms, with Sir William Segar, Garter King of Arms, and Augustin Vincent, Rouge Rose Pursuivant
of Arms."
As Mr. Humphrey-Smith noted, the arms borne by the Leicestershire
Owsleys were very similiar to those of the Northamptonshire Ouseleys. William Berry, in his County Genealogies, Pedigrees
of Buckinghamshire Families [1837], page 61, depicts the armorial bearings of Sir Gore Ouseley [1770-1844], Baronet. The arms
are described as- Or, a Chevron sable, between three Holly-leaves Vert; a Chief of the second. Whereas the arms of both families
are identical, the crests are very different. Crests were not of a hereditary nature and each bearer of the arms could change
it to whatever please him. That of Sir Gore Ouseley is described as- On a Ducal Coronet Or, a Wolf's head, erased, Sable,
holding in the mouth, a dexter hand, couped at the wrist, Gules. The motto, Mors Lupi Agnis Vita, was also different, but
could, like the crest, be changed to suit the bearer.
In America, the arms were also ascribed to Thomas Owsley
[1658-1700], of Stafford County, Virginia, a brother of both Newdigate Owsley and Edith Owsley. The arms were recorded in
Matthew's American Armoury and Blue Book [1907], Armorial Addenda, page 58, John Matthews, editor.
The new John Owsley (1757-1845) Revolutionary War
marker in the Pleasant Point Cemetery in Claiborne County, Tennessee. The marker was recently purchased by the OFHS.
OFHS
GUESTBOOK
 
Last Updated
07/05/2010
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