(Notice to all Owsley, Ousley, and Housley descendants)
OFHS 2024 MEETING
CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
May 30 - June 1, 2024
"40th Meeting"
Mark your calendars--save the dates. The 2024 Owsley Family Historical Society (OFHS) meeting will be this summer in Chattanooga, Tennessee, home of the Chattanooga Public Library, which contains a large collection of genealogical materials in their Local History and Genealogy Department. Chattanooga is also home to numerous popular tourist attractions such as the Tennessee Aquarium, Rock City, Ruby Falls, and the Incline Railway. The Chattanooga National Cemetery is the second largest national cemetery in the United States.
Download: OFHS 2024 Meeting Details and Information form
Download: OFHS 2024 Meeting Registration form
Highlights this year include an update on the latest events in family DNA testing, including the results of Hans Radojewski and his closest cousin. We’ll discuss the on-going research into the Irish ancestry of the descendants of John Owsley (c1732-1764). OFHS Newsletter Editor Ronny Bodine and other cousins will speak on various and interesting genealogical topics. Trips to historic sites should be very enjoyable and interesting.
We begin as usual with early registration from 3 -5 P.M. at our hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn – Hamilton Place, where our program directors have negotiated room rates ($129 plus tax for queen room and $129 plus tax for a king). Then it's dinner on your own with cousins and friends. Afterwards, our dessert social begins at 7:00 P.M. in the hotel. Bring photos, discoveries, memorabilia and tall tales to share.
Friday morning, we begin with the Business Meeting/Elections of Officers chaired by the OFHS President. We'll have one speaker that morning plus a session of cousins who haven't yet done so sharing a significant event in their family history. Then lunch is on your own with cousins and friends.
After lunch, we’ll carpool about 13 miles to the Chickamauga National Battlefield in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. The Battlefield is part of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. There, we’ll visit the Visitor’s Center and then tour the park. The Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, located in northern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee, preserves the sites of two major battles of the American Civil War: the Battle of Chickamauga and the Siege of Chattanooga. Others will do research at the Chattanooga public Genealogical Library or visit some of the numerous attractions. Then it's dinner on your own with family and friends--then visiting with cousins at the hotel lobby.
Saturday morning, we'll have speakers and much more. Lunch is on your own. After lunch, we’ll carpool to the Cherokee Removal Memorial Park in neighboring Meigs County, TN, just 32 miles from the hotel. The Cherokee Removal Memorial Park is a public park in Meigs County, Tennessee, that is dedicated in memory of the Cherokee who were forced to emigrate from their ancestral lands during the Cherokee removal, in an event that came to be known as the Trail of Tears. It was established in 2005 and has since expanded.
Others may wish to visit the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum – just 4 miles from the hotel, while others may choose to do more research at the Chattanooga Public Library or visit local attractions. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is a railroad museum and heritage railroad in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum was founded as a chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1960 by Paul H. Merriman and Robert M. Soule, Jr., along with a group of local railway preservationists. At the museum, one can take a train ride through the historic pre-Civil War tunnel through the Missionary Ridge.
Another site of interest is the Chief Vann House State Historic Site in Chatsworth, Georgia, just 37 miles from the hotel. The Chief Vann House is the first brick residence in the Cherokee Nation, and has been called the "Showplace of the Cherokee Nation". Owned by the Cherokee Chief James Vann, the Vann House is a Georgia Historic Site on the National Register of Historic Places and one of the oldest remaining structures in the northern third of the state of Georgia.
Saturday evening, we’ll have our OFHS Banquet at the hotel. Then it will be farewell until the next meeting.
Registration packets with additional details will be mailed to OFHS members in the spring. See you in Tennessee in May/June 2024.
Floyd and Karen Owsley, Temporary Co-Program Directors floydowsley@comcast.net
Download: OFHS 2024 Meeting Details and Information form
Download: OFHS 2024 Meeting Registration form
