USREY FAMILY ORIGINS
My thanks and admiration to John Usry, Reverend Dean Ussery, Cindy H. Casey, Eloise Duvall, and Sue Tyler for their tireless efforts researching and documenting the origins of the Usreys.
According the the 1990 census, "Usrey" is the 16,697th most popular surname in the U.S. However, keep in mind that there are many variations in the spelling of the surname. This has been credited to the combination of an unusual name, pronunciation with a variety of accents, reliance on phonetic spelling, and generally low levels of literacy during most of the last two millennia. As a result, efforts to trace the family history are always subject to speculation and imprecision. It is never clear whether a similar name showing up in a similar time and location is simply a coincidence or a relative whose birth record, marriage record, military record, and/or will features a creative phonetic spelling. I’ve seen ESAREY, ESSERI, ESSERY, ESSREY, ESWORTHY, EURE, HURSE, O’SEYRY, O’SHIRIE, OSERIE, OSERY, OSHYRY, OSRAIGE, OSRAIGHE, OSREY, OSSERY, OSSORY, OSSREY, SEEREY, SEERY, ULSRE, UPSHIERE, URCERY, URISHAY, URSERY, URSI, USERY, USHERY, USREY, USRY, USSEREAU, USSEROY, USSERY, USSHERY, USURY, USWORTHY, and WORISAYE as variations of (perhaps) the same blood line. Thanks to direct mail advertising, a variety of new spelling variations shows up in my mailbox every day!
Irish Family Names, with Origins and Meanings, Clans, Arms, Crests and Mottoes, by Captain Patrick Kelly, published in 1935 by O’Connor and Kelly, Chicago, lists Ossory and many of the "O" variations above as derivative of the Gaelic word "Soar (h) ui (d) d," meaning "free or delivered". The Encyclopedia Britannica indicates that Osraighe or Ossory was an ancient Irish kingdom (capital Kilkenny) from the first century AD until 1110, then there was a Diocese of Ossory in the same region until 1832 (when it was annexed by the Diocese of Ormond), and that there have been several notable Earls of Ossory.
Another authoritative account of the family’s origins in the Old World comes from Kay Usrey Reed of El Dorado, AR. Mrs. Reed hired Mr. Joseph G. Ferrier, nationally noted genealogist and former president of the National Genealogical Society, to research the name "Usrey." This is his report: (abstracted)
"This unusual name is neglected in most sources, such as: Bardsley’s Dictionary of English And Welsh Surnames; Burkes’ General Armory; various indexes to British pedigrees; Savage’s Dictionary of New England Genealogy; Rupp’s Ship Lists to Philadelphia, PA 1727-1777; Cavaliers and Pioneers (VA residents before 1666); Mackenzie’s Colonial & Rev. Families of the U.S.; Virkus’ Compendium of American Genealogy and Library of Congress List of Genealogies (1919).
The best clue is found in the LLYER BAGLAN, a collection of genealogical data of South Wales, compiled by John Williams between 1600 and 1607 and edited and printed in London, 1910. Page 198 has mention of the daughter of DELEHAYE of WORISAYE in the county of Hereford, and a footnote says the male line of the Delahays held URISHAY castle, Herefordshire "’till recently" when the heiress married Henry Tallmadge, whose son took by royal license the name of Delahay, 1898.
The British Gazetteer says the URISHAY Castle, Herefordshire, … was demolished 1921.
I believe that it is from this castle that the American Name USSERY, USREY, etc. was revived, and that the ancient home of the family was in Herefordshire, England, near the border of Wales.
Battle Abbey Roll, by the Duchess of Cleveland, 1889, Vol. III, page 366-370, gives the DELAHAY family as descended from a companion of the Conqueror, from LA HAYE-du-PUITS in LA MANCHE, a fief dating from the partition of Normandy by Rollo. They were a powerful family and spread over England.
Burke’s General Armory had DELAHAY of Herefordshire: Arms Argent a sun (or star of 16 points) Gules Crest A wolf’s head
The shield of John de la HAYE is listed in the Acre Roll, dated 1192, A.D. as "Argent a sun in spender gules".
The same shield is listed in Burke’s General Armory for HURSE of Starford County, HERTFORD (not Hereford) with Crest "in a wood proper the sun"; or Papeworth’s Ordinary of British Armorials lists "Argent estoile of 16 points gules" for DELAHAY of County Hereford; and also HERST listed on Glover’s Roll, 1245 A.D. and HURSE of Sabridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
It is my belief that these DELAHAY arms are the original from which HURSE (two syllables) came, based on URISHAY Castle, and becoming in some cases confused with HERST-HURST (a clump of woods, as on the crest) and in America USSEROY-URSERY-USREY, etc, with the Welsh in 1600 and earlier spelling the castle’s name as WORISAYE, probably URIS-HAY, the last element being the family name HAYE URS-EY.
Sincerely yours, Joseph G. Ferrier"
The first records of the Ossorys of Kilkenny pre-date those of Rollo and the Urishays from Herefordshire by at least half a century. A common ancestry between these two groups has yet to be established. Today, Ussery is a fairly common name in Herefordshire and Ossory is not uncommon in Kilkenny.
As far as the Usreys’ migration to the New World, there are several different stories, perhaps all truthful and owing to parallel migration.
One family legend has it that an Earl’s son (not clear if he was an Ossory from Kilkenny or an Urishay from Herefordshire) got into serious trouble and was given the option of being hung or coming to America. He chose the latter and, with his younger brother, was brought to Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh in the late 1500s. Since most of Raleigh’s colonies failed shortly after their establishment, this migration is unlikely to have resulted in any subsequent generations. On the other hand, the other prominent migration legends fail to account for the documented birth of John Ussery in 1640 in New Kent County, VA.
Another story has it that three Ussery brothers came to the New World in 1669 aboard, coincidentally, the good ship Three Brothers.
Another prominent legend has it that the family migrated, under more reputable circumstances, with William Penn:
John Usry Bulletin. 55; July 1973--William Penn and the Welcome:
From Rev. Dean Ussery:
"Several of us have been digging into the history of the family and have come up with some pretty good finds. The first one, Sir Robert Ussery, came into America with William Penn in 1682 on the Welcome. He settled in the Maryland County of Tolerant. We believe that he had a son John and perhaps a son William. John had three sons, William Thomas, John Jr., and William Richard, all who came into Lunenburg Co., VA approximately 1738 with their father or fathers. They were there a short time and moved into Montgomery, Anson and Richmond Counties of North Carolina prior to 1769 and settled. John and Thomas served in the N.C. Legislature from 1786-1790. Richard dropped "William" because of a controversy with his brother Thomas, as to who would use the name "William". Richard had a set of kids in N.C. (One son named "Welcome" after the ship, Welcome) Thomas had a son named Welcome and John’s middle name was John Welcome Ussery."
(Note from John Usry) "According to some of the literature on William Penn, no complete list of passengers on the ship Welcome has been found. Several passenger lists have been compiled from various sources. Those do not list a Sir Robert Ussery. However, since these lists admittedly are not entirely complete, the matter of whether or not he was on the ship remains unresolved. We know that several of the North Carolina Ussery’s were named Welcome."
As I've looked through the various genealogical records, I've noted that there are many "William"s, perhaps named after Sir Robert's friend William Penn. Of course, William was and still is a common given name, so this is just another piece of inconclusive, anecdotal evidence.
My father doesn't have much interest in genealogy. If fact, he didn't know where his father was born or his grandfather's name! My dad is, by far, the youngest of six, so all of my aunts, uncles, and, of course, my grandpa are no longer with us. These facts make this research effort even more challenging. If only I'd gotten interested in this subject at an earlier age!
We do know that my grandpa was James Samuel Usrey. I wrote for a copy of his SS-5 using information in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) and learned that he was born on August 29, 1888 in Arkansas and that his father was John Woodward Usrey. I'm using the same approach to find out my great-grandfather (mother's side) Dougherty's first name.
Using http://www.FamilySearch.com/ and then confirming with transcribed census data (http://www.USGenWeb.net/), I found out that John Woodward Usrey was born in Aberdeen, Mississippi and his parents were Samuel Usrey and Josephine Woodward (or Josephine Moore by a previous marriage). Two chance finds, one of a transcript of John's wedding announcement and another of an excerpt from the book Reminiscences of Boys in Gray Of Texas gave me Sam's middle initial "M"; this was a critical and lucky break because there turned out to be a lot of men named Sam Usrey. Sam was born around 1840 in Lauderdale County, Alabama.
Sam and Josephine were married by Sam's father Robert Usrey. No middle initial mentioned, just Robert. Census data says Robert was born in Indiana. Combing through (with ALOT of help from my friends) all of the Roberts in Indiana, it looks like there are two equally viable paths. The two Roberts are distant cousins and the two paths converge, but I'm itching to know who the right one is.
By the way, I used to HATE my last name because of all the misspellings and mispronunciations. Now I can also see an upside; in spite of all the spelling variations, I bet I'm having an easier time conducting genealogy research than some poor John Smith!
I'm documenting a complete (to the best of my knowledge) family tree at http://www.myfamily.com/. If you're an Usrey and any of this information rings any bells, email me at drusrey@mfgconsultants.com and I'll set you up with a password and we can work together to fill in the blanks. At some point, I plan to make the tree public (excluding those still living) at http://www.RootsWeb.com/. Rootsweb seems to be one of the oldest, most comprehensive, and least profit-motivated genealogy sites. Through the power of the Internet, I can enlist the help of others with similar interests and perhaps be of assistance to somebody else who is researching their own ancestry.
The internet has some helpful genealogy research tools. I've already mentioned http://www.myfamily.com/; it is a free place to collect the bits and pieces for your tapestry (advertising driven, but not too obnoxious). http://www.ancestry.com/, http://www.FamilySearch.com/, and of course http://www.rootsweb.com/ are good sources to refer to other folks' research.
If you have any interest at all in your family history, I recommend you get started on your research ASAP. Some might argue that the thousands of USGenWeb volunteers who are transcribing census records still have a lot of work to do, so you're better off waiting. While I agree that these secondary sources will only get better with time, primary sources (ie. your mom, dad, grandparents, etc.) won't be available forever. Besides, it's a great excuse to visit with family members you may not have seen for awhile!