I hope that you find this site to be very useful in your efforts in getting to know our family's history.  There is still so much more work to be done.  History that has not been told. 

I will continue my search but remember I can not do it without your help!  Please share any information, photos, and anything that you have that can contribute to our family's site. 

I thank all of you who have contributed your time and efforts in helping me make this site possible.

Have Fun!!!


       

IN THE BEGINNING

The links on the side are the original copies of work that I have compiled over the years.  The beginning of my research began in 1995 with a family line that was handed to me.  From that I began my research on what would become a 15 year project and continues up till this day. 

In 1995 when I received the first written document of our family’s history it stated that Edmond and Hannah Ausby had six children:  Tom, Albert, Mattie, Lon, Katie, and William Ausby.

As we know it is through the line of Edmond Ausby that most of us originate from.  Of those six children, I only knew about Albert and Lon’s family.  Wanting to know more I visited the Raleigh Archives and Halifax County Records Builiding to see what I could find.   

That year I was able to find records dating to 1850 with evidence of our family’s existence in Halifax County, North Carolina.

I found  that in 1860 the children of Thomas Ousby, a white slave owner, have a combined total of 47 slaves living amongst their properties.  The census records for 1870 obtained at the Raleigh Records Building in North Carolina states that Geo and his family are all living with a W. Eeljeander from Virginia yet the census from Halifax, NC Library state that all heads of house hold in the 1870 census, except for two other Ausbys, lived on A.J. Ousby’s property.  He is the son of Thomas Ousby, the slave owner.

Geo OUSBY/AUSBY

In 1870 Geo is a black male age forty born in 1830 and married to Annie born around 1843.  Living in their home are eight children.  The third child listed is EDMOND.  He is twelve years old born about 1858 and is listed as Mulatto. 

What I found interesting is that there is a Pollie Ausby also listed in this census.  She is a fifty eight year old female listed as head of household with three persons living with her.  Geo has a child living in his home, his second child, and her name is Pollie.  It is not clear the relationship between Geo and the older Pollie, but I believe that she is Geo’s mother because children normally name their children after parents or siblings.  Pollie would have been eighteen years of age if she gave birth to Geo.  If this is the case then our family records would then date back to about 1812!

Geo has a total of twelve children but it is uncertain if they are all Annie’s children.  Geo dies on January 2, 1915 in Halifax County, NC. 

NEW REVELATIONS

In 2005 when we celebrated 175 years of family history in Halifax, NC, we made many great and wonderful findings at the records building in downtown Halifax, NC. For example:

Edmond Ausby had married Hannah Epps on November 13, 1879.  Together they had three children; Tom, Albert, and Mattie Ausby. 

Hannah died between 1886 and 1892. 

Edmond then married Ann Crowell on January 18, 1893.  She was the daughter of William Crowell and Henerietta Davis.  Together they had six children; Lon, Katie, Leanne, William, Andrew, and Carrie Ausby. 

Not only did we find that Edmond had remarried but that he had a total of nine children not six as we had originally thought.  We found Edmond and Ann’s marriage certificate, Ann’s death certificate, along with some of Edmond’s

children’s marriage and death certificates.

We found a description of a house that James Ousby, one of Thomas Ousby’s sons, owned from about 1840 - 1860.  Where this house is located in Halifax is not known but we do know that he owned 18 slave houses and 27 slaves in the 1860 census.  This is where our family may have lived as slaves and for some time as free blacks after the Emancipation. 

Thomas Ousby had more property in Georgia.  There are Ausbys that still live in this area today and I continue to work on this part of the Ausbys. 

This second look into our family history allowed me to finally connect a line in our family that we knew existed, but could never prove.  We were able to clean up a few loose ends and update our family’s line to the best of my knowledge. 

THE SEARCH CONTINUES

My search goes on to find a connection between the AUSBYs in Georgia, Virginia, and Texas since these are states where Thomas Ousby’s name was found in census records.  

The search continues and I am happy to be able to find more and more persons with the last name Ausby and all its form of the name. 

Forms Of The Name:

 

OUSBY
AUSBY
OSBIE
OSBY
AURSBY
AUSBIE

 

States Where These Names Can Be Found:

 

North Carolina

Virginia

Georgia

Texas

Alabama

Maryland

New York

Tennessee

California

Pennsylvania

 

Countries Where These Names Can Be Found:

 

United States

England

Jamaica

Become a member of “Those With The Surname Ausby” at:

 http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=144101894252&ref=ts

Want to know more?  Email me at: JAUSBYSR@AOL.COM