Ussery Bulletins


This is a new section I've added which I hope will be helpful. While much of the information on the Ussery website comes from my private collection, some has been provided from the Ussery Bulletins which were authored and edited by John Usry, deceased. Bulletins will be added as my time allows for transcription or as readers donate their copies.

Again, thank you for visiting my website and I hope you find your "missing link"!


Ussery Bulletin, December 1975, Number 85

(begin article) The following was taken from a newspaper, The McDuffie (Georgia) Progress, Thursday, November 20, 1975:

Historical Marker Placed At Usry House

A historical marker of the National Register of Historic Places has been placed in front of the Usry home on Milledge Street by the United States Department of Natural resources. The house was named to the National Register of Historic Places in October of 1974. The Rock House is the only other place in McDuffie County named in the Register. Researchers spent many hours poring over records pertaining to the house and examining the architecture of the house itself. It was named to the Historical Register strictly on the facts that state researchers could find proof to substantiate. In the final recommendation the staff researcher of the Georgia Deparment of Natural Resources wrote, "During his time (Francis Marion Usry) and that of his father, the town of Thomson grew up around the Usry house which took its present appearance. The Usry house was probably originally built as a frontier one or two-room cabin, slowly became a Plantation Plain farm house, and finally became the large two-story town house of a successful mid-nineteenth century businessman. The style of the house then as now is that of one in transition from the late Greek Revival to the early Victorian style, as noted by the columned portico trimmed in jigsaw scrollwork. The National Register is the official schedule which identifies the nation's historic property.

USRY HOUSE

The marker: Built by William Usry about 1795 as the seat of his extensive cotton plantations. Usry House early became the center of ante-bellum social life in this region. In its parlor, the Goodrich-Usry Railroad was conceived, and Lafayette reputedly hosted.Architecturally, it is along neo-classical lines; and its suspended balcony is one of the largest in the South. The builder of Usry House was a great-grandson of Sir Robert Usry, of England, founder of the family in America. Its owner is a seventh generation grandson of the builder. National Register of Historic Places

(end article)

To my Ussery Webpage readers: In the twenty years I have been researching the Ussery name, I have NEVER found any proof of the existance of Sir. Robert Usry. Mr. John Usry, who authored these Ussery Bulletins, also periodically mentioned of the lack of proof of this "ancestor" when articles like this came his way.


Joining the Jet Set

From The Wall Street Journal

After six months of renovation, Jo Ann Ussery just moved into her new home. But, it certainly wasn't a typical renovation nor is it a typical home. Ms. Ussery is now living in a 127-foot-long, 19-feet-wide airplane parked on Mississippi's Lake Whittington.

Ms. Ussery, a 52-year-old hairdresser, purchased the red, tan and white Boeing 727 airplane from the Memphis Group, an aircraft salvage company, late last year, for $2,000. It then took another $4,000 to transport the plane 60 miles from the airport in Greenwood, Miss., to the lake. The Memphis Group's manager, Richard Cordle, says Ms. Ussery's fuselage is the only one his company has sold that has been converted into a home.

Ms. Ussery's residence boasts three bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms. The airplane's backstairs have been rigged up to a remote control for easy access. The cockpit now has a hot tub. "I'm very happy here," Ms. Ussery says. "I wonder if Donald Trump is as comfortable in his plane as I am in mine.


War of the Revolution

Usry Bul #5,pg 8
The State of Georgia in 1784 distributed someland in the so-called bounty grants. However, these bounty grants were not effectiely restricted to veterans of the War of the Revolution and many soldiers of the line received less than the citizens or militia.

Act of Dec 15, 1818, Georgia set up the Third Land Lottery of 1820. In this Land Lottery ever bachelor with three years residence in Georgia was allowed one draw and every married man with like residence was allowed twodraws. If such bachelor or married man was an invalid or indigent veteran of the War of the Revolution, he was allowed two additional draws. His military record was not limited to service in the State of Georgia. When entering his name for two veteran's draws, the applicant was required to take the following oath: I do further swear that I was an officer or soldier during the Revolutionary War, that I was engaged in the service of the United States, and that I am an invalid or indigent officer or soldier of the Revolutionary War.

By Act of June 9, 1825, establishing the Fifth Land Lottery of 1827, every veteran with three years residence in Georgia was allowed three draws or if unmarried or four draws if married, regardless of where he had enlisted or in what regiment he had fought.

From the information indicated above, the State of Georgia has published the "Authentic List of All Land Lottery Grants Made to Veterans of the Revolutionary War by the State of Georgia".

Thomas Usery of Crawford County, 1832 draw No. 236-7
John Ussery of Wilkinson County, 1827 draws Nos. 123-10 and 128-15

Some years after the end of the Revolutionary War, the U.S. Government offered pensions for Revolutionary War service. The resulting pension applications and associated papers make up an additional source of information as to the names of the soldiers who fought in that war. The list of these pension applicatons has only one Ussery: Thomas Ussery, Virginia - S7778


Thank you all for visiting! All pages on the Ussery website are copyrighted by Cindy Casey and cannot be reprinted for commercial or publication use without written permission from me. Thanks!

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