<p><img class="caption" src="images/stories/crowley_mark.jpg" border="0" alt="Jeffrey Crowley's Mark From His Will" title="Jeffrey's Mark From His Will" width="250px" align="left" />One of Omar Travis Osborne's direct ancestors, his great-great-great-great-grandfather, is Jeffrey Crowley. Jeffrey Crowley was born 29 March 1702, in Kinwarton, Warwickshire, England. No one knows for certain (yet) who his father was. Some researchers believe he is the illegitimate son of Jeffrey Hopkins and a hired girl, Agnes Crowley. Others believe he is the son of Samuel Crowley, who was the estranged son of Ambrose Crowley II of Stourbridge, England. This Samuel ran away and went to sea, and his half-brother is the famous Sir Ambrose Crowley III. Sir Ambrose mentions his half brother having had a bad time at sea which distressed their father. Neither possibility of parentage can (as of yet) be firmly established.</p>
<p>Either way, our Jeffrey Crowley first appears in Orange County, Virginia when he sues James Stodsgill for land that he sold in 1730 or 1731. He was married to Effie at this time and has probably had his first child. Jeffrey and Effie are mentioned in several court cases in Orange County, seemingly stemming from this first case over the land deal. Not much is known of Effie, except that she died some time between 1755 and 1757, at which time Jeffrey had remarried to a Mrs. Martha Edwards, the widow of Thomas Edwards. Jeffrey Crowley died in Halifax County, Virginia in 1761.</p>
