Records of Grayson County Frontier Village state that Josephus Ansley and his wife Gilley Ansley "freed their slaves and left their home in Georgia after the Civil War. Mr. Ansley did not intend to make this [cabin in Denison, Texas] their permanent home. His plans were to go farther west. But in June 1873, Mr. Ansley died of what the doctors called brain fever. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Denison, Texas.

Gilley Ansley lived out her life in this log cabin. When her children protested, she would say, 'This is where my old man left me, and this is where I am going to stay.' She died in the cabin Feb. 13, 1915, and is also buried in Oakwood Cemetery.