OWENS, EDWARD

OWENS, LONG

Posted By: Administrator
Date: 10/4/2001 at 09:17:31

From the book "The History of Clinton County Iowa" by L. P. Allen (1879) Pages 669-697
Biographical Sketches of Clinton Residents

EDWARD OWENS, of the firm of Owens & Allen, proprietors of the Clinton Boiler Works; was born in England, in 1840; when 12 years of age, he came to America and learned his trade in the works of the Baltimore & Ohio R. R., at Cumberland, Md.; in 1861, he came to Peoria, Ill., and became foreman of the shops of the Chicago & Rock Island R. R. at that place; he made a record, while there, of driving a larger number of rivets in one day than any machinist in Illinois; he came to Iowa in 1871, and established the boiler works in Clinton. Mr. Owens has earned a deservedly high reputation for the character of his work; he employs from ten to twenty men; the Government Inspector testifies that the best boilers on the river are made at the Clinton Boiler Works; during the war, he enlisted, but at that time the regulars could not get arms, and he did not go in the field; his father and two brothers were in the army. In 1862, Mr. Owens married Miss Catharine Long, of St. Louis; they have had six children; five survive-three sons and two daughters.