JOSIAH OWEN

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Mr. Josiah Owen and Mrs. Josiah Owen

Josiah Owen, deceased, was long connected with the agricultural interests of Cedar county and throughout the entire period was respected as a business man and citizen of worth. He was born near Lexington, in Richland county, Ohio, on the 16th of April, 1837, his parents being Wesley and Elizabeth (Stewart) Owen, both natives of Pennsylvania and the latter of German extraction. They were married, however, in Ohio, where the father owned and operated a farm until 1852, when, accompanied by their seven children, they came to Cedar county, Iowa, and spent the remainder of their lives upon a farm four miles south of Tipton. The father died in 1881 at the age of seventy-six years, and the mother passed away twenty-six days later at the age of seventy-four. Their children were: Reuben; Josiah; Mrs. Mary Ann Reeve; Mrs. Rhoda Jane Carl; Henry; Mrs. Samantha Quinn; and Mrs. Emeline Anderson, a widow, now residing in Tipton. She is the only one of the family now living. All of the sons died in the month of December.

Until he attained his majority, Josiah Owen remained under the parental roof, acquiring a good, practical knowledge of the common English branches as taught in the local schools, and when not busy with his text-books he assisted in the work of the farm and on starting out in life for himself he chose the occupation to which he was reared. In 1864, in company with his brother Henry, he crossed the plains and spent some time in mining in Montana and Idaho, returning to this state in the fall of 1867. He then resumed farming, having purchased one hundred and sixty acres of raw prairie land on section 14, Center township, to the cultivation and improvement of which he devoted his time and energies until his removal to Tipton in the spring of 1905. As time passed he added to his property as he found opportunity until he became the owner of a very valuable and well improved tract of four hundred and forty-six acres on sections 13 and 14, Center township.

On the 22d of April, 1868, Mr. Owen was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Welty, also a native of Ohio, her birth having occurred in Ashland county on the 20th of May, 1852. At the age of fourteen years she was brought by her parents , Henry and Elizabeth (Beech) Welty, to Cedar county, Iowa, the family locating in Rochester township, four and one-half miles south of Tipton. Her father was born in the Susquehanna valley, Pennsylvania, December 11, 1820, and her mother was a native of Germany. On her emigration to the United States, at the age of nine years, the family settled in Richland county, Ohio, where after her marriage she continued to make her home until coming to this state in 1852. Mr. Welty died in Cedar county on the 7th of February, 1907, at the age of eighty-seven years, and his wife departed this life, December 27, 1877, at the age of fifty-six years. Their family consisted of seven children, namely: Mrs. Margaret Ann Knott, now a resident of Vallejo, California; Mary Jane, the widow of our subject, who now makes her home in Tipton; William Randolph, of Fairfield township, this county; Jacob Hudson, who lives near Berthoud, Colorado; George M., of Highland Lake, Colorado; Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Bader, of Loveland, Colorado; and one who died in infancy.

Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Owen, the eldest died in infancy. The others are: Arminta May, now the wife of F. W. Reeve of Peabody, Kansas; Ada Florence, the wife of C. E. Chapman of Center township; Frank L., whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; Alice, at home; Fred W., who is also represented on another page of this work; and Ralph E., at home. The family is one of prominence in the community where they reside.

In 1871 Mr. Owen united with the Methodist Episcopal church in Tipton and was ever afterward a consistent and faithful member of that body, taking an active interest in its work. He was also a strong temperance man and exerted his influence in behalf of that measure. After a useful and well spent life, he died at Tipton on the 24th of December, 1908, honored and respected by all who knew him.