Owens, Francis M. (1832-1912)

OWENS

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/15/2019 at 01:00:30

Francis M. Owens
Oct 18, 1832 - Nov 2, 1912

[From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.684]
FRANCIS MARION OWENS, of section 1, Garner Township, is another prominent citizen who deserves mention in this work, as he has been a resident of this county ever since 1850. He was born in Monroe County, Missouri, October 18, 1832, the son of Elijah Owens, a Virginian, now deceased. His mother's name before marriage was Mary Holman, and she was a native of Kentucky and died when the subject of this sketch was seven years of age. He was a small boy when his father removed to Shelbyville, Shelby County, Missouri where they resided until he was thirteen years of age. They then removed to Putnam County, where they lived until he was eighteen years of age. He was brought up on a farm and reared principally by strangers. It was in October 1850, when he came to this county and engaged chiefly in herding cattle until about 1854. He then married and settled in Monona County, Iowa, near Ashton Grove, north of where Onawa now is. Remaining there until about 1860, he returned to this county and engaged in jobbing and trading in livestock at Council Bluffs. In 1874, he located upon his present farm of 160 acres, being then a Mormon claim and one of the first settlers. Mr. Owens has built a fine cottage and embellished the premises, making a fine home. Living streams from pure springs run through the farm. Thus, dairying is a continued specialty. Mr. Owens is a zealous and intelligent Republican Prohibitionist, a man of easy manners and address, and honorable in all his dealings, spending much time and money in the cause of temperance.

Mr. Owens was married June 25, 1854, to Miss Samantha Jane DOUGLASS, a woman of intelligence and education, who was born in Scotland County, Missouri, and came to Pottawattamie County in 1851 with her parents, John McFarland Douglass and Hannah, nee Barnes, a native of Missouri. Mr. Douglass was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and had lived in Pottawattamie County but two or three weeks when he drowned in a cut-off near Manawa Lake on May 24, 1851, leaving a widow and one child.

Mr. And Mrs. Owens have two children, viz.: Len Douglass, who was born in Monona County, Iowa, and is engaged in extensive manufacturing in San Francisco, California; and Frank M., who is a resident of the homestead.