My Genealogy Hound

Owen B. Owens, farmer and stock-raiser, Murfreesboro, Ark. This enterprising and very successful agriculturist owes his nativity to this county, Thompson Township, (born October 14,1851), and is the eldest of five children, the result of the union of John S. and Rosanna (Brewer) Owens, the father a native of Alabama, and the mother of Arkansas. The paternal grandfather was a native of North Carolina, and was a farmer by occupation. He emigrated to Alabama, was married there, and then came to Arkansas, in about 1835. He settled in Murfreesboro, and at once erected a hotel, still standing, and opened the first public house in the place. He also owned a farm in the vicinity. Later he moved to Texas, and there received his final summons in 1875. The maternal grandfather, Henry Brewer, was a native of North Carolina, his birth occurring in 1800, and went with his parents to Tennessee, and thence to Missouri at an early day. In 1818 the family moved to Arkansas, settled in Pike County, and there Henry entered, and bought large tracts of land in the vicinity of Murfreesboro. He was very prominent in the affairs of the county, and held the offices of sheriff from 1840 to 1842, and coroner for four years. He was a very generous, warm-hearted man, and had many close friends. During the Civil War he was very active in assisting the widows and orphans of the soldiers, and when his death came, in 1876, he was sincerely mourned by all. He was one of the best known and universally esteemed men in the county. John S. Owens died in the spring of 1861, in Texas, where he had assisted in raising a regiment for the Confederate army, and of which he was elected lieutenant-colonel. He was taken suddenly ill, and died just as the regiment was preparing to go to the front. He was prominent in the affairs of Pike County, before going to Texas, and was elected county clerk, when scarcely twenty-one years of age. The mother died in 1877. After the death of his father Owen B. Owens, who was then but ten years of age, returned to Arkansas, and made his home with his grandfather Brewer until his majority, attended school and managed his mother’s farm until her death. After this he made the old place a home for his younger brothers. In February, 1877, in partnership with Joe Conway, he started a store in Murfreesboro, and continued this successfully for seven years. He is the owner of one-half the old homestead, consisting of 360 acres all river bottom land, and has 150 acres under cultivation. This land is all very fertile, and on it can be raised large crops. He also owns a fine residence in town. He was married October 9, 1888, to Miss Katie Perkins, a native of Louisiana, and the daughter and only child of Joe Perkins. To this union has been born one child, a daughter, named Marion Harland. Mrs. Owens is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Owens is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Pike Lodge No. 91, being at present the secretary of the same. He is a good citizen, and an outspoken Democratic.