Re: Harry Barlow Owen
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In reply to:
Harry Barlow Owen
11/07/99
I have documentation that states Harry B. Owen was born in Manchester, Virginia (Now part of the city of Richmond on the south side of the James River) on 02/14/1854.Family lore is that he was called Harry rather than his given name, Henry, because he had a cousin Henry Barlow Owen who went to San Francisco and was married to someone who was politically prominent there.
His parents were Benjamin P. Owen and Mary S. Owen who was supposed to be the daughter of H. B. Walker.Benjamin P. Owen was supposed to have been born in Matthews County, Virginia.
Harry began work in 1868 for Pilkington and in 1871 was a manager for a company in North Carolina.
The business B.P. Owen & Co. became H.B. Owen & Co. and eventually became Whitehurst & Owen which made sashes and blinds.(This comes from a book called "Virginia and Virginians")
The Virginia census of 1850 for the county of Norfolk lists:
Benjamin P. Owens27MCarpenterVA
Mary S.27FVA
Fanny F7 mos. FVA
Sarah Whitehurst21FVA
The Virginia census of 1870 for the county of Chesterfield, P.O. Chester, lists:
Benjamin P. Owen46 Master Capenter VA
Mary S.46 Keeping HouseVA
Walter G.19 Cadet, VMIVA
Henry B.16 Asst.Bookkeeper VA
Mary E.14 At SchoolVA
Herbert D.12 At SchoolVA
Benjamin P.10 At SchoolVA
Robert P.7 At SchoolVA
Agnes E.5 At HomeVA
Thomas2 At HomeVA
Sarah J. Walker40 Teaching School VA
Littie Wood25 Domestic ServantVA
The younger B.P. Owen later married Virginia Heth Vaden (she was a relative of Confederate General Heth and also decendant of the French Huguenot Salle family) and co-founded the newspaper the Richmond News Leader.
H. B. Owen married Lucia Baskerville Brodnax (who has a fairly involved ancestry) and had the four children:
Cornilia Owen, called Nina who was born abt. 1882 and never married.
Mary Walker Owen b. abt. Jan 1885 d. abt. July 1885
Lucia Brodnax Owen b. abt 1886 (AKA "Big Lucia" and "Grandma Big" to later generations) She died at abt. the age of abt. 104.
Margaret (McLeish?) Owen b. 1888 d. abt. Oct. 1986.(AKA "Bidy")She had no children of her own but adopted one of her sister Lucia's.
I have nothing earlier on Benjamin P. Owen