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The 1767 will of John Owen lists his sons as John (the heir), William,
Thomas, Brackett, and Jesse apparently in birth-order as there is no
argument that Jesse was the youngest and clearly John was the oldest.
The will also named Brackett Owen as the only descendant executor in
preference to his older brothers John, William, and Thomas who are
generally acknowledged to be the sons of John by his first wife Sarah.
The youngest son, Jesse Owen, was of age by 1761 and was the son of
John by his second wife Phoebe so that he would have been at least age
25 when his father wrote his will. If Jesse were the only son of John
by Phoebe and certainly being old enough, he would have been the most
logical choice to assist his mother in executing his father's will and
protecting her interests. But Brackett was named co-executor instead,
which would have been unlikely if he were not also a son, the older
son, of Phoebe.
There is also a problem on the birth date of Brackett Owen. Two
precise and wholly different dates have been provided in various
sources: 1733.8.9 and 1739.6.10. We know that Sarah appeared as the
wife of John Owen in a 1731 land record while Phoebe appeared as the
wife of John in a 1739 land record. If Brackett were born in 1739,
then he was certainly the son of Phoebe. But why are there two
precise dates anyway? This may be the root of the real confusion
here. By their precision and complete difference, they suggest that
perhaps there were in fact two Bracketts Owen-- one who was born of
Sarah in 1733 and likely died before 1739 and a second Brackett born
of Phoebe in 1739, resulting in competing claims that Brackett was
the son of both when in fact there were two different sons named
'Brackett' who were.
The later birth year (1739) is reinforced by Brackett's later
appearance in Virginia records. If he were born in 1733, he would
have been of age by 1754 and should have shown up in records shortly
thereafter but he does not first appear in the records until 1762,
when he would have been 23 if born in 1739, suggesting that the
later birth year is more likely.
All of this strongly suggests that the 1739 date is to be preferred
for Brackett and that he was the son of John Owen by Phoebe Brackett.
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