CAPT. C. C. OWEN. The greater part of the life of Capt. C. C. Owen has been devoted to husbandry, but now, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, he is retired from that life, and is a notary public of Protem, Missouri. He was born in Barren County, Kentucky, in 1829, a son of George W. and Martha S. (Dickerson) Owen, natives of North Carolina and Kentucky, respectively, the birth of the former occurring in 1801 and that of the latter in 1805. George W. Owen was taken by his parents to Kentucky, and there he attained man’s estate and was married. In 1842 he came, by wagon, to Benton County, Missouri, the journey thither occupying one month. For ten years or more the father operated a tan yard in Benton County, and became a well-known man in that section. At the opening of the Civil War he enlisted in the Federal Army, but was soon rejected on account of his age. Up to the opening of the great conflict between the North and South, he was a Democrat, but he afterward became a stanch Republican. He became a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and held to that faith until his death in 1870, his widow surviving him until 1886.
His father, John Holland Owen, was born in bonnie Scotland, but when quite young came with his parents and five brothers to America, and located in North Carolina, later in Virginia, and in 1802 in Kentucky, which region was then in a wild and unsettled condition. Here he passed the remainder of his life, dying about 1850. He was of a scientific turn of mind, was finely educated, and for many years was a minister of the Baptist Church, but the last few years of his life were devoted to chemical researches. He attained considerable renown, and for many years was a Mason of prominence. Joel Dickerson, the maternal grandfather, was in all probability born in Virginia, but he was also one of the early settlers of Kentucky, in which State he died when Capt. C. C. Owen was but a lad. He was a farmer and was of English descent. The subject of this sketch was one of the following children: Louisa, who died in Kansas, the wife of Joseph L. Butcher; Letitia, wife of William E. Thurman, of Kansas; C. C. (the subject of this sketch); Joel, of Benton County; Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Michenor; Jane, who died in Benton County, the wife of Thomas Martin; William Wilson, who died in Jefferson City of a wound received in battle during the war, was captain of a company in the Eleventh Missouri Cavalry, having formerly commanded a company, which he had recruited, in the Eighth Missouri Cavalry; and John D., who died in Benton County when quite young.
C. C. Owen attended school for only a few months, and when about twenty years old he began working for himself in a tan yard. He was married in 1850, in Benton County, to Caroline, daughter of Patterson Y. and Sarah Russell, natives of Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. When young they became residents of Missouri and were there married, later becoming residents of Benton County, where Mr. Russel died in 1840, having been a farmer by occupation. His widow died in California in 1857. Mrs. Owen was born in Boone County, Missouri, and is the mother of nine children: Hiram F. a merchant of Protem, Missouri; Isabel, wife of A. L. Clark, of Marion County, Arkansas; George P., a farmer of Taney County; Sarah, wife of C. A. James, of Taney County; John R., a farmer of that county; James W.; Albert M., who died in 1890, was postmaster of Protem; Emma, and one unnamed that died in infancy.
Capt. C. C. Owen followed farming and black-smithing in Benton County until the war, and for some time filled the offices of assessor and constable of the county. In 1861 he joined McClurg’s Brigade of Home Guards as lieutenant, with which he served for about six months in Missouri. He then joined the Eighth Missouri State Militia, early in 1862, as orderly sergeant, and in October of the same year was made captain of Company F, which he commanded until the spring of 1864, at which time he resigned and did service in the militia until the war closed. He was in the fight at Lone Jack and at Springfield, where he was an aid on Gen. Brown’s staff. He did service in Missouri, Arkansas and Indian Territory, was a participant in many skirmishes and several battles, but was never captured or wounded.
After the war he removed to St. Clair County, Missouri, where he served for several years as commissioner of public roads, and was engaged in surveying until 1870. In that year he came to Taney County, and has since resided at Protem, in the vicinity of which place he carried on farming for some time. He is now holding his fifth commission as notary public. He has served two terms as county surveyor and one term as probate and county judge of Taney County. About 1874 he was instrumental in establishing the post office at Protem, and gave it the name of “Protem,” thinking it would be only a temporary office, and was made the first postmaster. In 1890 he was elected to represent Taney County in the State Legislature and served on the committees on Insurance, Retrenchment, and Reform. He was census enumerator of three townships in this county in 1890, in fact he has been a live and progressive man in every respect, and is highly honored throughout Taney County.
He has been a regularly licensed physician for the past twelve years, and during that time he has met with considerable success in the practice of his profession. He received his license from the State Board of Health. He has been a Mason for forty-three years, of Land Mark Lodge No. 64, at Warsaw, Missouri, but now belongs to Claflin Lodge No. 229, of Protem, and he and his wife are members of the Christian Church.