David Owens: Union Township/Mount Vernon

More on my trip to South Dakota to continue my work on David Owens life. Union Township is outside of Mount Vernon, SD. That is the town where my 3rd GG, David Owens, and his wife Eliza Barker Owens settled at the end of their lives. David filed for a land patent in 1884, which was patented in 1889. It was the NW1/4 of Section 11, Union Township. In 1897, Emery Owens applied was granted the NE1/4 of Section 11. Sometime during this period, Emery acquired the SW1/4 of Section 11, making a total of 480 acres. Now, consider that South Dakota is not all Badlands and high desert. The northeastern side of the state is fertile with arable land.  That's a chunk of usable land. David appears to have left his portion to Emery, because by the time the map was published in 1901, Emery had this land, but had to wait to patent the NE1/4 (in 1902).

1902 Union Township, Davison County, SD Plat Map

Here is a photo of the homestead...there's a question whether this was the Owens homestead or another building was there before. According to the owner, the basement is the original basement. This location is at 257th St and 398th Ave in Davison County. I put two not perfectly matching photos below of the homestead.  

Miracle of miracles, I also availed myself of the US BLM database of land grants and was able to find both of the Owens land grants paperwork. I have linked directly to the page with the patents.

David's 1889 Land Patent

Emery's Land Grant. Land previously owned by Wm Brearly

Finally, here are the grave stones of both David Owens and his wife, Eliza Barker Owens.