The Prolific David Owens: Son David C Owens

Nodaway County Poor Farm
David served as superintendent

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER > DAVID C OWENS

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here.

Young David C Owens (middle name is reported as Casper and Crockett, though I have no confirmation in records of either) was born the last son of David Owens and Sarah Holler on 13 Aug 1859. He was born in Black Hawk County, Iowa. I think a lot happened to him between 1880 to 1900, but all of this is put together from other records and news articles.

Brother George Franklin lived in Sheridan County, Nebraska in the 1890s, and it appears, that for at least time, so did David C. David is the one who received three land patents from 1890-1894 for a total of 467 acres in Sheridan County, but George is the one who stayed there to farm. My hypothesis is that David sold his land to George before moving on.

In 1891, while in Nebraska, he married Laura Josephine Shafer, born in Indiana in 1862 and daughter of Dr. George and Lydia (Faustknaup) Shafer in Indiana. Dr Shafer was a widower living in Bowen, Sioux County, Nebraska in 1900.

In 1900, the Owens' were located in Lincoln, Nodaway, Missouri, just south of Braddyville, Iowa, where sister Harriet Owens Reynolds resided. David was a hardware salesman at the time. By 1910, he was farming in Nodaway County.

They had five children: Cecil Arthur (1894-1958), Aden Dwight (1895-1963), Bryan (1897-1907), Frank Leo "Leo" (1901-1962) and Neva Ruth (1903-1990). All five children were born in Braddyville, Iowa and son Bryan died in Braddyville. I can only surmise that they moved around a bit between the two counties, only 50-ish miles apart or may have had the farm and a house in the town. It's a question I'd like to find the answer to!

By 1920, he was superintendent of the Nodaway County Poor Farm, housing 25 inmates. 1930 brought him back to farming in Nodaway County. In 1937, his beloved wife Laura died in St Joseph, Missouri at age 74. David in 1940 was also living in St Joseph, in the home of his daughter Neva Ruth and her current husband, Paul Reeves. Paul died in 1942, which is about the time I believe  David moved to his son Cecil's home in Kitsap County, Washington where he died in 1944. Both David and his wife were buried in Braddyville Cemetery in Braddyville, Iowa.

The Prolific David Owens: Son George Franklin Owens

Rushville 1910

Sheridan County, Nebraska was originally part of a hodgepodge of sections of NW Nebraska, near
the South Dakota border that were governed very loosely from varying locations. A major Sioux Reservation is across the border from Sheridan County in South Dakota and has always been an integral part of trade and commerce for towns in Sheridan County, like Rushville. It became the county in its current form in 1885. Back then, the train went only as far as Valentine in neighboring Cherry County, making it necessary to hire a team to get to the next destination. A depot for Rushville, the major hub of Sheridan County, wasn't built until around 1910. It was the wild, wild west, but there was good grazing lands, full of Buffalo grass along the edge of the Sandhills. Like most of new settlements on the prairie, where trees had limited availability, many of the early homes in Sheridan County were soddies. Life was challenging and many settlers moved on.

George Franklin Homestead in Milan Precinct, near Rushville,
Sheridan County, Nebraska. Since it's a frame house, it might
have been built sometime after 1910.

David Owens many children, by two of his three wives, spread out far and wide after he and his third wife moved from Black Hawk County, Iowa to Davison County, South Dakota in the 1880s.  George Franklin Owens was the sixth surviving child of David and his first wife Sarah Holler and was the only child born during the elder Owens' brief layover in Illinois prior to their big move from Indiana to Poyner Township, Iowa.

George somehow ended up in Mission Creek, Pawnee, Nebraska prior to 1885. Mission Creek was
down on the Nebraska/Kansas border south of Lincoln.  He worked there as a farm hand for E. M. Berry. Sometime later, he met Mary Josephine Teller, whose parents settled in Bone Creek, Butler County, Nebraska (near Columbus) and they married in 1892. Then we get to the part where no Census records are available for the critical 1890 Census...yet, in 1900, they were living in Sheridan County in Milan precinct with their three surviving children. One had died in infancy. They had a homestead and were stock farmers (cattle ranchers).

Alfred Teller (Mary's brother), unknown young man and child,
George Franklin Owens and Frank Owens

I'm not quite sure how George fell into land ownership here since the Land Grant data suggests that his brother David C. Owens, purchased 467 acres over the 1890-1894 period. David, was by 1900, living in Nodaway, Missouri, so we might hypothesize that David sold his land to George.

By 1920, they were of retirement age and lived in a home at 143 Sommer St in Rushville with son Franklin and his daughters.

Their son Franklin was a merchant in town. He'd lost his first wife Minnie Rohwer in 1919 and his parents helped him raise his two girls (Ruth and Bernice) from that marriage before he married Florence Taylor in 1924. Franklin had another child, son Lowell, with Florence. By 1930, Frank and family were back on the Milan Precinct farm, where they farmed past 1940.

Daughter Hattie Belle Owens married Robert "Bert" Watson in 1912 in Rushville. They had a number of children and farmed in Milan Precinct. Bert died in 1946 and Hattie Belle died in 1989 in Rushville. They had nine children, most of whom would end up in Stanislaus County, California.

Daughter Ethel Josephine would marry Clinton C Millslagle in 1916. They would have seven children and would move on to Washington State. Ethel died in Centralia in Lewis County (date unknown) and husband Clyde would die in Olympia in 1962.

George Franklin would die 28 Jul 1935 in Rushville and his wife Mary Josephine Teller died 10 Jul 1920 in Rushville.

*Sources for this information are available upon request.