Arthur C Owens

Owen’s third child was Arthur C Owens. He is listed as Arthur D in the 1880 census, but other census years and the World War I Draft registration show him as Arthur C. Arthur was born September 15, 1875. There is an Arthur C Owens in the 1910 census in San Francisco that may be this Arthur. He was a salesman for Wholesale Cigars. And he was widowed. He was not living with his parents, and I couldn’t find any other Arthur C Owens that seemed to fit. The 1930 census shows that Arthur was first married at age 31, about 1906. His wife at that time, Grace, was first married at age 30, about 1914, so it appears that Arthur had been married prior to his marriage to Grace, and tends to verify that the 1910 census assumption is correct. I was not able to locate them in the 1920 census, and I have not found any evidence that they had any children. He lived for a while in San Francisco, and during the 1930’s and 1940’s he lived in Alameda County, Calfornia. He died there on September 9, 1956.

Nellie Agnes Owens

Owen’s second child was Nellie Agnes, born September 9, 1872 in Rio, Knox, Illinois. Owen must have moved his family to California before 1983, because Nellie married Orra V Dubbs in Santa Cruz on May 10, 1893. Nellie and Orra were cousins, and according to another Owen’s family member it caused quite a row, so Nellie and Orra moved back to Nevada, Ness, Kansas by 1895. Orra Dubbs, Orra Dubbs, did I say Orra Dubbs? Isn’t there a picture that I thought said Orrie Dibbs? Yes!! There is. It’s labeled Mr and Mrs Orrie Dubbs. Another picture identified!!

Nellie and Orrie continued to live in Kansas until her death on June 3, 1930. Orrie passed away on April 29, 1937. They had eight children.

Ruth M Dubbs (1897-1981) married Charles Leroy Harkness. They had two sons. Vance Bradley (1918-1957) married Lois Wyrill. Keith (1920-2007) married Janelda D Brown, and they had three girls.

Grace K Dubbs (1899-unk) married Mr Petty.

Opal Vera Dubbs (1900-1985) married Paul Huxman. They had two boys, RD and RG, maybe twins born about 1924.

Dora Irene Dubbs (1903-1990) married Lawrence Lloyd Tuttle. They had at least one daughter.

Maye Dubbs (1906-1999) married John E Schertz.

Beth L Dubbs (1908-unk).

Owen H Dubbs (1911-unk).

Dale Dubbs (1913-2003) married Ida Sadie Meek. They had a son Dwight Kay Dubbs, born 1943 in Tulsa, who passed away in May 1967.

John Ayer

“John Ayres of California, Chester’s Cousin” is written on the back of this photograph, and the photographer is in Santa Cruz, California. That wasn’t a name in my family tree, and was just too generic to be able to find with certainty, so I had given up figuring out why it was in my grandmother’s pictures.

“Chester’s cousins, Ray 7 years, Gladys 5 years” was on the back of this photo taken in Santa Cruz, California. No help at all. There weren’t really any cousins on Chester’s side of the family that I knew of at the time I scanned these pictures, so this was doomed to remain a mystery as well.

A couple of month’s ago I was looking at this picture and decided to try a first name search for Gladys in Santa Cruz. Amazing!! I found her and her brother Ray, in the 1910 census, and they were with their parents, Jennie and John Ayers! The two pictures are related to each other.

Is the Ayers Family related or are they just friends? I started a family tree for them to see where it would lead. Most of the time the family name was Ayer, not Ayers. I soon found the California Death Index for Gladys, which gives her mother’s maiden name as Owens. John Ayer had married Jennie Owens, the oldest daughter of Owen M and Sara Catharine Sara Hommon. They are related!

Jennie May Owens was born December 1870 in Illinois and lived with her family in Iowa. She married John Chester Ayer in 1892, and by 1900 they were living in Santa Cruz, California. In 1910 they were living in San Mateo, and in 1920 they were living in Monterey. In 1930 they were back in Santa Cruz, and probably lived there until John died April 5, 1955. I have been unable to find when Jennie died. John and Jennie had the two children in the picture.

Ray Harland Ayer was born December 18, 1892 in Santa Cruz. He was a farmer most of his life. He married Henrietta Maria Carlsen, and they had two girls, Ellen Bernice who married Henry Dick, and Violet. Ray died January 3, 1971 in Stanislaus, California.

Gladys G Ayer was born November 23, 1894 in Santa Cruz. During the 1920s, she married and divorced Charles Melvin Rhoades. In 1930 she was back living with her parents, and did not have any children living with her, so I assume that she never had any children. She passed away in Santa Cruz September 16, 1955.

Owen M Owens

David and Jane’s youngest son was Owen M Owens. He was born February 7, 1839 near Bala, Merionethshire, Wales. He came to the United States with his family in 1842, and settled with them in Newark, Licking, Ohio. I have not been able to find any information on whether or not Owen served in the civil war, but he married Sara Catherine Hommon in 1869. In 1870 they were living in Henderson, Knox, Illinois, where he was a miller. In 1880 and 1885 they were living in Linn, Dallas, Iowa where he had purchased a mill and was farming. By 1900 he had retired to Santa Cruz, California. He lived in Santa Cruz until his death on February 23, 1923. Sara Catharine died in 1937.
Owen and his wife had seven children, Jennie May, Nellie Agnes, Arthur C, Clark, Grace B, Orville M, and Earl Leroy.