Earl Leroy Owens

Earl Leroy Owens, born April 24, 1888, was the seventh and youngest of Owen’s children. He was in Santa Cruz in 1900, and I was able to find him in the 1930 census in Vallejo, Solano, California. He died March 1965, and was married to Naomi and/or Myrtle. I was not able to find out much about him.

Orville M Owens

Orville M Owens was Owen’s sixth child. Orville was born August 20, 1884 in Iowa. He lived in Santa Cruz during the 1920’s, and sometime after 1918, he married Lucile. He was a merchant, and on his WWI draft registration it says he owned a Billiard and Cigar Stand.

Grace B Owens

Owen’s fifth child was Grace B Owens. She was born November 12, 1880, and in 1900 she was single, living with the family in Santa Cruz, and working as a bookkeeper. By 1910, she was married to Julius Streib, a baseball player, and the lived in Santa Cruz, Seattle, and finally in that year emigrated to Canada, where Julius had a career until his death in Calgary, May 10, 1935. After her husband’s death, Grace returned to Alameda County, California, where she resided until her death on April 25, 1966. They don’t appear to have had any children.

Clark Owens

Owen’s fourth child was Clark Owens, born May 11, 1878 in Linden, Iowa. He was single and still living with the family in Santa Cruz in 1900, working as an electric car motorman. It appears that he married Elizabeth “Bessie” Scott Morgan. Scott is her mother’s maiden name, and often she is listed as Elizabeth or Bessie M Owens, which I believe was probably for her maiden name of Morgan. The WWI Draft lists his wife, and they are married and living in Oakland, Alameda, California in the 1920 census. On that census there are Reichhold and Tuttle families as well, and Clark and Bessie have three children all over the age of ten. The 1930 census shows them as first married about 1903, and Bessie’s sister Gladys living with them. And the 1910 census is where I go crazy. Clark and Bessie have a story to tell, but I don’t know what it is. I sincerely hope that someday I will be able to contact some of their descendants who know what was going on.


I found Clark on the 1910 census, as a lodger, who was married and had been married for seven years. That fits with the 1930 census. He was a lodger with the MORGAN family, of whom Bessie is one of the children and is listed as SINGLE. I’d put that down as a census error, but the 1920 census shows three children all over the age of ten. They should have been listed with their parents, but they aren’t there!!! And I can’t find them elsewhere with any relatives in California. I just can’t think of a scenario that makes sense.

Clark and Bessie’s oldest child is Helen L Owens. She was born December 16, 1904 and died November 29, 1997. The info from the California Death Index lists her Father’s last name as Owens, and her Mother’s maiden name as Morgan. Helen married Clarence Frederick Reichhold, and they had two sons, Jack and Lawrence Morgan. Jack married Marge, and they had a boy and a girl in the early 1950’s.

Their second child was Merle Ruth Owens, born March 19, 1908, died September 5, 1983. Both her birth and death info list her mother’s maiden name as Morgan. The 1920 census lists her incorrectly as a Male. She married Robley Day Gilbert.

Their third child was Morgan Clark Owens. He was born January 4, 1907 and died August 5, 1978 in Contra Costa, California.

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.

Edna Mabel Owens

THREE GENERATIONS

BORN IN

THREE CENTURIES

Robert Owens and his wife, Vania, had one child, a daughter, Edna Mabel Owens.
Edna’s grandfather, David Owens, was born about 1799.
Her father, Robert Owens, was born in 1838.
Edna Mabel was born January 10, 1902.

Edna was born in Nepesta, Colorado. When she was young her family moved back to Newark, Licking, Ohio. She married Orval Francis Thompson on June 2, 1933 in Morgantown, WV. They had two sons. She was living in Mount Vernon, Ohio, when she died in February of 1971.

Robert Owens

David and Jane Owens third son was Robert Owens, born on 2 March 1838 in Wales. He came to the United States with the family in 1942, and lived with them in Licking, Ohio through 1860. I am unable to prove or disprove whether or not Robert served in the Civil War. By 1870 he was living near Pueblo, Colorado Territory. He farmed in Nepesta, Colorado for many years. I wasn’t able to locate him in the 1910 census, but his obituary says that he returned to Newark, Licking, Ohio about 1912 where he lived until his death March 22, 1920.

Robert was single for many years, but around 1901, he married Vania A Lane. Vania was born in Arkansas, February 1878. Her parents were John H and Winnie M Lane, and she had two brothers, William and John. According to the Newark newspaper, she died November 25, 1948.

Jerry William Owens

Jerry William Owens was the youngest of David D and Francis Owens’ children, and the only one to stay in Missouri. He was born September 6, 1875 in Jasper, Missouri, and was listed as Jerimiah in the 1880 census. He was not living with his parents in the 1900 census, and I haven’t found him anywhere else that year. He married Clyde Minnie Umbarger on March 10, 1909, and by 1910 they had settled in Springfield, Greene, Missouri. Jerry was evidently involved in politics and was a Missouri delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1948. He was an insurance agent for Penn Mutual.


He died in Springfield September 3, 1948. His wife died in Springfield, February 8, 1965.

Their children were Mary Frances Owens, born in Missouri on 10 Jan 1911, died 22 Sept 1998 in Michigan, married to Glen Maxwell Wingo, and David Allen Owens born January 1, 1913.

James Bertram Owens

James Bertram Owens was the third child of David D and Francis M Owens. He was born on March 16, 1874 in Missouri. He married Orlena E Elliot after 1900, probably in Missouri, and before 1906 when he first appears in Santa Cruz working as a teamster. Sometime prior to 1910 he starts a Transfer Business with his brother David Arthur. Starting in 1938 he is an Automobile Dealer.


His wife Orlena was born in Ohio on July 12, 1884. By 1900 her family moved to Jasper, Missouri, where she would have met James. She died in Santa Cruz on 21 January, 1956.

They had two children. Their daughter, Frances was born in Santa Cruz July 9, 1906, and she died December 31, 1988 in Alameda, California. She was married to a Russell. Their son, Elliott R Owens was born in Santa Cruz on April 5, 1912 and died in Marin, California on June 27, 1979. He was married first to Louise Annabelle Hocom and later in life he married Mary T Grubb. I don’t know if either of them had any children.

David Arthur Owens

David Arthur Owens, the second child of David D and Francis Owens, was born in Missouri on December 3, 1872. By 1900 he was living in Santa Cruz, California, and working as a driver for the fire department. He married Ida Saloma Doane around 1905, and by 1910 he is the proprietor of an express company that he co-owns with his brother James Bertram. He continues to own and run that business until at least 1944. His wife Ida painted china. They didn’t have any children of their own, but raised Ida’s niece Beverly. I have not been able to find out when they died.


It just dawned on me that driver for the fire department at that time would have been horse drawn equipment, and his business, as well, when it was started, would have been wagons pulled by horse or oxen or the like. Interesting. I have found the business listed in Santa Cruz in the 1970’s, but now I can only find what may be that business operating in Truckee, California and Northern Nevada.

Edwin J Owens

Edwin J Owens, the oldest son of David D Owens and Francis M Stout, was born in Missouri, February 15, 1870. He lived with his family in Jasper until his marriage to Alice Folger on 7 March 1898. In 1900 they were living on her mother’s farm, and he was farming. By 1910 they had moved to the Canyon City area of Colorado where he was working as a butcher and was back to farming again in 1920. By 1930 they had moved to Santa Cruz, California, where he was a proprietor of a furniture business. By 1942 he had retired and continued to live in Santa Cruz until his death on March 16, 1950. His wife Alice was born in Missouri in December of 1873, and appears to have outlived Edwin, but I haven’t been able to verify when she died.


Their only child, David Benjamin Owens was born on December 31, 1898 in Missouri. He was living with his parents in Colorado in the 1910 and 1920 census, but as early as 1918 he was in Santa Cruz, driving truck for Owens Bros Trucking. He was in Santa Cruz during the 1930’s and early 1940’s, sometimes working for his father in the furniture store. After the early 1940’s I am unable to find him until his death in San Francisco on August 30, 1978. He was married around 1925 to a woman named Mildred and they had two children in Colorado before they moved to Santa Cruz. They were Virginia B, born 1925, and Benjamin, born in 1926.

DAVID D OWENS

David D Owens, son of David and Jane Owens, was born in Wales on July 15, 1833. In 1842, he arrived in New York with his parents, and settled with them in Newark, Licking, Ohio. He lived with the family in Licking until 1864, when he served a hundred days in the Civil War as a private with C 135 Ohio National Guard Inf. He filed for a pension after the war, and appears to have received it, but the 1890 census schedule doesn’t list any specific disabilities for him.


He married Francis M Stout of Licking, Ohio around 1869, and they were living in Jasper, Missouri in the 1870 census. They lived near Carthage, Missouri, where he farmed and raised livestock. David and Francis had four children, Edwin Jay, David Arthur, James Bertram, and Jerry William. Sometime after 1900, he retired to Santa Cruz, California, but still owned his 200 acre farm. I wasn’t able to find them in the 1910 census, so I’m not sure when they moved to Santa Cruz, but Francis passed away in Santa Cruz on July 17, 1913. David was living in Santa Cruz with his son David Arthur on January 2, 1920, and he passed away in February of that year.

Jane Owens Evans

Jane Owens, the oldest daughter of David and Jane, was born in Wales on April 21, 1836. She came with her parents to Licking Ohio, where she lived until she married James Evans. They married in 1866 and settled in Big Rock, Kane, Illinois. They didn’t have any children. James died in 1895, and Jane returned to live in Newark, Licking, Ohio. She lived on the “home place” until her death on April 17th, 1915. Her body was returned to Big Rock, Illinois to be buried with her husband.

MARGARET OWENS

David and Jane’s youngest daughter, Margaret Owens is the only one of their children who didn’t leave Licking County, Ohio. According to the 1900 US census, she was born in May of 1846 in Ohio. She was the only one of their children to be born in the US. She stayed with her mother after her father died. She was living with Jane in the 1880 census, and stayed single until after Jane died. She married Elias Davis around 1892. I imagine that they lived on the “homestead” after their marriage, and there are several news articles in the Newark papers showing that they were residing in Newark area. Elias died on October 22, 1909 and was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery. Margaret continued to live in Newark at least through 1915. Her brother’s obituary says that she is living in Columbus, Ohio in 1920, and I can’t find her in the Newark census, but I can’t definitively find her in the Columbus census either. Her sister’s obituary says that she is living in Newark as of January 1922. She died on February 19, 1924 and is buried in Newark’s Cedar Hill Cemetery. The 1900 census shows that she never had any children.


I just realized that the group picture I have that includes Maggie and her husband Elias was taken in Los Angeles California. Some of the other Owens, or maybe some of his family? Yes!! More questions, more research. As usual there are variations on the name, sometimes it was Davies, but usually was Davis, and was always Davis in the newspaper articles.

Sharing the Stories

The reason I’m doing this blog is to share information and pictures that have been left to me by my mother. I’m not interested in posting information that is already general knowledge, but I will clarify or correct that information if I can. I love doing the research part of genealogy, and I probably get just as excited as a gold miner when I find a new nugget of information. I can spend hours going through the things my mother left. What I don’t like too much is actually organizing everything that I have found, and that is bad because the knowledge is only in my mind and that will be gone someday. There are times when I get bored, when I hit dead ends, and when I would rather keep researching instead of organizing. Lots of times I wonder why I bother, because most people don’t really care. But last night when I was looking for more information on line, I was hit hard by the fact that I have information that no one else does. I was looking for more information on Walter Frank Gillmore. What I found were 4 or 5 family trees that knew his name and birth date, but none of them knew when he died. If they don’t know when he died, they don’t know the story of where and how he died. There are a number of family letters written around the time of his death that I have, and I know the story of his death. If I don’t tell about it, then the story will be gone, and for the generations to come that might care, they’ll never know. So, I’d better keep on working, and get as much done as I can. I’ll have to find those letters sometime soon and tell his story.

LOTTIE LEDFORD

I just can’t wait. I should try to find out some more information, but I’m too excited. Two of my grandmother’s pictures have interested me for quite some time. One had been identified as Ida Steadman, but that had been crossed out and it was labeled as Lottie Ledford.

The other one was labeled as Lottie Ledford’s baby. I had no idea how they fit into the family.

I finally realized, though that Lottie was a nickname for Charlotte and finally determined that the picture was one of Charlotte May Turner, daughter of Adrian Elbinas Turner and his wife Margaret F Lely. Lottie had married Millard Bynum Ledford in about 1898. Their son Millard B Leford was born in Baggs, Carbon, Wyoming on May 5th, 1899, and that is where they were living in 1900, where the census shows that her mother Margaret now Tree was living nearby.

After that I couldn’t find anything about her, so I was afraid that she and her baby had probably died, as I can’t imagine that Baggs Wyoming was a very easy place to live in, in the early 1900’s.

Then last night, I was looking at her more closely, and eureka!!! I found another family tree that showed that she had remarried to a Samuel Leslie Ward. Using that name I was able to find her in the 1910 and 1920 censuses and her death in 1947 in Longview, Washington. But what had happened to her first husband and baby? She had written a letter to my grandmother on Dec 10, 1902, and it seemed like she was with her husband and baby at that time. I kept searching, and found a record on the LDS site showing that the baby Millard had died on Jan 5, 1902 and had been buried in Clay County, North Carolina. Had her husband taken the baby and left her?

I searched further, and found a listing for the cemetery in Baggs, Carbon, Wyoming. There I found a record for Millard B Ledford, the father. He had died in October 1901 and was buried in the Baggs cemetery.

Had Lottie gone to visit her husband’s family after his death and her son died while they were there? Did she send her son to live with her husband’s family in NC, where he died? I don’t imagine we’ll ever know.

In her letter to my grandmother in 1902, she says that her brothers, Charley and Adrian (Eddy), are living with her and that “my baby and housework keep me busy”. BABY?? Her baby appears to have died, and he isn’t listed in the later censuses when she has remarried. I have a clue, though. Along with her first husband, I found a record for the Baggs Cemetery for an Alex Basco Ledford, 1901 – 1905. I don’t remember any other Ledford’s in that area in the 1900 census, so I believe that Charlotte had another baby around the time her husband died. I would guess that she may have sent her first baby to his father’s family, as she wouldn’t have had the means to support him and she probably had her hands full taking care of the new baby. I think the picture of the baby is probably Millard B Ledford. I doubt that she had the money to have a picture taken of her second baby, unless her brothers had paid for it.

George Nelson Spates

UPDATE


I looked again at the Soldier’s Home papers, and they put the amputation of the leg as taking place on 1 Oct 1868, in Auburn, Maine.