OWEN FAMILY NEWS Volume 19, Issue 1 Published by Owen Family Association March 2004 page 1 htpp//www.geocities.com/~owenfamily ALL THOSE UNRELATED OWEN FAMILIES OF HALIFAX COUNTY, VA (Conclusion of series continued from Vol. 18 No. 1) by Jane Owen Hillard Introduction INSIDE THIS ISSUE At the Owen Family Association reunion in South Boston, Virginia, in September 2003, our featured after-dinner speaker was Graham C. Owen, of Our Feature Article: Inverness, Florida. Graham elected to tell us about his own family’s geneal- DescendantsOur Feature of William Article: and Descendants of William and ogy, the same family I have alluded to as the Terrible Creek Owen family. He Drucilla Echols Owen—Part 4 had prepared a folder with a typed text for each of us and read it to us, along DrucillaC. EcholsOwen Johnson Owen— Part 5 C. OwenPage Johnson 52 with some extemporaneous commentary and a great deal of humor. His disser- Page 4 tation was a model of what we all could copy in preparing our “family trees.” Reuben Pickett Owen Thank you for your masterful contribution, Graham. Previously, he told me Reubenand His Pickett Descendants: Owen’s son that his audience would be a small one, while my newsletter article would be AdrianAdrian Boone OwenOwen more widely circulated, “We can, in fact, build on and learn from each other,” Josephine Moeller and Jody Moeller and he said. Right! My intention, from the beginning, was to try to sort out the Lee Gentemenn Page 6 various Owen official records from Colonial days which had proven so hard to Page 55 disentangle. I, of course, was interested in their Halifax County presence, 2003IN Association FUTURE ISSUES Financial choosing to work predominantly with land records. His writings take his fam- Statement -Page 3 ily back to 1650. - March Featu re Article - Descendants2004 Association of William and One thing more, before cutting to the chase. Certain “given names” DrucillaMembership Echols Roster Owen——InsertPart 5 kept cropping up in my Owen record searches: David, Drury, et al. And I, not by C. Owen Johnson knowing from whence or whom, I could not connect them to anyone – which IN FUTURE˜ ISSUES is why I had put off finishing the last article in this series. And the answers Descendants of appeared in that South Boston meeting. Our Association’s vice president, Fred ReubenDescendants Pickett Owe nof— Part 4 M. Owen of Houston, Texas, handed me a copy of his genealogy which traces Reubenby Josephine Pickett Owen Moeller—Part 6 his family from 1650 to the present. And there they are: A. SEVENTH family by Josephine˜ Moeller A David Franklin Owen who left their imprint on 18th century Halifax County. His story follows in an Walter OwenNarrative & Descendants upcoming issue. I know you’ll enjoy Fred’s SEVENTH family Owen! My byby Hugh Fred Goodman Owen now confidently-submitted story of the Terrible Creek group completes my se- ˜ ries on Halifax County: Descendancy of Henry “Buck” Owen THE TERRIBLE CREEK OWEN FAMILY Byby Marshall ThomasThomas ˜ John Owen, Jr., out of Prince Edward County was the first of this family to EwingOwen Elmer Biographies Fidler Story move into the part of Lunenberg County which would soon become Halifax byBy Chris Louis Hanlin Owen County. John, Jr., moved into that tightly-knit enclave settled by Richard Owen, his numerous children and a dozen or so of his lifelong friends and “ThomasOwen Histories J. Owen” neighbors. John, Jr. and Richard were totally unrelated – (Con’t. on page 7 ) from ChrisAnnzanetta Hanlin Owen March 2004 Volume 19, Issue 1 Owen Family News Page 2 Editorial Staff The President’s Message of the Owen Family News by Arnie Owen Greeting from southwest Florida, a place we call home Editor & Chief for three months out of the year. The warm sunny days Karen Grubaugh and the 80 degree te mperatures makes it very difficult for Publisher me to stay in doors long enough to write this article. As many of you are aware, Bill Grubaugh the weather in Pennsylvania has been brutal this winter, so we feel very fortu- 111 Stonegate North nate being able to escape to a warmer climate. Boerne TX 78006 I have some sad news which I wish I could avoid reporting. On January 2, (830) 249-3487 (FAX & voice) 2004, Wade Owen, the son of Treasurer Graham Owen, reported to me that his [email protected] father was seriously ill with lung cancer and that it was his father’s wishes to re- linquish the office of Treasurer of the Owen Family Association. Graham is a Contributing Editors: longtime, dedicated, member of the Association. His sound advice and willing- ness to participate has always been a valued asset. I will never forget Graham’s Jane Owen Hillard presentation of his Owen family genealogy at the Biannual Banquet in South 3419 Mt. Rainier Dr. Boston. It was truly magnificent. Please keep Graham and his family in your Louisville, KY 40244 prayers. (502) 426-4771 Don’t forget, it’s dues time again. Your annual $10.00 fee is payable in January of each year and we hope that everyone will renew. This small fee cov- Kimberly Ayn Owen ers publication costs for the quarterly Owen News and other Association ex- penses. In addition, we hope that you would recruit new members into the Owen 8006 Cottesmore Ct. Family Association. Richmond, VA 23228 [email protected] PRIORITY ONE - In September, it was proposed that a Web site improvement project be given a high priority. A Web site benefits the majority of the member- C. Owen Johnson ship and informs the public of the existence of the Owen Family Association. Crystal Plaza #809 So. 99.09% of our new members, found out about the Owen Association through the 211 Jeff Davis Hwy. internet. With links to other web sites, it can be an excellent genealogical tool. Arlington, VA 22202 Also, our site could be used for DNA project results. Webmaster, Richard (703) 415-1473 Owens, recently reported that he has purchased a domain name for the Associa- tion and says that everyone should like the user friendly site once it is available William P. Owen, III to access. It behooves us all to encourage and assist Richard in any way we can P O Box 24165 to get a new Web site design completed and operational. I am sure Richard Fort Lauderdale, FL 33307 would welcome any suggestions> [email protected]. [email protected] The DNA Project is off to a flying start with test kits having been mailed to several volunteer, male, Owen participants. Hopefully, the results will prove Publication Dates to be a worthwhile research tool. Potentially, it might help some of us in finding March, June, September our distant cousins through DNA. Hat’s off to Fred Owen for a job well done. And December My three wishes for the next two years are as follows: Deadlines are the 10th day of the 1. A first Class Web Site month preceding publication 2. Increased membership and more active participation Submission of lineages, biographies, pho- 3. Establishment of a volunteer genealogy help group tographs, historical and genealogical data I special thanks to Bill Grubaugh for stepping in to fill Graham’s shoes as Treas- about any Owen anywhere is encouraged! urer. Bill is best known as the husband our Editor, Karen Grubaugh. However, Your ideas for the newsletter are also so- Bill has been active as publisher and assisting his wife as proof reader for the licited, just contact the editor! Owen News. As a qualified accountant, Bill is well qualified for this position. Someone once said, “Angels are often disguised as friends.” “Good friends are like angels, you don’t have to see them to know they are there”. O March 2004 Volume 19, Issue 1 Owen Family News Page 3 Owen Family Association Officers 2003-2005 President . Arnold Owen Vice President . Fred Owen Secretary. George Shirley Treasurer & Publisher. Bill Grubaugh Historian. Jim Owens Editor. Karen Grubaugh Biography of our Association Vice President, Fred Owen Second in a series of biographies about our OFA officers by Karen Grubaugh Martin Frederick Owen, who prefers to be called “Fred,” was born 26 June 1932 in Houston, Texas to William Franklin and Maydae Elizabeth Spraull Owen. Followed by high school in Houston, Fred proudly served in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. He received both a BBA and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Univer- sity of Texas. His 30 year career as a corporate attorney was followed by 13 years as an oil and gas operator. Fred has been married for 2 ½ “glorious years” to Beryl Ann, whom he met on a church bus several years after their previous spouses of many years, died of cancer. Fred and his first wife, had three children Scott Martin, Steven Harwell and Melissa. Sadly, Melissa died several years ago. Now fully and completely consumed by attempting to play golf, he fully understands why the late Bob Hope de- scribed the game as flog [golf spelled backwards]. Additionally, Fred is fulfilling a deep seeded need to leave his grandchildren with some knowledge of their forebears. To that end, a booklet to accompany the family tree, citing events which were occurring at the time their ancestors lived, is in the writing. Fred joined the Owen Family Association in order to share information with other Owen researchers. He suggests we revisit the methods by which we share information seeking a broader avenue which would permit more sharing. As the Association’s Vice President, Fred hopes the male Owen members will give serious consideration to participating in the DNA program.