THIS FAMILY TREE MAY CONTAIN ERRORS SO USE THE INFORMATION WITH DISCRESSION.  THE INFORMATION THAT I HAVE POSTED IS INTENDED TO ASSIST AN OWEN DESCENDANT IN FINDING HIS LINE OR LINK HIS LINE TO THE FAMILY.

 

PLEASE CONTACT ME WITH ANY ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS, I WANT THIS TREE TO BE AS COMPLETE AND ERROR FREE AS POSSIBLE.  I WILL BE HAPPY TO ADD YOUR RELATED OWEN TREE TO THIS FILE CREDITING YOU WITH THE CONTRIBUTION.

 THIS WEBSITE TAKES A LOT OF TIME TO MAINTAIN AND I GET A LOT OF EMAIL.  I AM HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS

THAT I CAN ON OTHER LINES BUT ALL MY OWEN INFORMATION IS POSTED SO PLEASE DON'T CONTACT ME FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. 

 

 

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE HAVE NOT BEEN TO ENGLAND OR WALES TO RESEARCH THE OWEN FAMILY. ALL OUR RESEARCH HAS BEEN DONE IN THE MARYLAND AND KENTUCKY ARCHIVES, PUBLISHED BOOKS, AND GENEALOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETIES, AND WHAT HISTORY WE COULD FIND ON THE INTERNET.  WE DO NOT GET OUR DESCENDANCIES FROM THE INTERNET AS THEY CONTAIN MORE ERRORS THAN WE WANT TO DEAL WITH.  THE FEW TIMES THAT WE DID USE THE INTERNET FOR HELP WITH THE FAMILY TREE WE NOTED THE URL WHICH POSTED THAT TREE OR FAMILY GROUP.  WE DO USE THE INTERNET FOR HELP IN FINDING BIOGRAPHIES AND LAND RECORDS, ETC.

 

 

THERE WERE MANY ROBERT, EDWARD, LAWRENCE, AND JOHN OWEN’S IN THE EARLY MARYLAND RECORDS WHICH MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO SORT OUT ALL THE LAND RECORDS IN MARYLAND AND FOR THIS REASON I SUGGEST YOU USE THE LINK TO MARYLAND LAND RECORDS WHERE I HAVE POSTED THE LAND AND COURT RECORDS THAT I HAVE FOUND TO DATE, THIS WAY YOU CAN SORT OUT FOR YOURSELF WHICH DEEDS BELONG TO WHICH ROBERT, JOHN, ETC.

 

 

MARYLAND LAND AND COURT RECORDS    OWEN SURNAME

 

 

 

 

ALONG THIS SAME LINE YOU MIGHT WANT TO RESEARCH THE FOLLOWING URL AS IT SEEMS TO GIVE CONFLICTING INFORMATION ON GRIFFITH OWEN.  THERE ALSO SEVERAL GRIFFITH’S AND OWEN OWEN’S, WHICH MAKES EVERY “FACT” A MUDDLE.  PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTATION FOR ANY CHANGES YOU THINK I SHOULD MAKE IN MY RECORD!

http://home.earthlink.net/~carolet1/Owen_story.html

 

 

 

 

 

ALL OLD ALBUM PHOTO'S COURTESY OF KATHRYN OWEN

 

The family history originates in Merionethshire, which is a coastal county in North West Wales.  They were of a prestigious family of Royal lines and have a very interesting ancestry.  I chose to pick up with the first generations that came to America as the Owen and Vaughan family ancient ancestry is well documented and I can do it no further justice.

 

Several now mostly unknown contributors compiled the Owen family stories and lists of some of their descendants.  They each told stories that had been handed down through their families and each had similar stories to tell.  Some had one detail and others another and for this reason I combined their stories as not to repeat each and every version. None of the stories except one were signed, they were given to me by Kathryn Owen who researched the Owen family and who worked to preserve and record the local Clark County, Kentucky farm cemeteries.  She generously contributed these stories that had been given or told to her through the years.

 

Robert Owen, of Dolserey, married Jane, daughter of Robert Vaughan, of Hengwrt, Esquire the celebrated Antiquary.

 

"They were the man and woman to my knowledge that opened the door for a reformation of religion in the country (Merionethshire) where they lived, after the Civil War between King and Parliament began."

 

Rowland Ellis also testified as to their worth:  "After the time of Oliver and Richard Cromwell, Robert was commissioned captain of the militia, and governor of Bewmares [sic], a seaport town upon the Irish coast."  But when Robert Owen was required to take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy, he refused, and was imprisoned for five years.  His wife then was the mother of nine sons, and her relative, "yt then bore ye chieffest sway in ye whole country, "urged her to prevail on her husband to yield, and save his estate for his children, but she declined to interfere.  After he was released they emigrated to America in the ship "Vine" of Liverpool, sailing from Dolsyrerre, near Dolgules, Merioneth, with his wife Jane, son Lewis and a servant boy and four maid servants, arriving at Philadelphia 17 Sep 1684.

 

Robert Owen, of Dolserey, near Dolgelley, the second son of Humphrey Owen had been a captain under Cromwell, and was Governor of Beaumaris castle, under the Protectorate, and a Justice of the Peace. About 1660 he joined the Society of Friends, and was frequently fined and imprisoned, once for ten years, on account of his refusal to comply with the Acts of Parliament then in force.  In 1684, being then quite aged, he removed with his wife Jane and sons, Dr. Griffith Owen, who had been practicing medicine in England. They sailed on the ship "Vine," Captain Presson, master, which arrived at Philadelphia (or more probably Chester), [17 7 mo. 1684] 17 Sept. 1684, among the passengers were Robert Owen and Jane his wife; Griffith Owen, physician, his wife Sarah, children and servants, from Prescoe in Lancashire, and Robert’s and Jane’s son Lewis Owen, to the Province of Pennsylvania.

 

The couple proceeded to Duck Creek, New Castle County, then in Pennsylvania, but now in Delaware, where another son, Edward, had already settled arriving in Nov. the year before. With his son Lewis, he appears as witness to a deed dated there, in 1685, and a commission of Justice of the Peace and County Courts had been prepared for him in anticipation of his coming.

 

There are several sketches of their lives in various volumes of “Friends Memorials”; but of these, one in print and another in [MS.], both written long after the decease of this couple, confuse them with Robert Owen and Rebecca his wife, who settled in Merion township, near Philadelphia, . . , and died 1697, and whose pedigree is given in "Merion."

 

“ . . . He was descended of a very ancient and (according to the worlds account) one of the greatest families in those parts, having by his father a competent inheritance, and in all his time had the right hand among his equals; brought up a scholar, quick in apprehension, and whatever he took in hand he did it with all his might. He was zealously devoted to religion, and a great searcher for the pearl of great price; being one of the first in our parts who fought after it; and having found it, he sold all to purchase the fame.

 

After King Charles II came to the crown, he suffered five years close imprisonment, for not taking the oath of allegiance and supremacy, being confined at the town of Dolgelly, in Merionthshire, North Wales, within about a mile from his dwelling house, to which he was not permitted to go during the said time: And it was observed, that the person who had the greatest hand in prosecuting him, was visited with sickness, when remorse of conscience seized so hard upon him, that he could find neither rest nor ease, until he sent a special messenger to release him.

Concerning his wife Jane Owen, she was daughter of a justice of peace, a man of great integrity and exceeding most of his rank at that time. She was a woman rarely endowed with many natural gifts, being an help-meet to her husband in his exercises, solid in her deportment, and given to many words. In all their exercises together for the truth's sake, they did not shrink nor give way for fear or faltery; not only their hearts, but their house was open to all upon truth's account; meetings being held therein for many years. They were serviceable in their places and much beloved in their native land, where having borne their share of the heat of the day, they embark'd there from in the fifth month 1690*, and came into Pennsylvania, where they finished their course, and were buried within a few days of each other."

*Incorrect date sited, according to official ship records they arrived in 1684.

 

Robert did not arrive in the colonies until 1684 almost 30 years from the time he first heard of the Society of Friends,

 

* Dr. Edward Jones (1657-1737), barber-surgeon; trustee for the seventeen Merioneth Adventurers who, with John ap Thomas, purchased 5000 acres to be divided among them.

 

According to Kathryn Owen, Robert while living in Wales was convicted and given a long sentence but was incarcerated only for five years for Jane worked hard all that time in trying secure his release through any means.  His wife was nearly destitute and concern for her family’s safety caused her to go to other family members to raise the money needed to buy supplies and tickets to bring them to this country.  In 1684, finally successful in their quest for religious freedom the family starts on a new adventure in a new land.

Rowland Ellis also testified as to their worth:  "After the time of Oliver and Richard Cromwell, Robert was commissioned captain of the militia, and governor of Bewmares, a seaport town upon the Irish coast."  But when Robert Owen was required to take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy, he refused, and was imprisoned for five years.  His wife then was the mother of nine sons, and her relative, "yt then bore ye chieffest sway in ye whole country," urged her to prevail on her husband to yield, and save his estate for his children, but she declined to interfere.

 

In Wales Robert Owen was a successful attorney and an officer of Cromwell, had been a Justice of Peace of Dolserau, near Dolgelly, it is said that he had also been Governor of Beaumaris.  In any case Robert Owen was a rich and powerful man with his career and family “set for life”.

 

Robert became discontented with the official Church of England when two “preachers George Fox and John ap John arrived in Dolgellau sometime around the mid 1650’s Robert converted to their faith of Quakerism.  We don’t know exactly how long it took Robert to make this decision to change his church affiliation probably sometime in the 1660’s but this decision must have caused much emotional turmoil.  Such a decision would mean loss of his status, loss of income, being ostracized by the community and perhaps by his members of his own family.  Quakers were often punished because of their belief in making oaths only unto God, this did not please the King of England as it was considered a treasonous act not to pledge ones oath unto the king.

 

Sources: http://www.castlewales.com/beaumar.html

 

 

  

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