Oden /Owen Family: 1700- 1885
Richard Owen (b. about 1700) and Mary had a son named John Owen on 1735. On Nov. 23 1735, Mary and Richard took their son, John to the Spitalfields Christ Church in Stephey, London, England and had him Christened. He came to America between 1735 and 1760 on a boat. He settled in Loudon Co, VA. In 1760, he was recorded in a censes as living in Maryland. He had a son named Thomas Oden. The last name spelling was changed for an unknown reason. In 1771, Thomas lived in Durham Par. Benedict Hun , Charles, MD. John Owen’s children were Hezekiah, Thomas, John, Lewis, William and Vinson.
The Maryland State Archives have recorded that John Oden’s family bought wheat on more than one occasion from a Mr. Candler in 1781. On April 4,1781, John Owen bought wheat from Daniel Candler, who gave him a receipt for the wheat purchased. On April 6, he sent his son, William to acquire more wheat. In 1790, John still lived in Charles County, Maryland with two male children that were above 16 years of age.
John’s son, Thomas, moved to Kentucky and was living there in Madison County in 1789. Madison County's first courthouse, a stone and wood structure, was built the year before in the town of Milford, overlooking Taylor's Fork on Silver Creek. On May 14th of 1789, Thomas took himself a bride who had been born in the county, named Rebecca Stone. During the early years of Madison County's existence, Boonesborough thrived as a community. It contained over one hundred houses by 1790, a commons of over five hundred acres, a warehouse, a ferry, and a post office. It is located on the southeastern edge of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky where the knobs mark the boundary between the rolling Bluegrass and the hilly Cumberland Plateau. The elevation in the county ranges from 530 to 1660 feet above sea level. They family got word that sometime after 1790, John passed away in Maryland. The only thing known about John’s wife, is that she passed away before the 1790 Census. Two years later, Thomas Oden was living in Kentucky the year that it became a state. Sarah Oden, his first child, was born to Thomas and Rebecca the year that Kentucky became an official state. In 1794, the couple had their second little girl and named her Elizabeth. Two more years later, another girl followed; Thomas and Rebecca named her Spicey. Thomas Oden remained in Madison, KY until at least 1800 when the couple had their fourth girl, Susan. Going with the population trend, the Oden’s moved to another county. Frequent flooding of Madison, KY was a factor in the move.
In 1800, After having twins Jacob Norris and Nancy Oden on Apr 13, 1800, Thomas Oden moved his family to Montgomery County, Kentucky. After the twins, Thomas and Rebecca had four more girls: Polly (1801), Lucretia (1802), Charlotte (1804), and Huldah (1806). To the couple’s relief, having one boy and nine girls, finally came a stream of boys. They were: Aaron (1807), William (1808), and Francis (1810).
In 1815, their daughter, Lucretia married her first husband on 20 Jul 1815 in St. Charles Co., Missouri. (She would remain living their until her husband, James Long’s, death in 1842.) Thomas and Rebecca celebrated the first wedding in the family and were living in Missouri.
In 1817, their daughter, Nancy Oden married Levi Fine.
In 1818, their twenty-year old daughter, Susan, married William Armstrong. By March, Thomas and Rebecca’s had more grandchildren born and Nancy and Levi named the boy Levi Fine, Jr. In August, their second grandchild was born to Susan and William Armstrong.
In 1820, Their son, Jacob Norris married Sarah “Sally” Fine on March 31st. It is odd how twins must have the some of the same tastes. Jacob married the sister of his twin’s husband. In other words, Jacob Oden and Nancy Oden married into the same family. Sarah Fine and Levi Fine are brother and sister.
On Feb 29 1824, Nancy and Levi had there second child, Emmeline Fine.
By 1825, Thomas and Rebecca’s daughter, Susan and her family had moved to Morgan County, IL. That year on, Nov 11 1825, Nancy had her third child. She named the little baby girl after one of her sister’s, Caroline Spicey Fine.
On Dec 01 1827, Nancy and Levi Fine had their first son, Thomas Lears Fine followed by their second, Abraham, on Sep 06 1829. It is known that Nancy’s uncle, Hezekiah who married Elizabeth Leach, settled in nearby Pike Co., MO around this time.
In 1830, Nancy and Levi are living in Prairie, Montgomery, Missouri. This little village, nestling in a pretty basin among the Loutre Creek hills, in the western part of Montgomery county, is historic ground. The mineral spring, famed for its medical virtue, is the old "Loutre Lick" of pioneer notoriety. Here Daniel Boone resorted for the use of the healing waters, which he declared cured him of ailments. Here they had their sixth child on Dec 05 1831. The area was full of beavers, hince the French name for beaver “loutre”. They named him William. Nancy’s brother, William, married Rebecca Homsley that year in Missouri. Another brother of Nancy’s, Aaron Lewis Oden married in a nearby county called St. Louis, Missouri to a Mahala Collins in 1832. In 1833, the family went to the neighboring county, Warren, to visit their first county fair. The county fair, begun in 1833, advertised and sold local produce in a carnival atmosphere which included livestock shows and horse racing. This decade followed with three more births for Nancy and Levi Fine: Melchezidek (Jan 31 1835), Deliah (Apr 14 1837), and Rebecca (Apr 22 1839).
In 1835, Thomas Oden bought a land patent from the federal government on Oct 21st . In 1840, Thomas Oden and his family lived in Lewiston, Montgomery, Missouri and moved to Campbranch, Warren, Missouri. In Warren County is the famous Booneslick Trail, which crosses Warren County and was transversed weekly by twenty wagons. A stage-line coach was set up on that trail to go west. The grandfather of all trails to the far west, its importance in history cannot be exaggerated. Originally a trace or pathway used by Indians, trappers, and fur traders, it was known then as the Light Horse Trail. So, the family lived on an area where they constantly saw people supplying themselves for the western trip and had the roads crowded daily as emigrant travellers and stock passed through. Their daughter, Nancy and her family and their son, William and his family moved to Warren County, as well. Sometime around now, Rebecca Stone, Thomas’ wife died. Nancy and Levi had their last child, Lemuel in 1841. In 1843, Nancy said good-bye to her brother Aaron, who had remained until now in St. Louis County, but now was moving to Guadalupe County, TX with his wife and four children. He likely took a stage coach, that left St. Louis, to the west. Nancy’s sister, Lucretia, lived in the bordering east county, during this time, in Charles County. At the time, the area suffered a great flood. After the flood of 1844, the area and the county became increasingly a settlement of German-Americans. Beef cattle, hogs, and mules combined to make Madison County the largest livestock producer in the state by the 1840s. The county also remained Kentucky's leading wool and sheep producer well into the nineteenth century.
In 1850, Thomas Oden was farming in District 99, Warren, Missouri. In 1850, Thomas Oden was married to second wife, a 40 year old named Frances, who was born in KY. He was 90 years old. Following her father, Nancy and Levi Fine were living in Warren County, Missouri, as well. Nancy and Levi enjoyed a variety of cultural and social activities. Mills served as social gathering places as well as marketplaces.
Thomas’ son, Jacob Norris Oden ventured to Oregon in 1852. Sara and Jocob and their family crossed the plains to Oregon by covered wagon in 1852. Jacob’s daughter Rebecca and her husband Bryant Gray Thornhill accompanied them. While crossing the plains Bryant died of Cholera. .Jacob & Sarah arrived in Oregon on October 20, 1852 and on August 23, 1854 staked their Oregon Donation Land Claim #575.
Thomas Oden died at ninety-four, a very old man, in 1854 in District 99, Warren, Missouri. Not only did Nancy lose her father, but she lost her son, Lemuel around that time, as well. Lemuel never made it to age 14 years old.
That same year, Nancy Oden also lost hersister, Susan H., who died in IL. This must have been very hard for her because she was very far away and had not seen Susan for quiet some time.
By 1880, Nancy Oden was living with her son, Thomas Lears Fine, and his family in Wallowa, Union, OR. She had left the area where her husband, Levi was buried, in Hawkpoint, Lincoln, Missouri.
In 1885, Nancy’s twin, Jacob died in Jackson County, Oregon. She died sometime around this time, as well, in Oregon.