Sacramento County
Biographies
ASA OWEN
ASA OWEN.--Well-known among that class of men whose enterprise and
public spirit have had to do with California's development is Asa Owen, a
prosperous orchardist of the Orangevale
section of Sacramento County. He was born in Orion, Mich., February 28, 1855, the ninth in a family of ten children born to Charles C. and Elizabeth
(Clark) Owen, natives of New York and Connecticut, respectively. Charles C. Owen accompanied his parents in
1831 to Michigan, traveling with ox teams to Buffalo, and via the Erie
Canal to Lake Erie,
being seven days on the water before reaching Detroit, then a prosperous trading post and village of two blocks
extent. In June of the same year the family located on a homestead, which they
called Royal Oak, and there they engaged in general farming pursuits. The
deed to the land of 320 acres was signed by Martin Van Buren and was sold by
the government for one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. The Clark family
also came to Michigan about the same time and located on land near Orion, where
they prospered. Charles C. Owen passed away in 1864 and the mother sold the Michigan farm and removed to Southern Minnesota; she lived to reach the age of ninety-six years, passing
away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Purdy, in Nebraska. Asa Owen received a good
education in the schools of Michigan and Minnesota and at an early age began to farm.
In 1878, Mr. Owen was united in marriage
with Miss Ida E. Powers, born at Steven's Point, Wis., a daughter of the late O. H. and Loana
(Johnstone) Powers, natives of New York and England, respectively. Eleven children have blessed the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Owen: Netta May is the widow of Fred
Morrill of Janesville, Minn., and she has seven sons and seven daughters; Lloyd
is a rancher at Alma City, Minn., and has seven children; Hammond is married
and has three children; Edith is the wife of Joseph Burke and they have one
daughter; Edna is the wife of George Elledge and they
have one son; Lee and Ray are deceased; Lillian is the wife of Ed. Brazil and
they reside in Oakland, Cal.; Inez is the wife of Ray Singleton and they have
two daughters; Lela, deceased, was the wife of Ted Blankenship; and Guy K. was
accidentally drowned in the American River, July, 1922, at the age of
twenty-one. Mr. Owen is a Republican in politics and for more than twenty years
has been a member of the I.O.O.F., Marvin Lodge, No. 128, Janesville, Minnesota. For eleven years he acted as school trustee in Minnesota before his removal to California in 1902. Arriving in California he located at Orangevale, where he purchased twenty acres newly set to orchard;
then he later added twenty acres more which he has set to oranges, peaches,
grapefruit, etc. For ten years, Mr. Owen operated a ranch of 160 acres about
three miles from his present home, where he raised hay and stock; this place
was sold about eight years ago.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento
County, California With Biographical Sketches, Page 311.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.