San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MRS. ELLA THEW OWENS
For the past twenty years Mrs. Ella
Thew Owens has been an esteemed resident of San Joaquin County, and has borne
her full share of the duties and responsibilities that have been the lot of successful
Californians from the early days to the present. She was born in Marion County, Ohio, and is
the daughter of Joseph and Mary S. (Shepherd) Thew, natives of Lincolnshire and
Somersetshire, England, respectively.
The father was a shoemaker by trade, and when our subject was six years
old her parents moved to Logan County, Indiana, and there her father conducted
a shoe store for a number of years, then engaged in farming. In the spring of 1876 the family moved to
Oxford, Kansas, and here the father passed away at the age of sixty-three
years, the mother surviving him until she was eighty-one, when she passed away
while on a visit to California. They
were the parents of eight children: Mary
Ellen and Charles, deceased; Olive Ann resides in Wellington, Kansas; John
Wesley, deceased; Francis Henry of Sawtelle,
California; Mrs. Ella Owens; Elizabeth lives at Decatur, Michigan, and William
Arthur at Conway Springs, Kansas.
At Belle Plaine,
Kansas, on March 10, 1884, Miss Ella Thew was married to David Fletcher Owens,
a native of Currensville, Pennsylvania, born on April
4, 1860, a son of Moses Spencer Owens.
His mother passed away when he was born, while the father was engaged in
mining in Pennsylvania. Mr. Owens was
the Methodist minister at Belle Plaine, Kansas, and
also ministered to two other charges in the neighborhood. He took an active part in Sunday school
affairs and religious and educational matters in general, and was a force for
good and uplift in every community where he worked. On account of failing health and the loss of
his voice he was obliged to give up the ministry. He went into the real estate business, but
later opened a store at Kingman, Kansas, and here Mrs. Owens proved herself to
be a woman of great business acumen. In
1893 they removed to the Cherokee strip of Oklahoma, and there homesteaded a
quarter-section of land near Lahoma, where they lived
for eight years. In 1902 they sold the
place and moved to Lodi, California, where they purchased the sixteen-acre
ranch on which our subject now resides.
This place is located on Louie Avenue, just outside the city limits of
Lodi. At the time of purchase the land
was in an orchard, but this was soon pulled out and a vineyard of Tokay grapes
planted.
Mr. and Mrs. Owens were the parents
of two children: Mabel Thew, Mrs. Froehnert, with whom her mother makes her home; William
Thew, who married Miss Bessie May Fish; they have to children, Alice and
Donald, and he is in the fruit business at Lodi. In November, 1918, Mr. Froehnert,
Mrs. Owens’ son-in-law, built a modern residence on her place and there Mr. and
Mrs. Owens made their home. For five
years Mr. Owens was superintendent of the Congregational Sunday school at Lodi,
and by his diligence and geniality built up the school and during the five
years never missed being in his place as superintendent. He passed away on February 10, 1919, mourned
by his family and a large circle of friends and acquaintances. He was a Mason, and a Republican in politics,
as is also Mrs. Owens, who carries on the good work and influence of her late
husband. Mrs. Owens is a member of the
Congregational Church at Lodi.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1553. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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