OWEN, THOMAS J. V.
, was born July 23, 1824, in Kaskaskia, Illinois. His grandfather, Major Ezra Owen, was born March 17, 1770, in Halifax county, Virginia, went to Kentucky when a young man, and fought the Indians with Daniel Boon??. In 1809, the year the Territorial government was organized, he moved with his family from Kentucky to Kaskaskia, Illinois. His eldest son, Thomas J. V. Owen, born in Kentucky, was married in Kaskaskia, July 15, 1823, to Emeline Hotchkiss. Their eldest son is the one whose name heads this sketch. His brother William, enlisted in Springfield, in 1862, in Co. M, 2d Ill. Art., was wounded at Rogerville, Tenn., captured and taken to Libby prison, where he starved to death. His brother, George S., was assassinated in Randolph county in 1864, during the rebellion. His brother, Elias K., entered the U. S. Navy in 1848, was taken from Springfield by Abraham Lincoln, at that time member of congress from this district. He is yet in the navy. He married, in Kaskaskia, to Sarah ??Jane Riley, and resides in Baltimore, Maryla??d.--1875. Thomas J. V. Owen, Sen., was a member of the legislature in 1831, and during that year was appointed Indian agent in Chicago, where he died Oct. 15, 1835. Thomas J. V. Owen, the subject of our sketch, was educated at St. Mary's college, Perryville, Mo., and came to Springfield, June 4, 1840, where he commenced the study of medicine. He went with Gen. Ford's army to Nauvoo, at the time the Mormon prophet, Smith, was killed, in 1844. In 1846 he went to Bloomington, Illinois, and aided in organizing Co. B, 4th Illinois Infantry, was enrolled hospital Steward, and afterwards appointed assistant Surgeon to the regiment. He served the full term of the regiment in Mexico, returned to Springfield, and engaged in the drug business. He was married Aug 15, 1848, in Jacksonville, Illinois, to Mary Eliza Hurst, eldest daughter of William S. Hurst, of that city. They had two children--MARY EVELINE, born Sept. 23, 1849, and died May 12, 1855.
WILLIAM H., born Feb. 6, 1852, in Springfield, was married Dec. 17, 1874, in Taylorville, Ill., to Jeanette Denton, who was born there, Nov. 10, 1852. They have one child, WILLIAM H., and reside in Taylorville, Illinois.
Thomas J. V. Owen died March 19, 1876, at Decatur, Ill. His remains were brought to Springfield, and buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Soon after his death his widow moved to Springfield, Illinois, where she now resides. Mrs. Emeline Owen, the mother of T. J. V. Owen, Jun., lives with his widow, in Springfield.