Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Owens, John C, M D 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 9:41 am

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

JOHN C. OWENS, M. D. That Dr. Owens is a man of versatile ability, his 
successful connection with various enterprises amply proves. It is, however, 
to his profession that he has been most devoted and in which he has been most 
deeply interested. Since 1881, the year of his graduation, he has largely 
given his time and attention to the highest temporal mission among men, a 
combat with disease and death. His efficiency, skill and signal success in his 
profession are well known, and his practice is not limited to Plainfield, his 
home town, but extends throughout the surrounding country. He is also the 
owner of a drug store and a harness shop in Plainfield and a farm of two 
hundred acres in Na-au-say Township, Kendall County, all of which he 
personally superintends. The Owens family was established in New York in 1832. 
The doctor's grandfather, Hugh Owens, was a farmer and local minister, and for 
some years resided near Utica, but his last days were spent in Rernsen. Henry 
Owens, father of the doctor, was born in Wales and accompanied the family to 
America when only five years of age. Six years later he left home, on account 
of his treatment by his stepmother. Afterward he worked on a farm. When he 
married he moved to a farm in the town of Ava, which he had purchased before 
his marriage. Much of his time was spent in splitting timber in the woods; 
this timber he used in the manufacture of oars, large sales of which he made 
to the government during the Civil war. At times he had six men in his employ. 
In 1867 he went to Vernon, Oneida County, where he carried on a large hay and 
dairy farm. For five years he carried on a large dairy farm near Vernon, after 
which he sold the place and moved to Vernon, at the same time buying a farm of 
one hundred and eighty-three acres in the outskirts of the town. For four 
years he operated that place. When advanced in years he retired from active 
labors and the remainder of his days was spent in the enjoyment of the 
comforts his industry rendered possible. He died in 1891, when seventy years 
of age. He was a stanch Republican, but not a politician, and never held 
office. In religious views he was a Presbyterian. The mother of the doctor 
bore the maiden name of Nancy Kees and was a daughter of Alanson and Fanny 
Kees. She was born in Western Township, Oneida County, N. Y., and died in the 
same county when fifty years of age. From childhood she was connected with the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. She was a devoted wife and mother and her memory 
is dear to the hearts of her children. Her older son, James A., is now engaged 
in the drug business in Rome, N. Y.; the daughter, Fannie J., is the wife of 
Norman Mowers, also of Rome; the youngest of the family is John C., of this 
sketch. He was born in Western Township, Oneida County, January 3, 1857. His 
education was begun in district schools, and was supplemented by careful 
reading and by habits of observation. When he was eighteen he left the farmand 
began to work in a drug store, in that way gaining his rudimentary knowledge 
of medicines. While there he formed a resolution to become a physician, but 
realizing his need of a better literary education, he entered 
CazenoviaSeminary, where he studied for a year. He then began to study 
medicine with Dr. H. C. Palmer, of Rome, N. Y., with whom he continued for six 
months. Next he matriculated in the medical department of the Syracuse 
University, where in two and one-half years he completed the regular three 
years' course, graduating June 9, 1881. After a vacation of three months he 
entered the Rochester city hospital, where he continued until May, 1882, 
meantime taking a special course in the study of diseases of the eye. May 30, 
1882, found him starting for the west, where he had decided to locate. He 
arrived in Joliet in August, and continued there until January 30, 1883, when 
he came to Plainfield. Here he has since engaged in continuous practice. Since 
coming here he has takeu a warm interest in local affairs and, as a 
Republican, has had considerable to do with the mapping out of the party 
campaigns here. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of 
America. December 5, 1883, he married Miss Mary H. Hitchcock, of Morris, Ill., 
and by this union three children were born, one that died in infancy, and 
Kenneth H. and Jay C., both at home.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/owens1094gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/

File size: 5.2 Kb