Bio of OWENS, John J. (b.1857), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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Vol III, pg 85-86
JOHN J. OWENS
John J. Owens, who for more than forty years has been identified with the
manu­facturing interests of Minneapolis, was born in Cambria, Wisconsin,
February 7, 1857. He is the eldest of eleven children, six sons and five
daughters, born to John Lloyd and Winnie (Roberts) Owens, both natives of Wales,
who came to the United States in 1846 and settled in Wisconsin. John Lloyd Owens
was a man of strong personality and determination and an inventor of
considerable ability. He established a factory in Wisconsin and conducted it
until 1878, when he came to Minneapolis as inventor for the Minneapolis
Harvester Company and soon was given, in addition, the superin-tendency of all
the woodwork, having hundreds of men under his supervision. In 1885 he gave up
this position and organized the firm of J. L. Owens & Company, for the
manufacture of grain cleaning machinery, bean and pea threshers, all of which
was of his own invention. He was a man of strong religious convictions, was
active in church work in Wisconsin, and after coming to Minneapolis was a leader
in organizing the Welsh Presbyterian church, in which he served as an elder and
chairman of the board of trustees until his death in 1904.
The firm of J. L. Owens & Company began business in a modest way and the factory
was conducted along conservative lines, but the concern has grown to be one of
the largest of its kind in the country. Its products are shipped to all parts of
the United States and to foreign countries. On May 1, 1894, the business was
incorporated as the J. L. Owens Company, with John L. Owens as president, R. J.
Owens as vice president, and John J. Owens as secretary and treasurer.
 John J. Owens was educated in the public schools of Wisconsin, subsequently
attend­ing night school. At the age of fourteen years he started to learn the
trade of black­smith and followed that occupation until 1878. When he came to
Minneapolis in 1879 he was made assistant to his father with the Minneapolis
Harvester Company. When the firm of J. L. Owens & Company was established in
1885, he left the Harvester company to become a junior partner in the new firm
He was made secretary and treasurer when the business was incorporated in 1894
and held that position until after the death of his father, on the 12th of
September, 1904. Upon the reorganization of the company he was made president.
In 1908 R. J. Owens withdrew and the new officers were as follows: John J.
Owens, president; Owen L. Owens, vice president; Richard L. Owens, secretary and
treasurer, all sons of the founder.
John J. Owens has been twice married. In 1890 he wedded Miss Nellie Horan of
Minneapolis, who died in 1912. On the 14th of September, 1921, he was united in
mar­riage, in Minneapolis, to Mrs. Clara Kennedy. Mr. Owens is an active member
of the Bethany Presbyterian church and is one of its board of trustees.
Richard L. Owens, the secretary and treasurer of the company, and Owen L. Owens,
the vice president, were both born in Cambria, Wisconsin, and both became
connected with the business after its incorporation. The former was born in
1871. He married Miss Josephine Bolstad and Owen L. married Miss Mary Quass.