Bio: GEORGE B. OWEN, Lancaster County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Cheryl Grove clginvb@hone.com USGENWEB NOTICE:Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. _________________________________________________________________ Biographical Annuals of Lancaster County Pennsylvania containing Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of Prominent and Represeatative Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers Vol. I, II, III, and IV Published for Pennsylvania Preprint Society And Southwest Pennsylvania Genealogical Services Laughlintown, Pennsylvania The Preprint Company, Publishers Spartanburg, South Carolina Vol II Page 672 & 673 GEORGE B. OWEN. One of the oldest, most prominent and wealthy families of Lancaster county is that of Owen, Richard having taken possession of the plantation now held by George B. Owen as early as 1723. The ship "Vine," William Preeson, master, arrived in the Delaware September 17, 1684, from Dolserey near Dolgelly, in Merionethshire, Wales. Robert Owen and wife Jane and son Lewis, Dr. Griffith Owen (also a son of Robert Owen), his wife Sarah and son Robert, and daughters Sarah and Elenor, were on this ship. Robert Owen settled on Duck Creek, in Newcastle county, Del., where his son Edward had previously settled. Robert Owen had nine sons, all of age at the time. He was a son of Humphrey Owen, descended from Lewis Owen, Baron of the Exchequer of North Wales, who was murdered in 1555. A few months after his arrival Robert Owen was appointed one of the justices of the peace for Newcastle county. He died before the end of his term and his son Richard was appointed in his stead, and it was Richard, the son of Richard, who located in Lancaster county after his marriage, in 1720, with Elizabeth Knauer, and who was at that time living in Uwchland township, Chester Co., Pa. The family were Quakers on arrival in the county, but neither Richard Owen, on arrival in Lancaster county, nor his wife were members of that Society. He may have been a Seventh-day Baptist, as at least two of his brothers left in Uwchland township certainly were. What gives color to this is that Bissell, the founder of the Ephrata Community, first located near to the plantation of Richard Owen. Be this as it may, it is certainly true that the grandchildren (the children of his son Benjamin), Jonathan, Benjamin, and Ann, are the first of the family mentioned in the Lampeter Meeting Records. The children of Richard and Elizabeth Owen were Richard, Theopheolis, Benjamin, Mary (wife of John Maxwell), Ann (wife of Richard Chiney, Sarah (wife of Peter Potts) and Jonathan. Richard Owen died in 1760, and his sons, Richard and Theophilus also being dead, the plantation was taken at the appraisement by his son Benjamin. Benjamin Owen was very successful, and at his death, in 1784, left the plantation of his father to his son Jonathan, and the one adjoining to his son Benjamin, making provision also for his daughter Ann, then the wife John Williams. Jonathan Owen, son of Benjamin, and grandson of Richard, was born in Lancaster county, and was married May 17, 1787, to Mary Bonsall, of Darby (Then in Chester, now in Delaware county), Pa., and thereafter made his home in Delaware county, where all his children were born. He died there in 1821, and his wife, who survived until 1863, reached the advanced age of ninety-seven years. Benjamin Owen was born in Delaware county, six miles southwest of Philadelphia. In his early days he learned the trade of wheelwright, but in 1823 he removed to Upper Leacock township, Lancaster county, and there engaged in farming during the rest of his life. He was a man of fine mental equipment, and held many of the local offices. His death occurred in 1880, when he was aged eighty-seven, and his wife, Eliza Bender, died in 1877, at the age of sixty-two; they were buried in Heller's cemetery. Mr. Owen was of the Quaker belief, and Mrs. Owen was a member of the Reformed church. Two children only were born to them, George B and Mary B, the latter dying in December 1804. Mrs. Eliza (Bender) Owen was a daughter of George and Mary (Kinzer) Bender, of Earl township, where the father resided a short time, removing to Upper Leacock township, where he died in 1818, the mother survived until 1871, dying at the age of ninety-two years. Her second marriage was to William Wadely, by whom she had the following children: Amos; Maria, who married Jeremiah Smith; George, who married Catherine Maltz, of Cumberland county; and Harriet, who married David Miller. Her children by George Bender were: Kinzer who married (first) Mary Weidler, and (second) her sister, Susan Weidler; Margaret, who married Jacob Hull; William, who died unmarried, in Mississippi; and Eliza, the mother of George B. Owen. David Bender, the father of George Bender, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. George B. Owen was born near Monterey, in Upper Leacock township, October 31, 1835. He was educated in the public schools, and at New London Academy, in Chester county, under William F Wyers, spending three terms at the latter institution. During the life of his parents and sister he remained on the old homestead, and he valued greatly this fine old farm, which has been in the possession of the family some one hundred and fifty years, but does not now reside upon it. Having no family ties, and possessing ample means, Mr Owen spends much time in travel, and has taken a very prominent part in public affairs in his county, serving for three years on the Republican County Committee. For a period of eighteen months he served as assistant assessor of United States Internal Revenue, his term ending on account of the abolishment of the office. Mr Owen is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity, being a Knight Templar, and connected with Lodge No. 43 in Lancaster. He is considered one of the representative citizens of this part of the county.