here little is known except that after about three years he was compelled to leave, and became rec- tor of a church in St. Andrews parish, Bruns- wick CO., where he died. Mr. Owen is described as the last of the great poets of Wales, and, with the exception of Ab Gwilym, the greatest that princi- pality has produced. His bardic title was " Go- ronwy Ddhu o Fon," that is, Black Goronwy of Anglesea. His poems for a long time had circu- lated through Wales in manuscript, but it was not until 1763, five years after Goronwy 's departure for America, that his collected works were pub- lished in "Y Diddanwch Teuluaidd," and suc- ceeding editions were printed in 1817 and 1860. In addition to the Welsh, Mr. Owen had a knowl- edge of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Gaelic, Chal- dee, and English. His countrymen in 1831 erected a tablet to his memory in the cathedral church of Bangor. See " The Poetical Works of the Rev. Goronwy Owen, with his Life and Correspondence," edited bV Rev. Robert Jones (London, 1876).
OWEN, Griffith, colonist, b. in Wales; d. in
Philadelphia, Pa., in 1717. He was liberally edu-
cated, and became a physician. When William
Penn received his charter for the province of
Pennsylvania, Owen, then a Quaker, took an active
part in promoting the emigration of his Welsh co-
religionists, and, being desirous of retaining their
language, laws, and customs in the New World, he,
with others, induced Penn to set apart 40,000 acres
as a Welsh tract, in which the Welsh alone should
have the right of purchase, and within the limits
of which the language of ancient Britain should
prevail. On secui'ing this, Owen emigrated with
his family, arriving in Pennsylvania in September,
1684, and settled on this ti"act, which was called
Merion. He acquired an extensive practice, both
here and in Philadelphia, to which place he subse-
quently removed, and performed the first surgical
operation, it is thought, in Pennsylvania. He be-
eame coroner in 1685, and the next year was chosen
to the assembly, in which body he served many
years. In 1690 he was made a provincial council-
lor for a term of three years, and in 1700 was again
chosen to this body, of which he remained a mem-
ber until his death. Among the other offices that
he held were those of an alderman under the char-
ter of 1691, a justice of the peace, a judge of the
court of common pleas, and one of Penn's commis-
sioners of property. In the church affairs of the
Society of Friends he bore a useful part, not only
as a layman, but as a minister, and in the perform-
ance of religious work travelled frequently into
the other colonies and to England and Wales. In
1689, with others, he drew up a paper "to incite
the quarterly meetings to keep up a godly disci-
pline, and a tender inspection over the youth." He
attended the historical meeting of Quaker ministers
at Burlington, N. J., in 1692, where George Keith
declared : " There is not more damnable heresies
and doctrines of devils amongst any Protestant
professions than among the Quakers," and was at
the head of the committee of three that was ap-
pointed " to admonish Keith." Owen was one of
those who prepared the testimony of the " Public
Friends " against Keith, and he was the first to
sign the noted Quaker document " Our Antient
Testimony renewed, concerning our Lord and Sa-
viour, Jesus Christ, the Holy Scriptures, and the
Resurrection," of which paper it is said he was
the author. He was frequently employed to write
epistles from the meeting in Philadelphia to the
meeting in other places. Dr. Owen was one of the
"dear friends" to whom William Penn, in 1712,
addressed a letter from England in which he said :
" Now know that though I have not actually sold
my government [Pennsylvania] to our truly good
queen, yet her able lord treasurer and I have agreed
it." The sale was not consummated, however,
owing to Penn's illness.
OWEN, James, congressman, b. in Bladen
county, N. C, in December, 1784; d. in Wilming-
ton, N. C, 4 Sept., 1865. He was educated in pri-
vate schools in Pittsburg, N. C, engaged in plant-
ing, was in the legislature in 1808-'ll, and in 1816
was elected to congress as a Democrat, serving one
term. He was subsequently for many years presi-
dent of the Wilmington and Raleigh railroad, and
a major-general of militia. — His brother, John,
governor of North Carolina, b. in Bladen county,
N. C, in August, 1787; d. in Pittsburg, N. C, 12
Oct., 1841, was educated at the University of North
Carolina, engaged in planting, was in the legisla-
ture in 1812-'28, and was elected governor in the
latter year. He exercised a wide influence in state
politics, did much for education, and prison and
other reforms, and was president of the convention
that nominated William H. Harrison for president,
declining the nomination for vice-president.
OWEN, John, publisher, b. in Portland, Me.,
28 March, 1805 ; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 22 April.
1882. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1827, and
at Harvard divinity-school in 1829, but never ac-
cepted a charge. He settled in Cambridge, Mass..
as a bookseller in 1833, and published the early
works of his friend and college mate, Henry W.
Longfellow, and those of James Russell Lowell.
Mr. Owen failed in business in 1848, and was sub-
sequently interested in real estate. He aided Mr.
Longfellow in the preparation of his " Poems of
Places" (Boston, 1876-'9), especially in verifying
authorship. He was also the friend and literary
adviser of Charles Sumner, and induced him to pub-
lish his writings in a uniform edition.
OWEN, John Jason, clergyman, b. in Cole-
brook, CouTi., 13 Aug., 1803; d. in New York city,
18 April, 1869. He was graduated at Middlebury
in 1828, and at Andover theological seminary in
1831, and was ordained to the ministry of the
Presijyterian church in 1832. He then became
secretary of the educational society of his church,
and was principal of Cornelius institute. New
York, in 1836-48. He was made professor of Greek
and Latin language and literature in the New
York free academy in 1849, becoming its vice-
principal in 1853, and continuing as such until
1866. The name of the institution was then
changed to the New York free college, and he was
its vice-president until his death. He received the
degree of D. D. and of LL. D. Dr. Owen was an
eminent classical scholar, and his translations were
highly commended and met with a large sale both
here and abroad. They include Xenophon's " Ana-
basis " (New York, 1843) ; Homer's " Odyssey "
(1844) ; Xenophon's " Cyropfedia " (1846) ; and the
works of Thucydides (1847). He also published
the " Acts of the Apostles, in Greek, with a Lexi-
con" (1850); a "Greek Reader" (1852); and a
" Commentary, Critical, Expository, and Practical,
on the Gospels " (3 vols., 1857, 1859, and 1873).
OWEN, Joseph, missionary, b. in Bedford, N. Y., 14 June, 1814; d. in Edinburgh, Scotland, 4 Dec, 1870. He was graduated at Princeton in 1835, and at the theological seminary there in 1838,
ordained an evangelist in the Presbyterian church the next year, and in 1840-68 was a missionary at Allahabed. India. His ministry in that field was signally successful ; he became president of Allahabed college, and professor in the theological seminarv there, translated several books of the
