Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/656

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616
OWEN
OWEN


1851, was again made chairman of the committee on revision, and was the author of a bill that se- cured to widows and married women independent rights of property. On the enactment of this measure, the women of Indiana presented him with a testimonial " in acknowledgment of his true and noble advocacy of their independent rights." In 1853 he was appointed charge d'affaires at Naples, and he was raised to the grade of minister in 1855. remaining as such until 1858, in the mean- while negotiating two valuable treaties with the Neapolitan government. After his return to the United States he devoted himself to various pub- lic interests, and in 1860 he discussed with Horace Greeley, in the columns of the New York " Trib- une," the subject of divorce. This discussion, re- printed in pamphlet-form, had a circulation of 60,000 copies. In 1862 he served on a commission relative to ordnance and ordnance stores, and audited claims that amounted to $49,500,000, and in 1863 he was chairman of a commission that was appointed by the secretary of war to examine the condition of the recently emancipated freedmen of the United States. The results of his observations were published as "The Wrong of Slavery, the Right of Emancipation, and the Future of the African Race in the United States " (Philadelphia, 1864). In 1863 he published an address to the citizens of Indiana, showing the disastrous conse- quence that would follow from the success of the effort of certain politicians to reconstruct the Union with New England left out. The Union league of New York published 50,000 copies of this letter, and the Union league of Philadelphia an additional 25,000. During the civil war he further wrote and published a letter to the president, one to the secretary of war, one to the secretary of the treasury, and another to the secretary of state, ad- vocating the policy of emancipation as a measure that was sanctioned alike by the laws of war and by the dictates of humanity. Sec. Chase wrote that his letter to Lincoln " had more effect in deciding the president to make his proclamation than all the other communications combined." Mr. Owen was a believer in spiritualism, and was one of its foremost advocates in the United States. In 1873 he received the degree of LL. D. from the Univer- sity of Indiana. He publislied " Outline of the SA^tera of Education at New Lanark " (Glasgow, 1824); "Moral Physiology" (New York, 1831); " Popular Tracts" (i830) ; " Discussion with Origen Bacheler on the Personality of God and the Authority of the Bible" (1832): "Pocahontas: A Drama " (1837) ; " Hints on Public Architecture " (1849) ; " A Treatise on the Construction of Plank- Roads " (1850) : " Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World" (Philadelphia, 1859); "Beyond the Breakers " (1870) ; " Debatable Land Between this World and the Nest " (New York, 1872) ; and " Threading My Way," an autobiography (1874). — Another son, David Dale, geologist, b. in Lanark- shire, Scotland, 24 June, 1807: d. in New Har- mony, Ind.. 13 Nov., 1860, followed his elder brother to Hofwyl, and then studied science under Dr. Andrew Ure at the Andersonian institution in Glasgow. In 1828 he went with his father to New Harmony, Ind., but he subsequently went back to Europe, and spent two years in acquiring a knowledge of geology and natural history. He returned to NewHarmony in 1833, and was gradu- ated in 1835 at Ohio medical college. In 1837 the legislature of Indiana employed him to conduct a geological reconnoissance of that state, the results of which are given in his " Report of a Geological Reconnoissance in 1837 " (Indianapolis, 1838). He was appointed geologist in 1839 by the U. S. gov- ernment, under instructions from the general land office to make a minute examination of the mineral lands of Iowa, which was one of the very first geo- logical investigations that were conducted under the authority of the National government. His results appeared as a " Report of a Geological Ex- ploration of a Part of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois, made under Instructions from the Secretary of the Treasury in 1839," with charts and illustrations (Washington, 1844). In 1849 the National govern- ment employed him to conduct the survey of Minnesota territory, and appropriated $40,000 for that purpose. He continued engaged in this work for three years, and made a " Report of a Geologi- cal Exploration of a Part of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and. Incidentally, a Portion of Nebraska Territory " (Philadelphia, 1852), containing numer- ous plates, notably several on the gigantic mammal remains in Nebraska. From 1854 till 1857 he was state geologist of Kentucky, and prepared four " Reports of the Geological Survey in Kentucky," with an atlas (Frankfort, 1856-61). He then be- came state geologist of Arkansas, and the results of his work in that state are given in his " Report of a Geological Reconnoissance of the Northern Counties of Arkansas " (Little Rock, 1858) and his " Report of the Middle and Southern Counties" (Philadelphia, 1860). He completed this work in 1859, and then received the appointment of state geologist of Indiana, which office he held until his death, when its completion was intrusted to his brother Richard {q. v.), who published " Report of a Geological Reconnoissance of Indiana" (Indianapolis, 1862). Dr. Owen's extensive scientific knowledge proved of assistance to him in the accomplishment of his geological work, for as a chemist he made analyses of minerals and of waters that are included in his reports; as a naturalist he described fossils new to science that were discovered in the Bad Lands of Nebraska; and as an artist he made sketches of scenery, diagrams, sections of rock strata, and maps, which were engraved to ac- company his works. His museum and laboratory were regarded as among the best in the United States, and his collection of specimens was sold for $20,000 to Indiana state university. — Another son. Richard, geologist, b. in Lanarkshire, 6 Jan., 1810; d. in New Harmony, 24 March, 1890. He attended the Lanark grammar-school, after which he studied at Hofwyl, and then in the Andersonian institute of Glasgow. In 1828 he came to New Harmony, Ind., and began to teach, but soon removed to Cincin- nati, engaging in business. Subsequently he re- turned to iSTew Harmony, where he owned a steam fiour-mill, and also managed a stock-farm. In 1847 he went to the Mexican war as captain in the 16th U. S. infantry, and served principally under Gen. Zachary Taylor in charge of provision-trains. At the close of the war he aided his brother, David Dale Owen, in making preparations for the geologi- cal survey of Minnesota, and in 1849, under whose direction he explored the north shore of Lake Su- perior. In 1849 he also became professor of natural sciences in the Western military institute of Ken- tucky, and he continued to hold that chair, after the institute became the University of Nashville, until 1858, in which year he was given the degree of M. D. by Nashville medical college. He then became assistant state geologist of Indiana, and made a survey of the state. At the beginning of the civil war he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 15th Indiana volunteers, and he became, in the autumn of 1861, colonel of the 60!:h Indiana. Dr. Owen was taken prisoner at Murafordsville,