Burt C. Owens

Burt C. and Nellie Gunn Owens who lived in Henry County most of their lives, were both descendants of the earliest pioneers of this area.

Burt C. was born in 1880 and was the son of George T. and Jennie Stout Owens. He had five brothers, William, Frank, Samuel, Clinton, and Allan, most all born in Flatrock Township between Florida and Jewell. The homestead is still standing.

His father George at the age of 13 drove the mules pulling the old canal boats and somehow came in possession of an unusual old violin belonging to a canal boat gambler at that time. Three of the Owens family belonged to the Florida Brass Band of 1890 and went to Washington D.C. for a special occasion.

His mother Jennie was the daughter of Christian Stout who helped build the first house in Napoleon and also Florida, and Mary Bowen the daughter of William and Margaret Bowen.

According to the Fulton-Henry County History of 1888, William Bowen, a devout Methodist and proprietor of the village of Florida, which he had platted in 1834 by laying out 24 lots, donated lands for church and school purposes. An 1829 Bible with the original Bowen and Owens' names is still intact listing entries from 1778.

Nellie Gunn was the daughter of Charles H. and Clarissa (Clara) Karsner and a descendent of Elijah Gunn, the only Revolutionary War soldier buried in Henry County. She was born in the Gunn homestead between Napoleon and Flordia in 1883. They were married in 1905 at her family home, (See Elijah Gunn writeup for her family), by Reverend Ernsberger.

Six children were born: Mable, Dale, Lauren, Violet, Marion, and Jeanette. Dale and Marion died in infancy.

Lauren, who was chief engineer of the Napoleon Light and Water Company for 38 years retired in 1969 and died the same year. His children were Richard, or Dick Owens, a fireman and contractor in Toledo, married, and has a son. Rachel is a registered nurse and married to Micheal Sammans in Dayton. They have two daughters.

Mable C. is married to Paul Mohler who also worked at the power plant. She is a registered nurse, both are retired and live in Napoleon.

Burt C. and Nellie Gunn Owens, 1905 - wedding picture

They have one son Wendell (Gene), an electrical maintenance supervisor at Campbell Soup Company. He and his wife, Betty, and children, Betty, Gene, Chris, and Holly, reside in Napoleon.

Violet Greaves lives in Valparaiso, Indiana, and works at the Porter County Hospital. She has four children and grandchildren at Valparaiso.

Donald is a deputy sheriff; Donna MacArthur is a specialized teacher, and John and Terry are at Bethlemen Steel.

Jeanette lives at Frederick, Maryland, and is married to Dr. Russell Madison who works in cancer research at Bethesda, Maryland, after retiring from the Air Force. Jeanette taught and worked with the deaf at Maryland School for the Deaf at Frederick.

They had four sons: Lee, a graduate of Annapolis and serving in the Navy as a career, lives in San Diego, California, with his wife, Joi, and two daughters; Dale is a professor of biology and doing research work and lives in Quebec, Canada, with his wife, Maggi, and two sons; Ted works in environmental studies and lives in Washington D.C.; Kis was deceased in 1974 at age 26 years.

Mr. and Mrs. Owens lived at 524 Riverview Avenue for many years. Both were lovers of flowers and nature, and had a beautiful hillside garden. They were active Methodists; both wrote poetry and belonged to patriotic organizations and were charter members of the Senior Citizens.

Mrs. Owens was proud of a letter from President and Mrs. Eisenhower for a poem she had written about a Civil War veteran. Even in her later years she could recite the "Gettysburg Address" which she did proudly, at a Florida Decoration Memorial service after a schoolboy failed. They observed their golden wedding in 1955. Mrs. Owens died in 1964 and Mr. Owens in 1968.

Today their once lovely garden and home is green hillside with one lone pine tree belonging to the city.

Their daughter, Mrs. Mohler, recalls being rescued from the Florida home by boat during the 1913 flood. She was rescued from an upstairs window.

Going to Girty's Island in its heyday on the ferry "Goldie" with her Grandma Gunn was also very exciting.

She remembers going to the Henry County Fair in a fringed top surrey as the Napoleon Water Tower overflowed. We thought it was raining, and the day ruined. She also recalls the fried chicken picnic - always a tradition at the fair.

My father recalled when a wolf attacked a neighbor, as she was gathering wood.

He also claimed that Frances Slocum, stolen as a white child from her family by the Delaware Indians and marrying the Indian chief, was one of his kin.

My mother recalled when the Gunn children and their friends ice-skated to Napoleon on the old Miami and Erie Canal, the neighborhood dances in the third floor attic at her home, ringing out the old year with the old dinner bell, and she and her Aunt Ida playing in the old Gunn cemetery with their dolls on Sundays under a black sweet cherry tree. People coming from Florida in a canal boat to place flowers on the soldiers graves - Revolutionary, Civil and 1812, in the old Gunn cemetery were among her memories.

Submitted by Mrs. Paul Mohler