Clark Lewis Owen

Notes:

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OWEN, CLARK L. (1808-1862). Clark L. Owen, soldier and politician, son of Abraham Owen, was born in Shelby Co., Kentucky, in 1808. He left a mercantile business at New Castle, Kentucky, to fight in the Texas Revolution. He left Kentucky in March 1836 and arrived in Texas before July 18, when he enlisted as a private in Capt. Joseph H. D. Rogers's company of Kentucky Volunteers. Owen served as captain of Company A, First Regiment, from October 31 until December 31, 1836. In May 1837 he joined the Army of the Republic of Texas and was commissioned a captain. He served as first lieutenant in Capt. Thomas J. Rabb's company on John H. Moore's campaign against the Comanches in the fall of 1840 and participated in the battle of Plum Creek.

Owen declined the position of secretary of the treasury in President Sam Houston's cabinet but was appointed colonel and placed in command of a troop that patrolled around Corpus Christi, an area harried by repeated border raids. Houston gave Owen the discretionary power to proclaim martial law at Corpus Christi, but he restored order without resorting to that measure. Owen served as a captain of a company on the Somervell expedition, and in 1842 he was a member of the Mier expedition but apparently was not among those taken prisoner.

After military service he settled in Texana, Jackson Co., where he farmed, raised stock, and married Laura Martha McNutt Wells, the daughter of Dr. Francis F. Wells. Owen represented Jackson, Matagorda, and Victoria counties in the Senate of the Sixth Congress (1841-42) and served until his resignation during the called session of the Seventh Congress. He opposed secession, but once Texas left the Union he offered his services to the Confederacy and raised a company for the Second Texas Infantry, which became part of the Army of Tennessee. On April 6, 1862, Captain Owen fell leading Company I against federal positions at Shiloh.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Muster Rolls of the Texas Revolution (Austin, 1986). Ira T. Taylor, The Cavalcade of Jackson Co. (San Antonio: Naylor, 1938). Texas House of Representatives, Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses, 1832-1845 (Austin: Book Exchange, 1941).

Stephen L. Hardin
Typewritten note typed by Myrtle Flora Rowlett Lovejoy (she writes son of C.L. Owen but it is in fact Abraham Owen and may just be a typo or a grabbing of the wrong name by mistake):
Capt. Clark L. Owen -
A Soldier and Statesman
Clark L. Owen was born in Shelby Co., Ky. in 1812. He was the son of C.L. Owen, who fell in the Battle of Tippecanoe. He gave up a lucrative business to volunteer to assist Texas in 1836.
The following is a copy of his discharge from the Texas Army.

To all whom it may concern;
Know ye that Clark L. Owen, a private in First company, 1 Regt., Kentucky Volunteers, who enrolled on the 18th July 1836 to serve 6 month in the Army of Texas, is Honorably discharged from his 6 mos. service by Volunteering for during the War. I do herby certify that the said was Duly Elected First Lieut. of my Company on the 10th day of Nov. 1836 and in that Company Discharged the duties of Commandant of the Company up to the present time.

Note1- Pge. 421
Capt. Clark L. Owen - declined a position in Houston's Cabinet, but was appointed to Command of the troop in the Southwest, Houston authorized Col. Owen, at his discretion to proclaim martial law at Corpus Christi for the purpose of suppression of thieving and robbing. He succeeded in restoring order without resorting to that extreme measure. He also served in the Texas Sixth Congress in 1842. He opposed secession but Volunteered in the Confederate Service and was Capt. of Company K., Second Texas Infantry and was killed on the first day of Battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862. He was a brave, modest, unassuming, christian,

Clark married Laura Martha McNutt Wells on 11 Jan 1844 in Jackson County, TX. Laura (daughter of Francis Flournoy Wells and Martha McNutt) was born on 13 Jul 1827. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Owen was born in 1852.
2. Laura Minta Owen was born in 1850 in Texana, Jackson County, TX; died in Mar 1885 in Edna, Jackson County, TX.