OKGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of OKGenWeb State Coordinator. Presentation here does not extend any permissions to the public. This material can not be included in any compilation, publication, collection, or other reproduction for profit without permission. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. ===================================================================== WALTER L. OWEN Vol. 3, p. 970-971 After about seven years of successful practice in his native State of Kansas, Walter L. Owen identified himself with the bar at Cherokee soon after Oklahoma became a state, and is now one of the leading lawyers both in ability and success of practice in Alfalfa County. While he has confined himself quite rigidly within the limits of his profession, he has always been known as a public-spirited factor in local affairs, and is one of the men upon whom the community counts for assistance in forwarding any movement for local betterment. His birthplace was one of the typical Kansas palaces of the early '80's, a sod house in Barber County, in which humble dwelling he first saw the light of day November 19, 1882. His parents are Joseph H. and Nannie (THOMPSON) Owen, who represent this sturdy pioneer element from which the State of Kansas derived its great power to accomplish things in the modern age of agriculture and progressive citizenship. Joseph H. Owen was born April 2, 1845, on a farm in Kentucky. When he was five years old his parents removed to another farm in Mercer County, Missouri, and while growing up there he attended a school conducted in a log house. At the beginning of the Civil War, through still under age, he enlisted in a company with a Missouri regiment as a private, and saw active service throughout the war. He was in many important battles, but was never seriously wounded and was never taken prisoner. After the war he continued farming in Mercer County Missouri, until 1880, and then joined in the exodus to the new homes of barber county, Kansas, where he endured the many vicissitudes of Kansas life in those years, persisted through countless discouragements, and is now enjoying prosperity and the comforts of a retired life at Medicine Lodge, Kansas. For many years he has been an active republican and is a member of the Masonic Order. He and his wife were married December 10, 1865, in Mercer County, Missouri, and at this writing they are both in good health and anticipate the celebration of that impressive ceremony known as a golden wedding toward the close of 1915. Mrs. Owens was born in Mercer County, Missouri, June 16, 1846. They were the parents of six children, four sons and two daughters, and only one of them is now deceased, Minnie, who was born in 1866, having died in 1902; May, the next born, in 1868, was married in 1886 to William E. MARQUARD, and they live in Barber County, Kansas. Charles W. born in 1870, is a locomotive engineer with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, living at Wellington, Kansas and was married in 1890 to Hattie VANDIVER. J. Thomas born in 1872, is now living at Medicine Lodge, Kansas and was married in 1892 to Rachael LADEW. William H. born in 1875, is a locomotive engineer with the Santa Fe Railway, his headquarters being at Chanute, Kansas, and was married in 1895 to Etta BEAVER. Walter L. Owen, the youngest of the six children, is the only one to choose a professional career. He received his early education in the public schools at Medicine Lodge, graduating from the high school with the class of 1901, and then for one year studied in a law office, after which he entered the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and was graduated from the law department of that institution with the class of 1904. In the same year he opened a law office at Kiowa, Kansas, and practiced there until January 6, 1908. At that date he established his office and home at Cherokee, Oklahoma, and his practice has been growing steadily in all the courts. Mr. Owen is an active republican, is affiliated with the Masonic Order and is a member of the Baptist Church. On December 6, 1911, at Cherokee, he married Miss Pearl ALLEN, daughter of L. D. Allen, a merchant of St. Joseph, Missouri. Mrs. Owen was born June 20, 1885, in the State of Iowa. Typed for OKGenWeb by Marti Graham, August 1999.