"In the late 1890's, William Thomas Owen and family migrated to Arkansas.  William Thomas did not own land in either Hamilton or Saline Counties, Illinois.  It was told to me by Bernice Wooldridge and Mildred Austin, daughters of; William & Julia Owen and John and Maude Owen, that the reason for the migration was in order to purchase a farm for his sons.  Apparently Arkansas didn't work out as planned because by the time of the 1900 census William Thomas & Letitia Owen are living in Stoddard County, Missouri and renting a farm.  William Thomas died in Stoddard County on October 29, 1900.  Oral family tradition has it that he was out riding in the rain looking for a farm to purchase, caught pneumonia, and died as a result.

After his death the family returned to Hamilton County, Illinois. 

This picture was taken on Mt Pisgah, (White County) in the mountains of Arkansas, on Bear Creek, Easter Sunday, April 1898. 

Left to right standing;  (Relationships to William Thomas Owen)Letitia Jane Gaines Owen (wife), Martha Leora Owen (daug.), Julia Agnes Gholson Owen (daugh-in-law), Ada Owen (no relation), Nellie Maude Owen Owen (daugh.) (not a typo, she married her first cousin, John A. Owen),  Hattie Shroyer Pottinger (step-granddaug.).

 Second row, seated left to right;Jeff Hall (with the violin)(friend), William Abner Owen (with the guitar)(son), Omer Ellsworth Owen (with the banjo)(son), John A. Owen (with the violin)(son-in-law & nephew), Earnest Gaines Owen (with the bass violin)(not sure might be James Ernest a son).

 Third row front;James Herman Owen (gr.son), William Thomas Owen, and the dogCoover. 

 This picture was given to me in 1979 by Bernice (Owen) Wooldridge.  No one in the family knows why they went to Arkansas to purchase land as opossed to buying land in Hamilton/Saline Counties, Illinois.  Wanderlust, I suppose." 

Larry Melton