William W Owens and Sarah Amanda Ann Cope
(1836-1902 and 1842-1926)
Descendant List and Notes
Related to Holley?-- Yes! See Update below.
So far, this is the only Owens family found that seems to be connected to the family of Holley Owens and Martha Jane Powell. No conclusive evidence has yet been uncovered, but these people lived close by and intermarried with Holley Owens' descendants and with Martha Jane's Powell relatives.
1 Jun 2011: Update
We now have direct evidence of a relationship between William W Owens and Holley Owens, although we still have no proof of what that relationship was, whether brothers, cousins or what. An article from the Samson Ledger, published in 1922 just after the death of John H Owens, son of Holley Owens and Martha Jane Powell, was posted by Donna Fountain on findagrave.com for John H Owens' listing at New Home Cemetery. The article reports a family history of sudden death and gives as one example "Mr Owens, father of Mrs J W Dabney, Mr George Ca??re? and Mrs John Crews, who died in a store while making a purchase."
Mrs J W Dabney was Martha Ann Owens (1887-1948), daughter of William W Owens (1836-1902). Mrs John Crews was Rosa Vernon Owens (1877-1961), also his daughter. William had a son George (b. c1868-69), but nothing is known of him after the 1880 census in Bullock County. This is the first direct evidence that Holley and William W are related. If they were brothers, then William W would have been uncle to John H Owens, his brother Daniel Ervin Owens and their sisters, Samantha, Elizabeth and Martha.
I have transcribed the article below:Well-known Farmer Expires Suddenly
John H Owens, Sr, a well known farmer living some four or five miles south of Samson, died suddenly Friday night. He had retired in apparently his usual good health but died during the night so quietly that the family were not aroused. Mr Owens had had an attack of heart trouble some time ago, and it is supposed this was the cause of his death.
A friend of the family stated that sudden death is not unusual among the family when a member has passed middle age, and several instances were cited to support the claim, among others that of Mr Owens, the father of Mrs J W Dabney, Mr George Ca??re and Mrs John Crews, who died in a store while making a purchase.
Mr Owens evidently had a premonition of his approaching end, as a few weeks ago he had instructed his wife as to the dispositions of his remains in case of death. He wished to be buried in a home-made coffin in an ordinary grave and not in a vault. These wishes were complied with. -- Samson Ledger.
--End of Update
In interviews in 1985 with Dewey Harvey Owens, son of John Walton Owens, he said that he had known Albert Owens and his brothers Clea and Red John. These were sons of William and Sarah Owens on the 1900 census, but Dewey did not know what relation, if any, they were to him. Clea (William Cleveland) married Dewey's Aunt Minnie Lee, daughter of John H Owens.
William Cleveland's sister Mary Emma married Richard M Alford in 1898. Their daughter Mary Roxie married Walter Lee Owens, son of Irvin Angus, son of John H's brother Daniel Owens. William Cleveland's sister Frances Ellafair married Christopher Columbus Powell, son of Martha Jane's brother Daniel Franklin. Ellafair's daughter Amy Gertrude married Eddie Lee Owens, son of John H.
W W Owens, age 23, appears on the 1860 census of Pike County, near Perote, in the northeastern area which later became part of Bullock County. Perote is about 20 miles from Clayton, in Barbour County, where Holley Owens and Martha Jane Powell married in 1848. Many Cope families, including that of Sarah Amanda Ann Cope, were listed in the nearby Indian Creek area, which also became part of Bullock. The Copes and the Powells also intermarried.
William W Owens, 22 Feb 1836 - 14 Feb 1902, is buried at New Home Cemetery south of Samson, beside the graves of son Reuben Albert and his two wives. Between William and Albert's wife Lillie lies only an unmarked slab with the date 29 Mar 1926 hand-inscribed on it. This is undoubtedly Sarah, who was listed as age 77 on the 1920 census at Marl in Geneva County a few entries from John Walton and James Hollis Owens. Other census entries put her birth year at 1842-1844. Alabama Death Certificate file #5998 for Sarah Amanda Owens confirms her death date of 29 Mar 1926 in Geneva County, and burial at New Home Cemetery. The informant, W H Cope, indicated that she was born 10 May 1842 in Bullock County to Reubin Cope and Milda Herring. (Actually, it was still Pike County in 1842, as Bullock was not created until 1866.)
