John Owen (North Carolina politician)

John Owen
Painting of John Owen, c. 1829
24th Governor of North Carolina
In office December 12, 1828 – December 18, 1830
Preceded by	James Iredell Jr.
Succeeded by	Montfort Stokes
Member of the North Carolina Senate from Bladen County
In office 1827–1828
In office November 15, 1819 – December 25, 1820
Preceded by	James J. McKay
Succeeded by	Simon Green
Member of the North Carolina House of Commons from Bladen County
In office November 16, 1812 – December 25, 1813 Serving with David Gillespie
Preceded by	Thomas Brown James Owen
Succeeded by	James J. Cummings John Sellers
Personal details
Born	(1787-08-21)August 21, 1787 Bladen County, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	October 9, 1841(1841-10-09) (aged 54) Pittsboro, North Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Democratic–Republican (before 1828) Democratic Whig (after 1839)
Spouse	Lucy Ann Brown
Children	5
Relatives	James Owen (brother)
Alma mater	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

John Owen (August 21, 1787 – October 9, 1841) was the 24th Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina and the state's first Democratic governor from 1828 to 1830.

Biography

Owen was born in Bladen County, North Carolina; he was the son of Thomas Owen, a judge and member of the state legislature. He briefly attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but did not earn a degree.

In 1812, Owen was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons and served there for two years; he was later elected to the North Carolina Senate (1819–1820, 1827–1828). He served on the North Carolina Council of State from 1824 to 1827 under governors Hutchins Gordon Burton and James Iredell Jr. Owen returned to the state senate in 1827 but was elected governor by the General Assembly in December 1828, narrowly defeating Richard Dobbs Spaight Jr. in a vote of 96 to 92.

Owen served two consecutive one-year terms as governor, during which he promoted education and served concurrently as President of the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees. He was nominated for a third term as governor, but declined the nomination; that same year, he lost by one vote (to Willie Mangum) a bid to represent North Carolina in the United States Senate.

In 1831, Omar ibn Said, the slave of John's brother James, wrote:

[...] God brought me into the hands of a good man who fears God and loves to do good deeds; he is called [James] Owen and his brother is called John Owen. Those two are good men. I now live [with them] in a place called Bladen.

Ibn Said further wrote of John's family:

And John Owen's wife is called Louisa, she is a good wife. She gave birth to three [girls] and two boys. Of those children, three died and two lived.

In 1835, Owen was a prominent member of the North Carolina Constitutional Convention; there, he supported enfranchisement of land-owning Negro citizens and opposed religious tests for officeholders.

Although during his earlier political life, Owen affiliated himself with the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson, in 1839, he presided over the first state convention of the emerging Whig Party; three weeks later, he served as president of the National Whig Convention in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Owen was offered the vice-presidential position on the Whig presidential ticket of William Henry Harrison; he turned down the nomination. Had he accepted, Owen might have become President of the United States following Harrison's death early in office instead of John Tyler.

Owen retired to his farm in Chatham County, North Carolina, where he died while in Pittsboro on October 9, 1841 (Raleigh Register and North-Carolina Gazette, Raleigh, NC, October 19, 1841, page 3, column 5); he is buried in the churchyard of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Pittsboro, North Carolina.

Sources

• Sobel, Robert; Raimo, John, eds. (1978). Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Westport, CT: Meckler Books. ISBN 0-930466-00-4.