Lowry Franklin Owens (1864 - 1953) Memoir
Reprinted in The Bean Tree - Robert Bean and Martha Womack and their descendants 1764-1985, by Estelee Beane Rankin, 1986
[NOTE: There are some mistakes here, as noted by Estelee Beane Rankin, such as the wrong wife for Lowry Franklin's uncle William Bean. There are larger issues, for example, Martha Womack was not the daughter of Jacob Womack of Watauga, and it is doubtful her husband Robert Bean was at Watauga. More discussion here.]
p.84-85
JOHN OWENS was a remarkable man, as his grandson, Lowry Franklin Owens, says in the article below which he wrote on the 7th of September, 1951, for the Bean and Owens Family History.
"I, Lowry Franklin Owens am eighty seven years old, and was born the 21st day of April, 1864, in Old Tishomingo County (now Prentiss County), Mississippi; and as the last living grandson of Rhoda Bean and John Owens, I have been requested to write a short history of my family, which I will endeavor to do to the best of my knowledge.
Grandfather JOHN OWENS was a very remarkable man as he lived to be 114 years, 6 months, 2 weeks of age and I remember him well as he died in 1877 when I was about thirteen years old. He would tell me he was nearly twice as old as his wife when they married. He was about thirty—five and Grandmother Rhoda was only eighteen, and yet he outlived Grandmother and married again, cut his third set of teeth, and his eyesight returned all after he was ninety years old. He is buried in the Old Forked Oak Cemetery about half a mile from the present Church and Cemetery on land now owned by Joe Moss in the 5th District of Prentiss County, Mississippi. Grandmother RHODA BEAN OWENS died in Jackson County, Alabama, before Grandfather moved here to Mississippi in 1848.
Grandfather JOHN OWENS fought as a young man in western North Carolina against the British and Tories as his father and family were Whigs. After the Revolutionary War was over several years, he married RHODA BEAN, and some of her people spelled the name Beene. Grandfather was born in North Carolina, but Grandmother RHODA was born in what is now Tennessee, as her father ROBERT BEAN had come as a young man with his parents from Virginia and settled on the Watauga. Grandmother's father, ROBERT BEAN, fought in the War against the British, and I've often heard them tell that he was a "deadshot" with his rifle, and in one battle he killed the commanding officer, but I do not remember the name of the Battle, but he fought with a General Clarke from Georgia as did others of his Watauga neighbors. I remember they talked a lot about the Battle of King's Mountain and as well as I can recollect this was near the North and South Carolina border.
Great grandfather Bean married MARTHA WOMACK (she was nicknamed "Patsey") soon after coming to the Watauga, and her father, JACOB WOMACK,was one of the early settlers there. After the close of the War, ROBERT and MARTHA BEAN with their children, began to move south through Tennessee and except for a brief stay in Georgia, he settled in Franklin County, Tennessee. He moved over into the adjoining County of Marion after it was formed and died there about 1824 as my father was about ten years old when he died. They had several children; some died young, but I will name the ones I remember. These were brothers and sisters to Grandmother RHODA and the uncles and aunts of my father: there was Uncle LEMUEL; Uncle WILLIAM who married NANCY BLEVINS; Uncle JOHN; Uncle OBEDIAH; Uncle ROBERT; and Uncle JESSE BEAN. There was Aunt ELIZABETH who married JOHN PATTON; Aunt SARAH who married BENJAMIN SELMAN; and Aunt MARTHA who married LEVI WOMACK. Now Uncle Lem, Billy (William), John, Jesse, and Aunt Elizabeth Patton's families all moved to Itawamba and Tishomingo Counties, Mississippi in the 1830's. Uncle Billy Bean was dead before they moved but most of his children settled here. "