Career
He moved to Kentucky in 1785. Owen served in the wars with the Indians under generals James Wilkinson and Arthur Saint Clair in 1791, and served with colonel John Hardin. Owen was surveyor of Shelby County, Kentucky in 1796.
Owen served as a colonel and as aide-de-camp to William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe, where he was killed in 1811.
After his death, counties were named for him in Indiana and Kentucky. Owen was the son of son of Brackett Owen, who was of Welsh descent and Elizabeth McGehee.
Brackett Owen (son of John Owen and Sara Brackett) was born June 10, 1739 in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and died March 14, 1802 in Shelby County, Kentucky and was also a soldier, who established "Owen"s Station", a small frontier fort used during the later part of the Revolutionary War for protection against the Indians. Owen"s Station was located about four miles from the present day Shelbyville.
John Owen"s great grandparents Humphrey Owen and Catherine Nannau had migrated from Dolserau, near Dolgellau, north Wales.
Owen County, Indiana
Owen County, Kentucky
Owensboro, Kentucky.