Obit: Owen, T. Grafton (1830 - 1912)

Contact: Ann Stevens

Email:  sdann88@yahoo.com 
 

Surnames: Owen, Gilmore, Root, Hemphill, Crothers, O’Neill, Hensel, Atchison, Parsons, Tainsh 
 

----Source:  Neillsville Times (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.)  May 2, 1912 
 

Owen, T. Grafton (30 July 1830 - 26 Apr 1912) 
 

Rev. T. Grafton Owen died at Trempeauleau, Wis., April 26, 1912.  The funeral was held in the Congregational church at Trempeauleau last Sunday, Rev. F.A. Gilmore of Madison and the local Congregational minister officiating.  A special train on the Green Bay Ry. carried many friends from Neillsville, Alma Center, Whitehall and Arcadia.  Those who went from Neillsville were Mr. and Mrs. H.M. Root, Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Hemphill, George E. Crothers and James O’Neill. 
 

Mr. Owen was born in Westville, Ohio, July 30, 1830.  When a child, his father moved to Bowen, Ill.  In his book published last year, "Drippings from the Eaves" he says, "The greater part of my life has been spent on the frontiers of a rude civilization, where the acquired life came to us at firsthand."  He was in the U.S. hospital service during the Civil War.  He was driven out of Missouri at the beginning of the Civil War because he was a union man.  He came to Trempeauleau in 1876; later moved to Arcadia, thence to Neillsville, then to Arcadia and for the last seven years made his home with his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. E.F. Hensel at Whitehall.  He leaves surviving the following children:  Nina, now Mrs. J.H. Atchison, Seattle, Wash.; May, Mrs. B.S. Parsons, Vancouver, B.C.; Hallie, Mrs. John Tainsh, Chicago; Eunice, Mrs. E.F. Hensel, Whitehall, Wis.; Asa, of Phillips, now county Judge of Price Co., Wis., and Olive, unmarried, Whitehall, Wis. 
 

Mr. Owen was the son of a Baptist minister.  Later he joined the Methodists.  He became a Congregationalist where he found more freedom, but afterward and until his death was a Unitarian clergyman.  The large attendance at his funeral attested the affection and love in which he was held by those of every shade of religious faith, who had known him in the various places where he had preached.  Mr. Gilmore’s discourse was a fitting appreciation of the life and character of the deceased.  He treated him as a great preacher, a scientist, a literary man and a poet.  He drew many illustrations from the volume published last year by Mr. Owen, "Drippings from the Eaves."  He mentioned his intimate acquaintance with the works of science, his love of nature, his simplicity, tenderness, humor and his perfect naturalness and simplicity.  He never saw a sick child or a wounded bird that he was not in misery until relief came.  Mr. Owen was well known in Neillsville and there are many here who will cherish his memory. 
 

Mr. Owen’s book "Dripping from the Eaves" is on sale at Snitemans.