Robert Latham Owen Sr. (1825–1873) was a civil engineer and surveyor, Virginia plantation owner, member of the
Virginia Senate
The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...
and President of the
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad
The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad was an historic gauge railroad in the Southern United States, much of which is incorporated into the modern Norfolk Southern Railway. It played a strategic role in supplying the Confederacy during the American ...
.
Early and family life
Robert Latham Owen was born to Dr. William Owen of
Lynchburg, Virginia and his wife Jane Latham Owen. His Owen ancestors had emigrated from Wales, and the family had a record of public service as politicians, doctors and teachers. His brother Dr. William Otway Owen Sr. (1820–92), like their father practiced medicine in Lynchburg, and became Surgeon-in-Chief supervising thirty Confederate hospitals in Lynchburg during the American Civil War.
As a young civil engineer, Owen surveyed for various railroads. In
Jonesborough, Tennessee
Jonesborough (historically also Jonesboro) is a town in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. Its population was 5,860 as of 2020. It is "Tennessee's oldest town".
Jonesborough is part of the ...
, he met schoolteacher
Narcissa Clark Chisholm, orphaned daughter of Cherokee chief Thomas Chisholm. A granddaughter of Chief John D. Chisholm who led an expedition along the Arkansas River, she had been born in Arkansas before the
Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...
. Rev. David Sullins married them. They had two sons: Maj. William Otway Owen M.D. (1854-1924, born in Tennessee and who became a U.S. Army doctor) and
Robert Latham Owen Jr. (1856-1947, born after they moved back to Lynchburg, and who became one of the first two U.S. Senators from Oklahoma).
The family lived in Lynchburg's best-known mansion,
Point of Honor
Point of Honor is an historic home, now a city museum, located in Lynchburg, Virginia. The property has commanding views of the city and the James River. Its name originated due to the land on which it is built being used as a clandestine due ...
until 1870, and Dr. Owen Sr. operated the Vista Acres plantation in Campbell County.
Career
During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, Robert Latham Owen accepted Confederate rifles to defend the railroad, which were delivered by Gen. Thomas
Stonewall Jackson.
Owen also criticized the chaotic military demands on his railroad's rolling stock, which was a crucial link to the salt in
Saltville, Virginia
Saltville is a town in Smyth and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 2,077 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Kingsport– Bristol (TN)– Bristol (VA) Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a compon ...
, as well as
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, among other routes. His wife Narcissa led about 500 women who sewed uniforms and otherwise assisted the Confederate cause.
Union troops never conquered Lynchburg, although the city was threatened in the
Battle of Lynchburg
The Battle of Lynchburg was fought on June 17–18, 1864, two miles outside Lynchburg, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. The Union Army of West Virginia, under Maj. Gen. David Hunter, attempted to capture the city but was repulsed by ...
. Owen was among the citizens surrendering the short-term Virginia Capitol on April 12, 1865, three days after the surrender at
Appomattox Court House. However, the conflict destroyed most of its rolling stock and much track.
In late 1867, Robert Latham Owen Sr. resigned his position as President of the
Virginia and Tennessee Railway because he opposed a proposed railway consolidation led by the colorful and highly political former Confederate General (and future U.S. Senator, 1881–87)
William Mahone
William Mahone (December 1, 1826October 8, 1895) was an American civil engineer, railroad executive, Confederate States Army general, and Virginia politician.
As a young man, Mahone was prominent in the building of Virginia's roads and railroa ...
, who replaced him as president. Despite the opposition of Owen and prominent Lynchburg citizens
James Garland,
John W. Daniel and Col. R. W. Withers, Mahone's
Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad
The Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad was built between Norfolk and Petersburg, Virginia and was completed by 1858. The line was of track gauge.
It played a role on the American Civil War (1861–1865), and became part of the Atlantic, Mississip ...
acquired most of the stock of the formerly Lynchburg-owned Virginia and Tennessee Railway, and merged it and the
South Side Railroad into the new
Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad
Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (AM&O) was formed in 1870 in Virginia from three east–west railroads which traversed across the southern portion of the state. Organized and led by former Confederate general William Mahone (1826-1895 ...
(some quipped that its initials, AM&O meant "All Mine and Otelia's", referred to Mahone and his equally colorful wife,
Otelia). However, the new railroad soon went bankrupt. Future U.S. Senator
Carter Glass
Carter Glass (January 4, 1858 – May 28, 1946) was an American newspaper publisher and Democratic politician from Lynchburg, Virginia. He represented Virginia in both houses of Congress and served as the United States Secretary of the Treas ...
, who long opposed Mahone, worked on that reorganization early in his career.
Meanwhile, Owen,
Franklin Stearns and
Gilbert C. Walker became the leading conservative (or True) Republican candidates for Virginia governor as
Congressional Reconstruction
The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...
was ending in 1868, to oppose Radical Republicans led by provisional governor
Henry H. Wells. Conservative Democrats had also formed a
Committee of Nine The Committee of Nine was a group of conservative political leaders in Virginia, led by Alexander H. H. Stuart, following the American Civil War, when Virginia was required to adopt a new Constitution acknowledging the abolition of slavery before i ...
to oppose that Constitution, especially its Confederate disenfranchisement provisions. Eventually, Stearns, L.H. Chandler, Edgar Allen, as well as former provost marshal and now Secretary of War
John Schofield
John McAllister Schofield (September 29, 1831 – March 4, 1906) was an American soldier who held major commands during the American Civil War. He was appointed U.S. Secretary of War (1868–1869) under President Andrew Johnson and later served ...
and the Committee of Nine succeeded in convincing newly elected President
Ulysses Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
to separate the ratification votes on the two controversial anti-Confederate clauses from that concerning the proposed new Constitution (which passed by an overwhelming margin even as those two clauses were defeated).
In the next election (Virginia's first after readmission) Conservative Republicans united with Conservative Democrats to nominate Gilbert C. Walker for governor, who defeated Wells. In the same election, Robert Latham Owen Sr. ran for (and won) a state senate seat, representing
Campbell County and Lynchburg. Owen escaped tragedy by not attending a controversial
Virginia Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrativ ...
hearing concerning Richmond's mayoral election of 1870, overcrowding in which caused a balcony to collapse, which then caused the floor to collapse into the General Assembly chamber below, with many killed and injuries. Afterward, he bought a plantation near Norfolk that had been owned by his fellow surveyor, and moved his family there. His friend
Thomas J. Kirkpatrick
Thomas Jellis Kirkpatrick (July 31, 1829 - October 17, 1897) was a Virginia lawyer, Confederate officer, and later Lynchburg's first public school superintendent, as well as its representative in the Virginia senate for one term (1871-1875).
Ea ...
, Lynchburg's new school superintendent and a Confederate veteran, was elected to succeed Owen in the Virginia Senate on December 6, 1871.
Death and legacy
Owen died unexpectedly in Norfolk on June 2, 1873, leaving his wife in financial straits and with two young boys to raise. His body was returned to Lynchburg by train, and the funeral was held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
[Lynchburg Daily Virginian June 4, 1873 p. 3 col. 1]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Robert Latham Sr.
1825 births
1873 deaths
Politicians from Lynchburg, Virginia
People from Campbell County, Virginia
Virginia state senators
Southern Unionists in the American Civil War
19th-century American legislators
19th-century Virginia politicians