HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.     421
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                      CHAPTER X.
 
                    OWEN TOWNSHIP.
 
OWEN TOWNSHIP - SURFACE AND SOIL - EARLY SETTLERS AND FIRST EN- 
  TRIES OF LAND - PIONEER INDUSTRIES - CHURCHES OF THE TOWNSHIP
  - HANGING OF CLARKE BY A MOB - BROOKS AND TALLY - CLEAR 
  SPRING.
 
OWEN is one of the three townships forming the western
portion of Jackson County and bordering on Lawrence. 
The township was named in honor of the Owen family, which at 
the time the township was organized was the largest family within
its borders. The surface is broken and hilly, and the soil com-
paratively unproductive, and probably best adapted to grazing.
It is often a matter of no little astonishment to the casual observer
of to-day that many of the first settlements in a new country
were made in that portion where the surface was rough and broken, 
and the soil sterile, rather than select the rich lands of the valleys 
and river bottoms. But when we are told that the constant decay of 
an exuberant growth of vegetation, together with the pools of stag-
nant water which stood in the river bottoms almost throughout the
year, produced so much malaria that it made life perilous, we are
not so much astonished at their action. The exact date of the
first settlement made in this township is unknown. It is remem-
bered by some of the oldest settlers that a squatter whose name
has been forgotten was the first to locate within the present limits
of Owen Township. The first permanent settlement was made
some time previous to 1816. Among the first was David Kindred,
who settled on the land now owned by Mrs. Richard Black, where
he built a small log hut. Jacob Wells, the father of Colonel and