By Staff
More about the Owens
By LYDIA GRIMES - Features Writer
I want to continue with the Owens family this week.
Thaddeus Constantine Owens and Emily Elizabeth Dennard were the parents of six children, three boys and three girls. In 1856 they moved from Barbour County to Butler County, near the community of Leon. In 1874 they broke up housekeeping and moved into the home of their son, Dr. Jared Dennard Owens Sr. in Pollard.
Jared Dennard Owens (25 July 1848-21 Aug. 1911) was named for his maternal grandfather, Jared Dennard. He married Jeannette Frances Esselman 17 Nov. 1868 in Butler County at the home of her sister, Ann Campbell Esselman Glasgow. Jeannette Frances Esselman was born 22 Jan. 1848 and died 21 June 1933, the daughter of Dr. George Washington Esselman and Sarah Green Lewis.
Jared Dennard Owens and Jeannette Frances Esselman were the parents of eight children. At the age of 20 Jared Dennard Owens entered medical training by working in the office of Dr. Joe Kendrick of Greenville. He studied with Dr. Kendrick for about a year, but when called upon to assist in a surgical procedure, he found that he did not care for surgery. He quit working with the doctor and started to farm while rafting logs down the Patsaliga River to the Conecuh River. After a few years, his desire to become a doctor returned and he entered Mobile Medical College in Mobile in 1877 at the age of 28. He graduated in 1879 and practiced first in Butler County before moving to Pollard where he set up his practice. He became so well liked in the area, both as a physician and as an individual, that he was elected representative to the State Medical Association and president of the Escambia County Medical Association. In 1897 he was appointed by president of the State Medical Association to represent Alabama at the American Medical Association Convention in Philadelphia. He was a member of the Democratic Executive Committee, a co-founder of the Pollard Baptist Church and served as chairman of the county-wide Baptist Sunday School Convention in 1905. He was director of the Bank of Pollard, which at that time was owned by his son-in-law, H.D. Finlay Sr. and his brothers, John and Ed Jackson.
Dr. Jared Dennard Owens and his wife are buried at Old Pollard Cemetery. They were the parents of eight children, the youngest one being Ethel Owens.
She was born 11 Oct. 1886 in Manningham in Butler County. She was educated in Pollard and married Herbert Douglas Finlay 5 Dec. 1905 in Pollard. He was the son of William Archibald Finlay and Elizabeth Ann Curtis of Pollard.
William Archibald Finlay was the son of David Hume Finlay (26 May 1819) and Rebecca Elizabeth Staggers (27 Feb. 1829). He was the grandson of Archibald Finlay (1778) and Eleanor Campbell and Bartholomew Staggers and Margaret Liferage.
William Archibald Finlay (1 Sept. 1850-28 Jan. 1912) was born in Pike County and married Elizabeth Ann Curtis (22 Sept. 1852-26 Oct. 1898). She was the daughter of Henry Douglas Curtis and Sarah Williamson.
In 1875 William Archibald Finlay moved his family to Santa Rosa County where he was involved in the timber business. In 1882 the family moved to Pollard and purchased the old F.B. Bonifay home. He was in partnership with W.H. Kennedy for a while until 1886 when he opened the Finlay Mercantile Company and later the Finlay Hardware Company.
He served as mayor of Pollard for several years and was a Mason. He was active in the Pollard Methodist Church and director of the Bank of Pollard, which later merged with Farmers and Merchants Bank.
He and his wife were buried at Hillcrest Cemetery at Pollard and they were the parents of 14 children, John Edward, Herbert Douglas, Mary Annie, David Hume, William Archibald Jr., Margaret Allen, Josephine, Minnie Ida, Lula Alabama, Catherine Leigh, Elizabeth Ruth, Eva, Robert Scott and Louise Malone.
Much of this material was covered in the Heritage of Escambia County book which was submitted by Sally Finlay and Doug Finlay, both descendants of the Owens and Finlay families.