Thomas Horner Owen
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Thomas H. Owen
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Thomas Horner Owen
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1873|02|24}}
| birth_place = Newton County, Arkansas (near Jasper)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1938|09|19|1873|02|24}}
| death_place = Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| nationality = U. S.
| other_names = T. H. Owen, Thomas H. Owen
| occupation = Attorney, judge
| years_active =
| known_for = Served on Oklahoma Supreme Court
| notable_works =
}}
Thomas Horner Owen (February 24, 1873 – September 19, 1938) was a judge of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Born and raised in Arkansas, he moved to Indian Territory in 1894. According to Victor Harlow's version of Owen's biography, Owen was born near Jasper, Arkansas on February 24, 1873.[https://books.google.com/books?id=1U4XAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Wayne+W.+Bayless%22+Oklahoma+attorney%2C+judge&pg=PA717 Harlow, Victor Emanuel. Makers of Government in Oklahoma. Harlow Publishing Company. Oklahoma City (1930) p.561.] Accessed May 10, 2020.{{efn|As described in the next paragraph, he may have received his education in the law by working with an established lawyer in Arkansas before moving out of the state.}}
Chronicles of Oklahoma reports that Thomas Horner Owen studied law with W. M. Crump (William Jackson Crump was later a judge in Muskogee, but then located in Harrison, Arkansas).{{efn|Cited by a document on Geni.[https://www.geni.com/people/William-Crump/6000000026392673932 "William Jackson Crump." Last updated March 10, 2015.] Accessed May 4, 2020. The original article appeared in Chronicles of Oklahoma.[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v017/v017p115.html "Necrology"] Chronicles of Oklahoma. Volume 17, No. 1, March 1939.}} His sister Dora Owen married Crump, and Owen Crump was one of their children.https://www.newspapers.com/article/muskogee-daily-phoenix-and-times-democra/137278001/
Career in Oklahoma
After becoming a member of the bar, Owen began practicing in the small communities of Vian and Muldrow, before moving to Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1896. In 1901, he joined the law firm of Soper & Huckleberry in Muskogee and after statehood, served as political manager for Charles Haskell, who was seeking election as the first governor of the state. Plunging into local politics, he became Muskogee's City Attorney in 1901 and 1902. In 1910, he was named Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, and Muskogee County Attorney from 1911 to 1912. After that term expired, he returned to private practice from 1912 to 1917. In 1912, Owen was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore, supporting Woodrow Wilson as the party's presidential candidate. He also served as Assistant Secretary for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in the party headquarters.{{efn|He declined Wilson's offer to appoint him as Ambassador to Japan.}} Then he returned to his private law practice.[http://www.lib.utulsa.edu/digital/robertson/Series_II/pdf/AR2_08_12_1155.pdf Papers of Thomas H. Owen at Tulsa University Library.] Accessed on-line May 4, 2020.
Owen was appointed Associate Justice on the Oklahoma Supreme Court by Governor Robert L. Williams, serving from 1917 to 1919. From 1920 to 1921, he served as Chief Justice, then resigned.
== Personal ==
Owen married his first wife, Beulah Davis, in Muskogee on September 14, 1898.{{efn|Beulah died on December 11, 1907. He married a second time in 1916, to Louise Hall Parker, the daughter of a pioneer cattleman from Vinita, Oklahoma. This couple had a son and a daughter.[http://okcca.net/past-judges/owen-thomas-h/ Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. "Owen, Thomas H. Undated.] Accessed August 15, 2020.}}
He died from a blood infection in Oklahoma City on September 19, 1938.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61685806/pioneer-state-attorney-dies/ |title=Pioneer State Attorney Dies |newspaper=Bristow Daily Record |agency=AP |location=Oklahoma City |page=1 |date=1938-09-19 |access-date=2020-10-23 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Notes
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Category:People from Newton County, Arkansas
Category:People from Muskogee, Oklahoma