(1844-1927)
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Mary Owen of Halifax County attended the Burwell School in the mid. 1850s and married John Venable Brooks, brother of Sallie Faulkner Brooks and Harriet L. Brooks , also Burwell students.
Mary Owen was the daughter of William L. Owen and Harriett A. Owen and resided in the southern district of Halifax County. The Owens had at least seven children, Mary apparently the oldest. According to the United States Census of 1860 [1], when Mary was 16, William L. Owen's real estate was valued at 2,000; his personal estate at $170,000.
Mary Owen married John Venable Brooks, a brother of Burwell students Harriet L. Brooks and Sallie Faulkner Brooks , in May of 1863 in Halifax County. John was a twin brother to Samuel H. Brooks.
Mary Owen attended the Burwell School in the mid. 1850s and would have been more a contemporary of Harriet L. Brooks than of her older sister Sallie Faulkner Brooks . Mary was about three years older than Harriet L. Brooks , and about 15 years younger than Sallie Faulkner Brooks .
In the United States Census of 1870 [2], John Venable Brooks and Mary Owen had two daughters: Sallie Ann Brooks and Harriett Brooks, called "Hattie." Presumably, both daughters were named for John Venable Brooks's two sisters. John Venable Brooks's sister Sallie Faulkner Brooks died c. 1865 and her youngest daughter, Mary B. Easley, age 7, is listed in the United States Census of 1870 [2] as living with John Venable Brooks, Mary Owen, and their daughters.
The United States Census of 1880 [3], supplemented by information from the posted Brooks family tree on Ancestry.com, showed that the couple appeared to have five children: Sallie Ann Brooks (1863 - 1953); Harriett Brooks (1869 -1909); Samuel H. Brooks, [Jr.] (1875 - ); Fannie Brooks, (1878 - ); and Charles Venable Brooks (1881 - ). All of these were names from John's and Mary's family.
By the United States Census of 1900 [4], John Venable Brooks had died, and Mary Owen, 57, lived in Black Walnut, with her married daughter and son-in-law, Harriett Brooks and Richard B. Glenn, their three young children, and Mary's youngest child, Charles Venable Brooks, 19.
In the United States Census of 1920 [5], Mary Owen, 74, lived with Charles Venable Brooks and his wife, Bertha Brooks, in Black Walnut. Charles' children were Mary E. Brooks, John V. Brooks, and Samuel O. Brooks. According to the Brooks family tree on Ancestry.com, Mary Owen died in 1927 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
Mary Owen was born in 1844, in Halifax County, VA. She died c. 1927.
in May 1863 in Halifax County. (sister-in-law, 1833-1865), Harriet L. Brooks (sister-in-law, 1844-1900), John V. Brooks (grandson), Mary E. Brooks (granddaughter), Samuel O. Brooks (grandson), Alice Elizabeth Easley (niece, b. 1857), Thomas Easley (nephew), Mary B. Easley (niece, b. 1863) and Sallie A. Easley (niece, b. 1860).