Family histories have a way of taking unexpected twists and turns and sometimes unearthing interesting facts. Years ago, I started to try and map my family tree. There are several family historians in my family, so one branch had almost been thoroughly explored and can be traced back to Wales before landing in Maryland. My husband’s family also has a family historian who has traced much of his maternal family’s history through Ohio and traced family back to President Rutherford B. Hayes.
It has been with the help of some family members that we have been able to trace much of the Owens and Beall family tree and found that our great-great-great grandparents on the Owens side both died on the same day, January 23, 1891. It was then mentioned that those might be the two that had been hit by a train. Cue the curiosity. I used the Library of Congress to search Maryland newspapers from 1891 and found two articles that reported the accident. On January 23, 1891 The Critic and Evening Star both reported on the accident that claimed the lives of James and Nancy Owens. Unable to find anything else, I emailed the National Archives to make a research appointment in March 2018 and several emails later, I was sent a copy of the will of James Owens and the death certificates for both of them. This, along with the newspaper articles created a few more questions. Where was the dairy farm in Montgomery County? Was B&O railroad held accountable for their deaths? I still do not know the answers to those questions, but I am getting closer.
From the newspaper account it seems they lived near Brookland, Washington, D.C. and using historic maps from the Library of Congress and the newspaper accounts, the location of the accident can be verified. I am confident that we have the correct family members for several reasons, one, the nature of the accident is very specific. Two, my great grandmother cared for my great-great grandfather (who would be James and Nancy’s son) and would be familiar with his siblings which does include Henry and Charles Owens who were named executors in James’s will. I have learned that when researching old records, it is important to check, and double check any names in as many sources as possible to verify you have the right person. There are many Owens, Owen, Owings in the Maryland area and many of them share similar names. The process of elimination is time consuming.
By all accounts, it was a horrible accident, the train crossing did not have great visibility. The time of year meant that James and Nancy were bundled up in the cart and could not see or hear the train, and lastly, they were elderly. The train did sound its horn, but despite that, it went unheard. The reporting in the newspaper is different depending on the paper. In The Critic they were well to do dairy farmers, aged 72 and 70. The responding policeman was an Officer McNamara, and it occurred at the McGuyer’s crossing on Central Avenue near the Sprague Place. They were struck by the No. 52 train, the engineer was P.J. Collins, and the conductor was J.W. Brown. In this article Samuel J. Owens demanded an investigation and the coroner called an inquest for that afternoon. According to the Evening Star article, James and Nancy are aged 79 and 74, and they were very poor. Conductor Brown and Baggage Master Gaither recovered the bodies and delivered them to the Sixth precinct morgue. The reporter stated that at the morgue a son of the Owens’s arrived and was a tall fine gentleman. He even delivered a quote from the son about their wish to die together. This reported also spoke to a Superintendent Alvey of the B&O Railroad who shared the official accident report. This report stated that the engineer (again identified as Collins) did everything to avoid the accident but was unable to do so.
This is where I hit a roadblock. I simply have been unable to find anything on James and Nancy Owens prior to January 23, 1891. I know that Nancy’s maiden name was Raleigh (or Rally, or another similar spelling), and on some family tree sites there is a marriage linked to a James Owings and Nancy Raleigh on January 5, 1835, the minister is unknown. Could it be them? Possibly, but I have not found enough information to corroborate that yet. It has been a challenge to find any information on the birth of James and Nancy, or who their parents were. I am looking through old family records to see if the church they attended can be found, if so there is a possibility that church records will have their births and marriages recorded so I can verify the marriage date.
I have found a new to me source that is run by the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA). It is called historyhub.com and is a crowdsource history site. Users can post questions for archivists and they will review and answer them, but other users can answer questions as well and offer links to information in addition to the archivists. I plan to update when I get an answer from them, or if I find the church records.
Bibliography
Boyd, Wm. H. Boyd’s map of the city of Washington and suburbs, District of Columbia. Washington: Wm. H. Boyd, 1884. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/88693451/.
Evening Star. (Washington, DC), Jan. 23 1891. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83045462/1891-01-23/ed-1/.
James P. Owens Death Certificate. District of Columbia Archives. Certificate number 75666.
Nancy A. Owens Death Certificate. District of Columbia Archives. Certificate number 75667.
The Critic. (Washington, DC), Jan. 23 1891. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn2008058171/1891-01-23/ed-1/.
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