The Portland daily press., 1882-04-25
John owen.

Mr. John Owen. known for the lifelong
friendship that has existed between himself
and the late poet Longfellow, died after brief
illness at his home on Mt. Auburn street, Cam
bridge, late Saturday evening. He had no dis
tinetive malady, bat died rather from debility,
increased through inprudence in the care fer
his health since taking cold five weeks ago.
He took to the sick bed fortnight ago, suffer-
ing slightly from bronchitis. This trouble soon
disappeared, but was followed with fever that
required at intervals till death ensued. The
fever was attended with pain in the right
lung and the patients strength was steadily
condition was undisturbed up to Saturday
morning, but Inconsistencies was induced soon
after and continued to the end. He died sur
rounded by his near relatives, two daughters,
Mrs Fl. E. Scudder, Mis- Owen, son and q
sister, Mrs. Richardson. Ills rooms at 56 Mt
Auburn street form one of the most curious
and quaint suites ever occupied by scholar
They might be called an old curiosity shop
Bookcases line two sides of the room. Over
one of them are busts of Charles Sumner, Schil-
Ter and Goethe, and innumerable photographs
OF eminent men and women are ranged along
in front of the books on each shelf Among
Mr.. Ovens photographs is one of the ''Village
Smithy" and the sold Chestnut Tree" cele-
brated by Longfellow. The photograph was
taken from pen-and-ink sketch by Mr.. Long
fellow himself. One of the chief curiosities is
the huge collection of stereoscopic and other
views collected by Mr. Owen. He had in his
library great many of Badekers and other
foreign guide books, and, when asked whether
he had been abroad, he used to 60 to his great
upright case of stereoscopic views, and say:
"This is the way travel" Mr.. Ovens home
for many years was on Mt. Auburn street,
near the present University Press formerly the
Holyoke House, He had quite large estate
there, which he delighted to improve and work.
he was particularly fond of cultivating fruit
and flowers, and he had at one time sixty yarie-
ties of roses growing in his yard.
John Owen was born in Portland, Me-, IN
1906, the year before Henry Wordsworth Long
fellow. Both attended the public schools in
Portland; they were students in Bowdoin Col
lege at the same time, Mr.. Longfellow being
member of the class of 1925, and Mr.. Owen OF
the class of 1927; and finally they lived near
each other in Cambridge the remainder OF their
lives. After graduating from Bowdoin College
Mr.. Owen came to Cambridge and took course
in divinity. He never preached very much,
health was quite poor when he left the Har-
ward Divinity School, and he returned for
time to the home of his father at Portland. His
bealth has not since that time been very robust.
Some time after graduating at Cambridge he
married daughter of Capt. Sylvanus Sampson
of Duxbury In November, 1888, James Mum
roe and George Nichols bought out the book
store of Brown, Shattuck q Co. in Cambridge,
Mr. Brown joining the firm OF Hillard, Gray q
Co., in Boston. In 1884 John Owen, having
come into the possession OF certain property,
joined his fortunes with Messrs Munroe q
Nichols in the book business. The partnership
of the triad lasted but year or so, and the first
| of January 1886, saw Mr.. Owen sole proprie-
| tor of the Cambridge store.
His great generosity and kindly instincts
| were such as to divert his attention too much
| from the careful management of business, and
| in 1S48 he failed Mr.. Longfellow's first vol
| ume of poems, the ''Voices of the Night" was
published by Mr.. Owen in 1889. at Cambridge.
| and he continued to be his publisher until the
| failure. Mr.. Owen assisted Longfellow in
many ways, chiefly in reading his proofs. He
| did great deal of the work on the Poems OF
| Places edited by Mr.. Longfellow in 1S76-79-
| 81 volumes Mr.. Ovens work was chiefly in
| verifying the authorship of poems and ascer-
| tanning the authorship of those to which no
! names were attached. He was friend also OF
| Charles Sumner, and it was owing to Mr..
| Ovens urgent suggestion that Summers writ
| ings were begun to be published in a complete
| and uniform edition, a task that has since been
completed under the supervision OF Mr.. George
| Nichols, assisted in manp ways by Mr.. Owen.
| In social life Mr.. Owen was marked by his
| modest, amiable disposition, and was inter-
and appreciative remarks in the way OF liter
| arv criticism