David Owen (1754 – December 10, 1829) was a judge, land owner and political figure in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic Canad ...

, Canada. He represented Charlotte County in the

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick A legislature is an assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an ...

from 1796 to 1802. He was born in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, the son of Owen Owen and Anne Davies. He studied at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, where he was

Senior Wrangler The Senior Frog Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain." Specifically, it is the person who ...

in 1777 and received his M.A. degree in 1780. He was ordained a deacon for the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

in 1778, served as a chaplain in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

and was ordained to the priesthood in 1787. In 1767, with his uncle William Owen and his two brothers, Owen had been granted land on Passamaquoddy Outer Island (renamed

Campobello Island Campobello Island (, also ) is the largest and only inhabited island in Campobello, a civil parish in southwestern New Brunswick, Canada, near the border with Maine, United States. The island's permanent population in 2021 was 949. It is the ...

in 1770). In 1787, some time after the death of his uncle, Owen came to the island to manage the family's interests. He was named justice of the peace and a judge for the Court of General Sessions and the Inferior Court of Common Pleas. Owen lobbied unsuccessfully to have Campobello Island and several nearby islands declared a separate county from Charlotte. He died on Campobello Island in 1829 and was buried in the family vault in Wales.

References

* Smith, Joshua M., ''Borderland Smuggling: Patriots, Loyalists and Illicit Trade in the Northeast, 1783–1820'' (Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 2006). .

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
1754 births 1829 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Senior Wranglers Colony of New Brunswick judges Colony of New Brunswick people Welsh emigrants to pre-Confederation New Brunswick {{NewBrunswick-MLA-stub