Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/210

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1769 he married Detsy Hansford, daughter of Charles Hansford, one of Nathaniel Bacon's lieutenants. On the outbreak of hostilities between Virginia and the mother country. President Camm would not recog- nize the authority of the new government, and in the spring of 1777 .was removed by the board of visitors, largely dominated by native born Virginians. He died the fol- lowing year, and his wife a year later.

Campbell, Alexander, was a resident of Norfolk. Virginia, and an early artist. He painted a portrait of Washington, and the engraving taken from it is said to be the first known engraving of Washington.

Owen, Goronwy, born in Anglesea, North Wales, January 13, 1722, son of Owen Gro- now, a man of some poetic taste. He was attending school near his home, when he was met by the celebrated Lewis Morris, who sent him to Beaumaris, where he proved a most zealous scholar. Later, after the death of his mother, he became one of the masters of a grammar school in Caernarvon- shire. Soon afterward, Mr. Morris sent him tc Jesus College, Oxford, where he made rapid progress in Greek and Latin, and gave evidence of poetical talent in Welsh to such a degree that he was even then regarded as a rising poet, but the attempt to obtain funds enough for their publication had fail- ed. He was ordained a deacon in the Church of England, and for a few years was a curate and school teacher. In 1757 he was oflfered by the Bishop of London, through the influence, it is supposed, of the Earl of Powis. the place of master of the grammar school of the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg, Virginia. The salary of £200 sterling was a tempting consideration

to a half-starved genius, and, with his wife and three children, he took ship for Amer- ica. As shown by the faculty minutes, Owen qualified as master of the grammar school, April 7, 1758. Of his life at the col- lege, little is known, save that he married Mrs. Clayton, a sister of Thomas Dawson, then president of William and Mary, and that she was his second wife. After two years' service, he resigned; it is said that his **merry habits" necessitated his resigna- tion. He was soon afterward nominated by Governor Francis Fauquier minister of St. Andrew's Parish, in Brunswick county, where he died, and was buried there in 1776. As to his scholarship, Dr. Porteus, Dishop of London, spoke of him as "the most finished writer of Latin since the days of the Roman emperors.'* His qualifications as a preacher were indifferent. Of his poetic talent, his biographer and country- men speak in unbounded praise. His ode on "The Last Day of Judgment" (Cywydd Farn Fawr) is said to be unsurpassed by any poem in any language. Editions of his works were published in 1763, in 1817, in i860, and in 1876. In 183 1 his countrymen erected a beautiful tablet to his memory in the Cathedral Church, Bangor, Wales. He left issue, which are numerously represented in the South in the present day. A grand- son, William B. Owen, of Nashville, Ten- nessee, was a colonel in the Mexican war. Another grandson, George W. Owen, of Mobile, Alabama, occupied a seat in con- gress for several consecutive terms. A great-grandson, Richard B. Owen, also of Mobile, Alabama, was a distinguished law- yer, and served with gallantry in the Con- federate army.

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