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JOHN OWEN, GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA
First Cousin of Abbie Harris (four times removed)

Many events occurred while John Owen was Governor of North Carolina that are
of note. One of those events has been recorded by Lionel Melvin, an off spring of a
contemporary, Robert Melvin. The event follows:

History recalls the challenge to dual made between Governor John Owen and
Willie P. Mangum, his successful opponent in a contest for the United States Senate; but
there was another challenge made by the Governor that never reached print, unless it was
mentioned by some newspaper in the first half of the nineteenth century. This was a
challenge to my great grandfather.
It was customary in those days for an ex-Governor to seek his former seat in the
general assembly or the house of commons after serving his final term as Governor. If
there were no opportunities for higher office at that time. Richard Caswell, Alexander
Martin, and seven other ex-Governors since independence had done this; and Governor
Owen's defeat by Mangum in 1831 for the U.S. Senate left him no choice but to try for his
former senatorial seat from Bladen County in the North Carolina general assembly, the
seat which he had last filled in 1827.
His opponent was Robert Melvin, grandfather of the writer, who had become fairly
well entrenched in local politics, having previously served three terms in the house and
once in the senate. Both candidates stumped the county in a heated campaign and harsh
things were said. This time Governor Owen was handed a humiliating defeat in his home
county, which he and his father had served well. His father, Thomas Owen, had served in
Provincial Congress, fought as an officer in the Revolution, was a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention of 1788 and 1789 and was six times elected to the General
Assembly. The Governor's brother, James had also served in the Assembly and was in
1817 elected to Congress.
Biographers describe Governor Owen as able, and a man of culture. No one had
questioned this. But he must also have inherited from his Welsh forbearers a hot temper,
for he not only became involved in a challenge to duel with Mangum, but he challenged
my grandfather as well.
Robert Melvin was a much larger man than Owen , but was unskilled in the fine art
of dueling. Whereas Governor Owen had a reputation of being an expert swordsman and
a good shot with dueling pistols.
Even though Dueling had long ago been declared illegal, men still felt honor-bound
to accept a challenge, which my great grandfather did with reluctance, but instead of
choosing a currently conventional weapon, he chose that ancient dueling piece of his
Norse Ancestors, the Broadax, which he could wield and Governor Owen could not, for
this Broadax was not the obsolete sort once used in battle, a much heavier type used in
hewing big timbers. Governor Owen naturally declined.
This was the last effort ever made by Governor Owen to seek political office in
Bladen County, North Carolina. Fate would have it that not even his remains would
reside in Bladen County, his native home. On the 9th of October 1841, he was visiting