M. D. Owen
M. D. Owen, of the firm of Palmer & Owen, carriage manufacturers, of Lima, was reared in Kenton, Hardin County, Ohio, in which place he was born in 1871. His father was James Owen, now deceased, who was a stone contractor and conducted an extensive business at Kenton.
Mr. Owen was educated in his native village and then entered the employ of the Champion Fence Company of that place, remaining with that concern one and a half years. Having decided to learn the carriage manufacturing business, he secured work with Pool Brothers, engaged in that line, and two years later accepted a position with the H. Keiser Buggy Company. During the seven years he was in the service of this company he became proficient in his work, and the succeeding years were spent working at his trade in various towns of the State Washington Court House, Yellow Springs and Defiance, each being the scene of his labors before he became identified with the Collins Buggy Company, of Akron, Ohio. During his residence in Akron, Ohio, he spent two years at various night schools, studying mechanical drawing and designing, in which branches he became very proficient; also, for several months, he was a student of the International Correspondence Schools of Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1899 he left the employ of the Collins Buggy Company to establish his present business in Lima, becoming a partner of J. B. Palmer. The firm of Palmer & Owen has been an assured success from the first. They have experienced a constantly growing demand for their carriages and buggies. Mr. Owen, with J. B. Palmer and John W. Swan, owns and operates the Lima Motor Car Company, and his public spirit and enterprise have made him a valuable acquisition to the city.
Mr. Owen was married March 5, 1892, to Austa Lynch, a daughter of Alonzo Lynch, of Kenton, Ohio. Mr. Owen is an active worker in Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a member, and is also connected with the Masonic fraternity.