The Narrative

In the late 1820's, while Buck was a young man, the Owens family moved from the relative civilization of South Carolina to the raw lands of Florida Territory. The Owens knew the potential of Florida though and migrated there long before it became a state. They settled in the costal panhandle area and engaged successfully in farming for twenty odd years helping settle and civilize Florida. They were active in the Florida militia and engaged in the Seminole Indian Wars. They ultimately owned 560 acres of land and had four slaves. The Owens' had apparently always experienced the frontier incompatibility so well expressed by Elmer Kelton: "Often those who had the aggressive characteristics necessary to go into a raw land found those characteristics incompatible with the settled, ordered society which came later. Though they had cleared the path, civilization no longer had a place for them. It shoved them aside or plowed them under." And, it might be added, "they moved on to new frontiers." North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and then Texas, always on the leading edge of civilization. Between 1837 and 1841 W.S.B. and his father traveled to the Republic of Texas and both W.S.B. and his father each filed for 320 acres of land in Goliad Co. It was not, however, until 1853 that the Owens moved from Florida to Texas. Travel to Texas was by ship across the Gulf of Mexico with landing at Powder Horn, later to become known as Indianola. From Indianola the family traveled on to Goliad. W.S.B. remained in Goliad for three years. In 1856 he gathered his family and three slaves (Horace Griffin age 17, Hagar Griffin age 13, and George Griffin age 9) and headed into the raw lands, this time to the Texas southwestern frontier. He chose to settle in the newly established town of Encino, which would later become the town of Uvalde and Uvalde County. According to an entry in his hand written family journal they arrived there Feb. 12, 1856. He was one of the original signers of the petition for the creation of Uvalde County and was elected the first justice of the peace there. He and other members of the family are listed in several ranger muster rolls. Encino at that time was a wild and inhospitable land. Comanche and Apache raids significantly hindered development. Seminoles, Tonkawa's, and Lipan Apaches swept down the Leona River valley and attacked ranches near Fort Inge soon after its temporary abandonment in 1857. Mexican outlaws raided from the south stealing livestock. Border warfare and lawlessness prevailed until the late 1880s. W.S.B. lost numerous cattle and horses to Mexican raiders while living at Uvalde. (In later years, long after the death of W.S.B., one of the Owens heirs filed a claim against the Mexican government. The heirs of WSB Owens were granted a claim of $11,552 by the American-Mexican Claims Commission. The claim was handled by one F. L. Kuykendall of Austin in the 1950's. Though the claim was never paid in full Owens descendants received small amounts from the Mexican government for a number of years.) The Owens family remained in the Uvalde and Fort Inge areas, engaged ranching, freighting and operating a general merchandise store, for ten or twelve years until shortly after the Civil War and Reconstruction. Following the Civil War and Reconstruction Uvalde County began to endure years of unrelenting lawlessness and frontier savagery. It remained the last frontier district court site for a region that included the unorganized territories of Zavala, Kinney, Edwards and Maverick counties. The region was home to smugglers, cattle and horse rustlers, and numerous other desperadoes. In addition the re-abandonment of Fort Inge immediately after secession was followed by renewed Indian attacks. Conflicts between Confederates and Unionists, Texans and the Reconstructionist and other factions of the North-South squabble marked the environment at Uvalde in these times.
This was an ideal atmosphere for hostilities to erupt and erupt they did, between the Owens family and another man.Though it will likely never be known exactly what happened, why, or even to whom, as there are conflicting and confusing stories, a gunfight took place in which one John Q. Daugherty was killed. Though W.S.B. and others were indicted for murder by a grand jury the case never was brought to trial. Shortly thereafter W.S.B. moved to a more peaceful and hospitable Hays County purchased land and settled on the Blanco River, on the old Bastrop Road, where he and Arena spent the remainder of their lives.
Further note: Robert J.Crunk (Florida Owens son): "A friend of the family got drunk one night and went to a store owned by a family member. A son (John?) was asleep in the store and the man abused him. The next day when WSB went to find out what had happened the man drew on him and WSB killed him. When WSB went up the street to turn himself in, the sheriff--a carpetbagger--shot him. In turn WSB and the boy both drew and shot at the same time. The sheriff and a deputy were standing on the courthouse steps at the time. The sheriff was supposed to have previously been a friend!'