James Owen (American politician)

James Owen (December 7, 1784 – September 4, 1865) was an American politician from North Carolina, a planter, major-general, businessman, and enslaver, including of Omar ibn Said. He was educated at William Bingham's Academy in Pittsboro.^[1] Subsequently, he was for many years president of the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad and an adjutant general of the North Carolina militia in the War of 1812.^[2] His brother John Owen was governor of North Carolina. Owen was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1808 to 1811 and a Democratic-Republican party U.S. Representative from North Carolina's 5th congressional district from 1817 to 1819. He died in 1865 and was interred at Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington. He was a devoted Presbyterian and was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Fayetteville, North Carolina, and an officer in the Fayetteville chapter of the American Bible Society.^[2]