THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST 
Vol. IV. AUGUST, 1889. No. 2 
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF DAVID DALE OWEN, M. D. 
His ancestry, hirth, education and marriage. Dr. D. D. 
Owen's father was Robert Owen, the philanthropist, cele- 
brated for his cooperative experiments, first in Scotland, and, 
later, at New Harmony, Indiana. Dr. Owen's mother, the 
eldest daughter of David Dale, merchant and Lord Provost 
of Glasgow, Scotland, was married to Robert Owen in 1797, 
and David Dale Owen, their third son who lived to maturity, 
was born at Braxfield House, near New Lanark, Scotland, 
June 24th, 1807. 
His early training, under a private tutor, embraced chiefly 
instruction in the English branches, the rudiments of Latin, 
and a course of architectural drawing. At the same time a 
portion of each day was devoted to acquiring facility in the 
use of carpenters' tools, materials and instruction being furn- 
ished at the extensive mechanical department connected with 
the large cotton manufacturing establishment of Dr. Owen's 
father. Later the Lanark academy, or grammar school, furn- 
ished additional classical training for a college course. Rob- 
ert Owen, while traveling on the continent of Europe, had vis- 
ited the celebrated educational institution of Emmanuel Fel- 
lenberg, near Berne, Switzerland, and was so much pleased 
with the system pursued, equal attention being directed to the 
physical, moral and intellectual development, that he sent his 
