Sidney Neal Owens

Sidney Neal Owens was born on December 29, 1836, in Washington County, Kentucky, to Samuel Owens and Margaret M. Ellis, who was just 16 years old when she gave birth. Sidney was the second of five daughters born to Samuel and Margaret. She came to Clay County, Missouri when she was quite young and made her home for several years with her aunt.

In young womanhood, she married John Arthur Beauchamp in 1862 in Kentucky. They had five children in 14 years, Lee, Margaret, Marietta, Fannie and Nellie. After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Beauchamp lived for several years on a farm south of Liberty. They moved into town about 1870, to the family home located at 117 North Gallatin Street, where they spent the rest of their days. John died in 1901, leaving Sidney a widow. She was a highly cultured, Christian woman and a member of the Presbyterian Church. Sidney spent the next ten years with her daughter Fannie, who heard her fall in the upstairs bedroom after suffering from a heart attack. Sidney died on March 1, 1912, in Clay County, Missouri, having lived a long life of 75 years, and was buried at Fairview Cemetery in Liberty, Missouri.