J.J. OWEN: In 1893, Pacific Grove had as a summer resident J.J. Owen, the retiring first editor of the San Jose MERCURY. He was one of the best known editors of northern California, In a conservative era he supported woman suffrage. In the early 1870's, he and his wife Mattie were dele- gates to annual state woman suffrage conventions held in San Francisco. In 1879 he helped reorgan- ize the California State Suffrage League. He had woman type-setters on the MERCURY, offering them white-collar jobs which were few and far between in the 19th century. In 1868 he was president of the California State Spiritualist's convention held in San Francisco. He was a leading Spiritualist. J.J. Owen helped a number of women in business; for example, he gave California's first woman attorney her first case. Anna Gallanar, the REVIEW editbr constantly made editorial comment to promote woman's causes, and if she hadn't known him personally before 1893, she was ready to welcome him and often referred to him in the REVIEW. This must have been a time of considerable stress for him, for during the summer he "filed for insol- vency" 0< "A millionnaire should step forward, " re- marked another editor. In the Nineties Owen wrote a few little books, one called SPIRITUAL FRAGMENTS, an'd attempted to start two small papers., THE PHOENIX, and, BETTER TIMES.*25' He was not to enjoy retirement long after his twenty-five years as editor of the San Jose MERCURY; he died in 1895. By that time, Anna Gallanar referred to him as an old friend. He spent the whole summer in the GROVE, during which time he gave two illustrated lectures, one being on Hawaii. . {*) His wife gave a lecture on a "nerve and tissue builder" a pa tent medicine manufactured by the„ Viava Health Company. t)44' These lect[Ges were given in the "Old Parlour. The REVIEW quoted him on yellow journalism. "Decent people," he said,"wha would get their commercial news, and other matter of respectable interest, must see these papers, or live in ignorance. . . papers won't pay for articles inculcating morality. . . they will pay ally for a spicy divorce case, for the aesthetic details of a dog fight." Owen had an occasional column in the REVIEW that summer, on temperance and the low cost of living-in the GROVE. '064 After his death, Anna Gallanar con tinued to receive vis?i€s from Mattie and his son Clifford, business manager of the MERCURY. >90 >fl :photocopiedcollectionsofmyNEWSFROMTHEPASTafewyearsback-10copie-thereareseveralinlocallibraries,butthishasneverbeeninprint. E.C.Davis PacificGrove,CA93950 / 309CongressAvenue , OCR Text: J.J. OWEN: In 1893, Pacific Grove had as a summer resident J.J. Owen, the retiring first editor of the San Jose MERCURY. He was one of the best known editors of northern California, In a conservative era he supported woman suffrage. In the early 1870's, he and his wife Mattie were dele- gates to annual state woman suffrage conventions held in San Francisco. In 1879 he helped reorgan- ize the California State Suffrage League. He had woman type-setters on the MERCURY, offering them white-collar jobs which were few and far between in the 19th century. In 1868 he was president of the California State Spiritualist's convention held in San Francisco. He was a leading Spiritualist. J.J. Owen helped a number of women in business; for example, he gave California's first woman attorney her first case. Anna Gallanar, the REVIEW editbr constantly made editorial comment to promote woman's causes, and if she hadn't known him personally before 1893, she was ready to welcome him and often referred to him in the REVIEW. This must have been a time of considerable stress for him, for during the summer he "filed for insol- vency" 0< "A millionnaire should step forward, " re- marked another editor. In the Nineties Owen wrote a few little books, one called SPIRITUAL FRAGMENTS, an'd attempted to start two small papers., THE PHOENIX, and, BETTER TIMES.*25' He was not to enjoy retirement long after his twenty-five years as editor of the San Jose MERCURY; he died in 1895. By that time, Anna Gallanar referred to him as an old friend. He spent the whole summer in the GROVE, during which time he gave two illustrated lectures, one being on Hawaii. . {*) His wife gave a lecture on a "nerve and tissue builder" a pa tent medicine manufactured by the„ Viava Health Company. t)44' These lect[Ges were given in the "Old Parlour. The REVIEW quoted him on yellow journalism. "Decent people," he said,"wha would get their commercial news, and other matter of respectable interest, must see these papers, or live in ignorance. . . papers won't pay for articles inculcating morality. . . they will pay ally for a spicy divorce case, for the aesthetic details of a dog fight." Owen had an occasional column in the REVIEW that summer, on temperance and the low cost of living-in the GROVE. '064 After his death, Anna Gallanar con tinued to receive vis?i€s from Mattie and his son Clifford, business manager of the MERCURY. >90 >fl :photocopiedcollectionsofmyNEWSFROMTHEPASTafewyearsback-10copie-thereareseveralinlocallibraries,butthishasneverbeeninprint. E.C.Davis PacificGrove,CA93950 / 309CongressAvenue , Heritage Society of Pacific Grove,Historical Collections,Names of People about town,G through H File names,Gallanar,GALLANAR_001.pdf,GALLANAR_001.pdf 1 Page 1, Tags: GALLANAR_001.PDF, GALLANAR_001.pdf 1 Page 1