Edward Owings Towne

He was born on either February 19, 1859[1] or February 19, 1860 in Pella, Iowa. His father, Rev. E. O. Towne (died 1874),[3] established Iowa Central University. His father was noted in "Souvenir History of Pella, Iowa (1847–1922)," as a land agent who greeted people arriving by covered wagon.[4]

Towne, Jr. studied at Iowa Central University.[2]

Towne wrote Aphorisms of the Three Threes (1887).[5] He wrote The completion of the spire, and other poems (1889).[6] He wrote the play By Wits Outwitted (1897).[7] He wrote Ideals of an Idol-breaker; A Poem of the New Philosophy (1913).[8] He wrote Philosophy of Jesus; A Narrative of the Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (1928).[9][10] He wrote Scientific Money, a Cure for Panics and Financial Depressions (1930).[11]

Towne wrote the 1895 play Other People's Money, which was performed at Hoyt's Theatre in New York City the same year.[12][13] He also wrote A Little Drunkardess, A Masked Battery, and Literary Duet By Wits Outwitted,[2] was staged in Cleveland, Ohio in 1893 and was accompanied by A Glimpse of Paradise by Frank S. Pixley.[14][15] Tell Taylor starred in the show. His play For Sweet Charity's Sake won him a thousand dollar prize in a Best One Act play competition circa 1895 and his play By Wits Outwitted ran for at least two years.[16] His story "The Madonna in Chains" was adapted into the 1923 film The Women in Chains.[17]

He was found guilty of conspiring to wreck the Lumbermen's Building and Loan Association in October 1898, and was fined US $1,500 and sentenced to serve an indeterminate sentence time in Joliet Prison (now Joliet Correctional Center).[18]

He died on March 6, 1938.

In 2004 a family in Vista, California found a shoebox full of family memorabilia including photographs, letters, and other documents from E. O. Towne and his family.[19] He corresponded with Charles Eastwick Smith, which is part of the "Charles Eastwick Smith letters from botanists" archives at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.[20]

Towne married Sara Johnston Cooper in 1889.[2] Their son Fenimore Cooper Towne was born c. 1893 and died at the family home in 1918 of sepsis poisoning[21] at the age of 25.[2]

• Aphorisms of the Three Threes (1887)[5]
• The Completion of the Spire, and Other Poems (1889)[6]
• By Wits Outwitted (1897)[7]
• Ideals of an Idol-breaker; a Poem of the New Philosophy (1913)[8]
• Philosophy of Jesus; A Narrative of the Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (1928)[9][10]
• Scientific Money, a Cure for Panics and Financial Depressions (1930)[11]