Daring to Be Different: Missouri's Remarkable Owen Sisters

6. "Miss Juliette": Ornithologist, Botanist, and Artist

6 “Miss Juliette” Ornithologist, Botanist, and Artist If Juliette Amelia Owen had been born into almost any other family, her accomplishments would have been considered extraordinary , especially for the time in which she lived. As the youngest Owen daughter, however, she followed her older sisters Mary, who became a world-renowned folklorist, and adventurous Luella, who made a name for herself in a male-dominated scientific profession. Even so, “Miss Juliette,” as she was known in St. Joseph, became a knowledgeable and nationally known ornithologist and botanist, though little is known about her work in these fields. Petite, dark-haired, and fragile, Juliette was regarded as the beauty of the Owen family from her early childhood on. Not only more retiring by nature than her sisters, she was seemingly never as strong as they were and, as a result, was probably always more sheltered by her parents. She had problems with her eyes and often suffered from severe headaches. The St. Joseph NewsPress described her as “unassuming and always interested in her callers rather than in herself.” In another story, the News-Press   “Miss Juliette” declared that she “had a keen sense of humor and could regale her callers with stories of the early days of their families.” As a young woman, Juliette attended Dr. Martin’s Female Academy. She then became a student at Patee Female Seminary (formerly Patee College) where she took courses in natural history , German, and painting. Although Mary and Ella liked to say they had always lived in the house on Ninth and Jules, the older children had moved from the Owen home on Sixth Street to the new house when it was completed in the late 1850s. Juliette had been the first of the children to be born in the new home James Owen built just before the Civil War, and she lived there all her life. Although Juliette was more active socially than either Mary or Luella, she too (or her mother) made sure she spent the mornings at home studying. She chose such books as Thomas Nuttall’s A Manual of Ornithology in the United States and the writings of Elliott Coues, the ornithologist and naturalist who helped found the American Ornithologists Union and later served as its president and editor of its publication. From 1876 to 1880, Coues was secretary and naturalist of the U.S. Geological and Geographic Survey of the territories, and he later edited the journals of Lewis and Clark and Zebulon Pike’s account of his early explorations of the western rivers. He became well versed and interested in the history of the West. Juliette was especially drawn, however, to the works of the artist John James Audubon, who had traveled up the Missouri River past her hometown in 1843. According to Authorine Phillips’s Arrow Rock, Audubon, then almost sixty years old and famous for his paintings of American birds, traveled on the steamboat Omega, which was carrying supplies for trading posts owned by Pierre Chouteau Jr. He had a party of five assistants and hunters Chouteau had provided traveling with him. Although the Omega returned to St. Louis after delivering its supplies, Audubon and his party remained at Yellowstone until the fall of the year, reportedly having “made a very fine collection of animals” before their return. Juliette became a collector of Audubon books and information about the artist.  Daring to Be Different Mary Alicia Owen’s book Old Rabbit the Voodoo and Other Sorcerers, published in London in 1893, brings together a body of Juliette Owen’s work that reveals her affection for the world around her. Juliette’s lifelong interest in birds is reflected in this gathering of many of the birds she studied. (Courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri)  “Miss Juliette” Like Mary and Ella, Juliette also read widely in periodicals dealing with her area of interest, natural history, especially the emerging field of ornithology, the study of birds. She enjoyed bird watching, and delighted in bringing the birds she observed to life in her watercolors. She became knowledgeable enough about birds to qualify for associate membership in the exclusive American Ornithologists’ Union and to contribute sightings to its publication. One of only ten women who achieved this distinction , she was a member of the organization for nearly fortysix years. Contemporary articles about her always proudly listed the many organizations to which she belonged and seldom failed to...