Seletia “Sleety” Owens

In the Owens Family History Book, she is known as “the mother of us all.” She is the furthest that we can track our family history (as far back as 1828!). Below are notes from the Book regarding her:

Pinky WIGGINS, born May 1844 in Marion County, Georgia. He married (1) Seletia (Sleety) OWENS, born May 1845 in Marion County, Georgia. He married (2) Julia, born November 1867 in Marion County, Georgia, deceased in Marion County, Georgia.

Georgia Census Records for 1920 shows that Pinky Wiggins had married a woman named Julia and had three additional children. It is reported that Pinky Wiggins’ father was a member of the Georgia Legislature… The only information [that has been found thus far] is on a Wiggins who was a member of the Georgia Legislature after slavery had ended….

Seletia (Sleety) Owens was the daughter of slaves. She was half African American and half American Indian. [We] have no information on her parents. [We] have been told by various family members that she was sold to the Owens at a young age and she could not remember anything about her parents.

She was mated with Pinky Wiggins who was half African American and half Caucasian. This union was never consummated in marriage and Seletia had a total of 14 children with 12 surviving. Seletia seemed to have been a breeder. It is reported that she was somewhat of a fighter. If she felt that she did not want to mate with a certain individual and refused, she would hang by her fingers until she would submit.

Georgia Census Record for 1900 shows a birth date of 1844 for Seletia, and she was living in the home with her son Pearl (Vee) Owens as head of household. Later, when Pearl moved away, she then went to live with her daughter Georgia Owens where she passed.

The Children

As was said above, Seletia Owens had 14 children, and 12 of them survived. In terms of the “focus” of this website, it is on the descendants of Joe Cephus Owens (check out the menu above to see his descendants). However, for context, here is the list of the 12:

  • Rev. Lester Owens
  • Robert Owens
  • Burton Owens
  • Mollie Owens
  • Dixie C. Owens
  • Ada Owens
  • Georgia Owens
  • Rev. Joe Cephus Owens Sr.
  • Rev. Cora Owens
  • Pearl (Vee) Owens
  • Mary Owens
  • Emma Owens

We have pictures of a majority of them, so we will be posting their images in here as time progresses!