OWEN, JAMES ALEXANDER, M.D. (6 Sept. 1891-19??), physician and member of the executive committee of the CUYAHOGA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY, ran unsuccessfully for the seat vacated by THOMAS W. FLEMING (third district) on CLEVELAND CITY COUNCIL (1929). He was an unsuccessful candidate again in 1933 (18th ward). His platforms included better SANITATION and increased access to medical care. Owen was born in Natchez, MS, to Sarah J. (Mazigue) and Samuel Henry Clay Owen, president of Natchez College. He received an A.B. from Natchez College (1912) and an M.D. from the Meharry Medical College (TN) in 1916. One of 4 medical professionals in his family, Owen interned at the Kansas City General Hospital (MO) and served overseas in the Medical Corps during WORLD WAR I, holding the rank of captain upon his discharge in 1919. On 27 July 1921 he married Marie E. Thomas and that same year he began a private medical practice in Cleveland and maintained an office on Cedar Avenue by 1933. In POLITICS, Owen was assistant ward leader of Cleveland's 18th ward and a charter member of the Conservative Republican Voters League, formed in the late 1920s by AFRICAN AMERICANS. He served as president of the board of trustees of the combined normal and industrial department, Wilberforce University (OH), and as vice-president of the Ohio Medical Association. Owen also belonged to the American Legion. By 1940 he lived in Detroit, MI.
