Mary Owens Jenkins (c. 1841–1884)

Follow the purple arrows on the signs as you walk

A likeness of Mary Owens can be found on the horse closest to the center of the mural.  She lived in Danville, Pennsylvania, when the Civil War tore the nation apart.  It also threatened to tear her boyfriend, William Evans, away from her.  But, when he enlisted in the Union Army, she disguised herself as a man, took the alias, Johnny Evans, and followed him, posing as his younger brother.

Mary Owens, an excellent equestrian, was a messenger throughout the war, serving with her boyfriend’s unit.  He was mortally wounded at Gettysburg, but she forged on.  Her family’s descendants claim that she was never discovered to be a woman until she too was wounded in that battle.

After the war,  Mary Owens moved to the west side of Massillon and married Abie Jenkins.  They are both buried in Brookfield Cemetery.  Although there are no official records of Mary Owens’s Union Army service, the Grand Army of the Republic, the premier veterans’ organization honoring those who served in the Union Army, decorated her gravesite with GAR markers.

Directions: Now, turn left, south, and walk one block to cross Lincoln Way.  Stop just before the next corner, Diamond Court, to view at the cream-colored building with burgundy trim on the opposite side of Erie Street.