Henry Owen was born around 1846 in North Carolina. Owen worked as a laborer and resided in Davidson County, North Carolina. Owen was charged with larceny and receiving stolen goods on April 15, 1878, and sentenced to two years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Owen was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2661. In the descriptive register, Owen's race is noted as Black. Owen was thirty-two years old when he was arrested. Owen was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Owen was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He was discharged on February 7, 1880.