The Campobello Island Museum Owen exhibit is the first and only comprehensive exhibit of the history of the Owen Family in New Brunswick.

Captain William Owen RN was gifted the Island of Passamaquoddy by Lord William Campbell, Governor of Nova Scotia, renaming it Campobello Island in honor of his patron. He arrived on the island on 4 June 1770 on the brig “Snow Owen” at Northeast Cove of the island known as Havre de l’Otre. He brought with him 38 indentured servants.

“I soon after went on shore and found three New England families settled here without legal authority, who cheerfully acquiesced in coming under my jurisdiction. I fixt on the spot for building a town to be called New Warrington, and formerly named the Harbour Post Owen and the island Campobello.”
— The journal of Captain William Owen, R.N., during his residence on Campobello in 1770-1771 together with other documents and notes on the history of the island / edited by W.F. Ganong. Owen, William [Saint John, N.B.? : s.n.], 1897

On February 14, 1771 he placed an advertisement in the Boston Evening Telegraph for families to settle on Campobello Island, leaving the island never to return on June 14, 1771. John Wilkinson, Esq stayed behind as his agent.

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