Bethenia Angelina Owens-Adair (February 7, 1840 – September 11, 1926) was an American social reformer, advocate for eugenics, and one of the first female physicians in Oregon.

[1] When Owens was three years old, her family, including her parents and two siblings, Diana and Flem, left their home to start a homestead on the American frontier.

[4] From 1843 to 1853, the family resided in the Clatsop Plains region, living and working cattle herds on their 640 acres of land.

During this period of her life, Owens often served as the family nurse and nanny, taking care of her siblings, and helping with work around the farm.

It was during the first thirteen years of her life that she gained skills such as horseback riding, cooking, sewing, cattle rearing, and general homemaking.

Shortly after their marriage, the couple moved onto a 320-acre tract of land which Hill purchased on credit, a few miles from Owen's family home.

This led the couple into financial difficulty, with Hill eventually selling all of Owen's dowry, excluding the horse.

[1] A family member in California, Aunt Kelly, offered to adopt the boy and raise him as her own, but Owens refused.

Owens' father offered to support their return to Oregon, in addition to giving them an acre of land, so they could be closer to family.

Tom Owens wanted to write the deed for the acre in his daughter's name, rather than Hill's, which created tension in the relationship.

Due to this long break in her education, she was required to attend primary school alongside young children.

Initially, she found work nursing the sick, ironing, washing, and cooking, and eventually decided to pursue a career in teaching.

Rather than leave her home, Owens decided that teaching was no longer financially practical and began to consider other lines of employment.

To stay in business and learn about current trends, Owens traveled to San Francisco to train under the milliner Madame Fouts.

After a year of study, Owens graduated from the Philadelphia Eclectic School and returned to Oregon to open a medical practice.

She returned to the East Coast with letters of recommendation in hopes to finally be admitted to Jefferson College, however, she was once again rejected on account of her gender.

At the recommendation of Dr. Samuel David Gross, she applied to The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and was admitted to the two-year surgical program there.

[citation needed] In the decades between her first and second marriages, she made active steps to ensure the success of her son, George.

Owens also took herself and George on a long vacation to Europe to travel and study under the most successful surgeons and doctors of the time.

[4] At the age of 44, Owens married her second husband, West Point graduate Colonel John Adair, on July 24, 1884.

This initially proved to have a positive impact on Owens' health, which steadily improved, but made her work as a doctor more difficult.

The frontier conditions, weather, lack of transport, and distance from the farm made it difficult to reach patients.

In total, Owens raised four children, as well as helped support her siblings, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews in their education and endeavors throughout their lives.

In 1898, the combination of the physical strain of travel and farm work, as well as the wet climate, led Owens to suffer from rheumatism.

The shift in environment seemed to improve her condition significantly, and she continued to practice medicine, attend schooling in Chicago, and write during this period.

[16] Her work began to take priority as her business expanded, and Adair and John moved back to manage the farm in Oregon, so that she could focus on her responsibilities.

She waited to make her stance on the subject public due to the controversial nature of eugenics and out of concern for the financial wellbeing of her practice.