Who is The Owens Family from Drowning Ruth and what is their importance?

The Owens Family are wealthy residents of Milwaukee, WI, the Owens family become summer residents of Nagawaukee. Clement J. Owens reports finding Mathilda (Starkey) Neumann's body trapped in the ice of Nagawaukee Lake. He is surveying property in preparation for building a home. Clement has a wealthy wife, Theresa, and three children, Maynard (age 17), Avis (15), and Arthur (5) as the novel opens. Arthur first spots the body and yells for his father, who reports it to the sheriff.