News Tribune, Beaver
Falls, Pennsylvania
6-26-73
ALONG THE AVENUE
-- After a long interlude, it's about time we have a review of one of the
old time families of Beaver County as established back in 1914, by the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.
This one has
to do with the John G. LOWRY family and is reprinted as follows:
"John Giesey
Lowry, who during his life was a prominent citizen of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania,
was a member of the LOWRY family, which has for many years been identified
with the life of Somerset and Westmoreland counties, in that state.
He was born August 13, 1832, in Berlin, Somerset county, Pennsylvania,
and died in Beaver Falls, April 7, 1906.
His father,
Jacob LOWRY, was probably also a native of Somerset County, and certainly
lived there during his youth, and up to the time when his son, John G.,
was four years old. While still a resident there, he married Elizabeth
Giesey, and later moved to a farm in Westmoreland county, where he lived
until the time of his death. To him and his wife were born nine children,
of whom, all but the youngest, are dead. They were: Henry, a farmer
of Kansas; William, who lived on the old LOWRY homestead in Westmoreland
county; Jacob, who had a farm near Ligonier, Pennsylvania; Susan; Mary;
Harriet; Priscilla; John Giesey, of whom further; Jane, now Mrs. Daniel
Nicewonger, residing on a farm in Whiteside county Illinois.
John Giesey
LOWRY spent his childhood on his father's farm near Ligonier, and there
grew up to young manhood. He then went to the near-by town of Ligonier
and apprenticed himself to his brother-in-law, Samuel Stater, a carpenter,
and under him learned that trade. The Civil War breaking out at this
time, Mr. LOWRY enlisted in Company K., Fifty-third Regiment Pennsylvania
Volunteers, and served for three years, during which time he took part
in a number of the most fiercely contested engagments of the war, among
them Gettysburg. In the battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines, he was
severely wounded by a bullet which narrowly missed cutting the femoral
vein in his thigh. At the battle of Fredericksburg, his hearing was
permanently affected by the noise of the cannonading, an affection which
grew with his years, until toward the latter end of his life he became
totally deaf. His last year of service was with the signal service
corps, after which he returned to Ligonier, Pennsylvania. He was
married in 1863?, and then removed with his wife to Latrobe, Pennsylvania,
where he worked as a contracting carpenter for three years. This
was at a time when a great tide of migration was setting westward and a
wonderful development taking place in parts of our western states.
Mr. Lowry joined the movement west, and settled in Emporia, Kansas, remaining
for about a year. The boom, however, had come and gone in that section
and there was but little demand for his trade, so he returned east to Pennsylvania,
this time to [Whiteside county, Illinois?], where he farmed for a year,
finally returning to Beaver Falls, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in which
place he made his home until the time of his death. In Beaver Falls
he became a contracting carpenter, and did a large lucrative business.
In 1883, three years after his arrival there, he built a fine house for
himself at No. 1514 Eighth Avenue. Mr. LOWRY was a staunch Republican
in politics, and active in public affairs, serving for a time on the Beaver
county jury commission. He was a member of the masonic Blue Lodge,
the Grand Army of the Republic and the Union Veteran Legion.
Mr. LOWRY
married, June 29, 1865, Mary W. ELDER, a native of Westmoreland County,
where she was born May 2, 1841, about two miles from Ligonier. The
ELDER family is an old and distinguished one, and Mrs. LOWRY traces her
ancestry in this country back to the Rev. John ELDER, the founder of the
family in America. There is a tradition that the ELDER family was
driven out of Scotland into the north of Ireland by religious persecution,
though whether it was this reverand gentleman or his father is uncertain.
John ELDER was a clergyman of the Presbyterian church, and coming to Path
Valley, Pennsylvania, when that part of the state was a wilderness, and
churches few and far between, he preached to congregations in all the country
between Harrisburg and Chambersburg, congregations often formed of Indians.
His son, Robert ELDER, was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, and served
at the head of his Pennsylvania regiment throughout the whole seven years
of that historic struggle. The son of Colonel Robert ELDER, Joseph
ELDER, was born in Franklin county and lived there up to the period of
his marriage, after which he removed to Westmoreland county, in which the
family had since resided. His son, Joseph ELDER, Jr., was Mrs. LOWRY's
father. He came to Westmoreland county with his parents as a boy,
and there grew up, acquiring a farm of one hundred and sixty acres.
He and his family were members of the Presbyterian church, and he was a
staunch Republican.
(to be continued
Tomorrow)
6-27-73 History
of LOWRY Family - continued from Tuesday.
He married
Elizabeth PENROSE, a native of his adopted county, and to them were born
five children, as follows: Mary W., now Mrs. LOWRY, the widow of John G.
LOWRY; John, served for nine months in the Civil War and then went to Nevada
where owned and operated a stage coach line, and where he finally died
unmarried at the age of thirty-one; Margaret, now Mrs. Thomas Smith, residing
at Ligonier, Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, now Mrs. Henry Shoup, also residing
near Ligonier; William A., who resides retired at Ligonier; he married
Lettie McKelvey.
To Mr. and
Mrs. LOWRY were born four children, all deceased. They were, Josephine,
who died at the age of five years; Mary Edna, Howard, John Rush, all of
whom died when but a few months of age.
Mr. LOWRY
is survived by his widow, who continues to reside at Beaver Falls in the
summer, but spends her winters in Florida. She is a member of the
Presbyterian church, as was Mr. LOWRY, and a member of the Daughters of
the Revolution in virtue of her ancestor. Colonel Robert ELDER's
participation in the Revolutionary War, of his record in which Mrs. LOWRY
is very proud. It is her belief that patriotism is a quality of the
blood that may be, and in the case of her own family, is inherited.
It is a quality of which she, herself, is possessed of a large measure,
and she believes in fostering it.
************
Obituary:
Mary Elder Lowry,
age 84, of 1514 Eighth Avenue, and widow of the late
John G. Lowry, died
Thursday after noon at 2 o'clock after a lingering illness.
She was a member
of the First Presbyterian church, of Beaver Falls, and the D.A.R., W.R.C.,
and the Eastern Star. Beaver Falls Review, 6/18/25.
*****
From Beaver Co Will
Books and Registers Docket, 1901-1925, Page 83, Oct 1, 1993
LOWRY, JOHN G.
1906 Vol. O-310 page 9-185
LOWRY, MARY W. ELDER
1925 Vol. Y-440 page 15-306