Locality:
Realty Map: 6140324 Cultural
Affiliation: Euro-American
USGS Map:
Grid Locus: K-8 Elevation: 1140 feet
UTM Easting: 587280 Aspect: Flat
UTM Northing: 4129430
Site Dimensions: 24
feet by 42.5 feet
Survey Description:
Site consists of a small cemetery subdivided for two families. One section contains six graves enclosed by an
iron fence that measures 24 by 24 feet.
All of the graves were oriented to the southeast, four of the graves
were marked with inscribed headstones and two were marked with a large,
inscribed obelisk. This section of the
cemetery for the Lowry family is covered with mowed grass and historic
plantings include four cedar trees and some remnant periwinkle. The other section of the cemetery was
enclosed by an ornate iron fence that measures 18.5 by 24 feet. No headstones of ground surface depressions
were observed in this part of the cemetery.
It is covered with mowed grass and some periwinkle continues to grow
around the cemetery perimeters. Site was
field inspected, photographed, and grave marker inscriptions were transcribed
and compared to previous documentation.
Site size was estimated by measuring the horizontal extent of the
surrounding fences.
Survey Date: 11/98
Field Notes: _x_Yes ___No
Photographs: _x_Yes ___No
References:
1986
Works Progress Administration of
Document #5.
Additional Comments:
Assigned temporal period was based on the 1851 through 1901 range of
death dates inscribed on observed headstones.
However, the presence of unmarked graves may reflect an earlier or later
use of the site. The cemetery is marked
on the USGS Salem map sheet and labeled as the “Loury Cem.” It is also marked on local realty maps and identified
as the “Lowry Family Cemetery.” The
cemetery is located in a residential development and is about 12 feet northeast
of Peachtree Drive.
This cemetery was initially surveyed in 1936 by the Works
Progress Administration of Virginia and recorded as the “James Lowry Cemetery”
in Document #5 of the Historical Inventory of Roanoke County, Virginia. The WPA file provided biographical
information for the graves of Perlina Lowry, Elizabeth Lowry, Emiline Lowry, and
James H. Lowry.
The RVHS also surveyed the cemetery and documented
biographical information derived from inscriptions from six headstones that
predated 1921 (1986: 154). According to the RVHS report, “the Sears family
bought the land when the last Lowry died, and later the Barnetts bought space. Mr. Lowry left money to the Lutheran
Children’s Home with the condition that they clean the cemetery once a
year…only the Lowry’s (also spelled Loury) have stones.”
Lowry-Sear
Cemetery (continued)
Marker Inscriptions:
In memory of In
memory of In memory of
James H. Loury Elizabeth
Loury Emiline
Loury
Born Born Born
May 7, 1844 Nov’r.
18th, 1842 Nov’r.
6th, 1838
Died Died Died
Dec’r. 28, 1851 July
31, 1851 Dec’r.
19 1851
Aged 6 Yrs. 7 Mo. Aged
8 Yrs. 11Mo. Aged
13 Yrs. 1 Mo.
& 21 Days &
18 Days &
13 Days
(footstone dislodged) (fragmented
headstone (fragmented
headstone
and
footstone) and
footstone)
In memory of Geo.
W. Lowry Margaret
Lowry
Perlina H.J. Loury Died Died
Born Feb.
21, 1901.
Nov’r. 1st 1840 Aged Aged
Died 65
Yrs. 10 Mo. & 74
Yrs. 9 Mo.
June 16, 1852 8
Dys. 12
Dys.
Aged 11 Yrs. 7 Mo. (both
marked by a large obelisk & separate footstones)
& 12 Days
(fragmented headstone
and footstone)