Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/62

 LOWELL

LOWELL

the high school at Edinburgh, Scotland. He ■was a student at Harvard, 1813-15, but was ob- liged to leave on account of ill-health, and in 1816 and again in 1817 went to India. He be- came a successful merchant in Boston, devoting

all his leisure to study and collecting one of the largest and most valuable private li- braries in the city. He was repeatedly elected to the com- mon council of Boston and to the state leg- islature. He was married in Boston, April 6, 1825, to Geor- gina Margaret, daugh- ter of Jonathan and Lydia (Fellows) Am- ory. In the winter of 1830-31 his wife and two daughters died, and after that time Mr. Lowell devoted much of his time to travel. In 1835, while travelling in Egypt, he was taken and during convalescence wrote his last codi- cil m which he completed the plan he had partially formulated in liis will several years before. Tiiis will provided that one-half of his property should be used for the establishment and maintenance of the Lowell Institute, to con- sist of regular courses of free public lectures upon philosophy, natural liistory, and the arts and sciences, to be annually delivered in the city of Boston. This sum, amounting to nearly ^250,000, was at that time, with the exception of Stephen Girard's bequest, the largest ever given in America by a private individual for the endowment of a literary institution. Besides the popular lectures the will provided for others •' more abstruse, erudite and particular," for stu- dents. The funds were placed in the hands of the founder's cousin, John Amory Lowell (q.v.), constituted by the will sole trustee, and the will stated that '' each trustee shall appoint his suc- cessor," and that " in selecting a successor the trustee shall always choose in preference to all 'others some male descendant of my Grandfather John Lowell, provided there be one who is com- petent to hold the oflRce of trustee, and of the name of Lowell." The trustee was permitted to " estab- lish from time to time lectures on any subject that in his opinion the wants and taste of the age may demand. " See " History of the Lowell Insti- tute," by Harriette Knight Smith (1898), and also ••Memoir of John Lowell, Jr.," by Edward Ever- ett, delivered in Boston, Dec. 31, 1839, as the intro- ductory lecture on Mr. Lowell's foundation. Mr. Lowell died in Bombay, India, March 4, 1836.

LOWELL, John, jurist, was born in Boston, Mass., Oct. 18, 1824; son of John Amory and Susan Cabot (Lowell) Lowell, and grandson of John (born 1769) and Rebecca (Amory) Lowell and of Francis Cabot and Hannah (Jackson) Lowell. He was graduated from Harvard, A. B., 1843, LL.B., 1845, A.M., 1846. He was admitted to the bar in 1846, and practised in Boston, 1846- 65. He was appointed judge of the U.S. district court of Massachusetts, March 11, 1865, by Presi- dent Lincoln ; judge of the U.S. circuit court by President Hayes, Dec. 18, 1878, and resigned. May 1, 1884, to resume general practice. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; a member of the Massachusetts Agri- cultural and Historical societies ; a trustee of the Massachusetts General hospital, and an overseer of Harvard, 1875-86. He received the degree LL.D. from Williams college in 1870 and from Harvard in 1871. He was elected president of the board of trustees of the Peabody Education Fund in 1896. He was married in Boston, Mass., May 18, 1853, to Lucy Buckminster, daughter of George Barrell and Olivia (Buckminster) Emerson. His decisions were published in two volumes (1872-77). He died at Chestnut Hill, Brookline, Mass., May 14, 1897.

LOWELL, John Amory, merchant, was born in Boston, Mass., Nov. 11, 1798; son of Jolm (b. 1769) and Rebecca (Amory) Lowell. He was graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1815, A.M., 1818, and became a manufacturer on the Merrimack river. He was a member of the convention that re- vised the state constitution in 1853 and was prom- inently connected with many public, literarj' and benevolent enterprises. By the will of his cousin, John Lowell, Jr., he was made sole trustee of the Lowell Institute, and as such he interpreted the will, put it into operation and for forty years managed the fund and engaged the lecturers. At the time of his death more than 3000 lec- tures had been given in the regular courses. In 1850 he establislied in connection with the Lowell Institute a free drawing school which was continued until 1879, and in 1866 he en- tered into an engagement with the Massiichu- setts Institute of Technology, Boston, whereby courses of free lectures are provided for advanced students. These lectures, known as the Lowell Free Courses of Instruction under the supervi- sion of the Institute, comprise nearly 150 an- nual lectures on science, language, history, archi- tecture and engineering. Mr. Lowell also inaug- urated in connection with the bequest many unique educational plans, including courses of instruction in science for the teachers of Boston, instruction bj- lectures to workingmen, and the Lowell Schopl of Practical Design, established in 1872. For a further account of Mr. Lowell's work