Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/63

 LOWELL

LOWELL

as trustee see " History of the Lowell Institute" (1898), by Harriette Knight Smith. Mr. Lowell was twice married : first in Boston, Feb. 14, 1822, to Susan Cabot, daughter of Francis Cabot and Hannah (Jackson) Lowell, who died Aug. 15, 1827; and secondly at Salem, Mass., April 2, 1829, to Elizabeth Cabot, daughter of Judge Samuel and Sarah (Gooll) Putnam, and their son, Augustus Lowell, born Jan. 15, 1830, succeeded as trustee of the Lowell Institute. He was a fellow of Harvard, 1837-77 ; a member of the Linnean society, London, of the Massachusetts Historical society, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received from Harvard the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1851. He died in Boston, Mass., Oct. 31, 1881.

LOWELL, Josephine 5haw, humanitarian, was born in West Roxbury, Mass., Dec. 16, 1843; daughter of Francis George and Sarah Blake (Sturgis) Shaw, and a sister of Col. Robert Gould Shaw (q.v.). In 1851 she went abroad with her parents, returning in 1855, when they made Staten Island their home. She attended schools in New York and Boston. She was married, Oct. 31, 1863, to Col. Charles Russell Lowell (q.v.). She took an active interest in the sanitary com- mission during the civil war, and after her hus- band's death devoted herself to work for the freed men and to philanthropy and reform. She was appointed a member of the New York state board of charities by Governor Tilden in 1876, and served until 1889, having been reappointed by Governors Robinson and Cornell. She was one of the founders of the Charity Organization society of New York city in 1881. She advocated the lights of labor and of labor organizations, and became interested in civil service reform and in prison reform. In 1899 she was appointed by Governor Roosevelt a member of the board of managers of the New York State Reformatory for Women. Slie is the author of : Public Relief and Private Charity (1884); Industrial Arbitra- tion and Conciliation (1893 ), and contributions to periodicals.

LOWELL, Joshua A., representative, was born in Thomaston, Maine, March 20, 1801; son of Rossamus and Deborah (Keen) Lowell ; grandson of Reuben and Priscilla (Bartlett) Lowell ; great- grandson of Stephen and Miriam (Collins) Lowell ; greats-grandson of Captain Gideon and Miriam (Svvett) Lowell ; greats-grandson of Richard and Margaret Lowell, and a descendant in the eighth generation of Percival and Rebecca Lowle, 1639. His mother was of Scottish ancestry. He acquired his education without help from his father from whom he purchased his time in 1819. He was admitted to the bar in East Machias, Maine, in September, 1826; to the U.S. circuit court in 1836, and to the U.S. supreme court at Wash- VII.— 4

ington, D.C., in 1840. He was married in 1827 to Miranda Turner of East Machias. He was a Democratic representative in the Maine legisla- ture in 1831, 1832, 1835 and 1837 ; a representative from Maine in the 26th and 27th congresseM, 1839-43, and a presidential elector on the Polk and Dallas ticket in 1845. He devoted his leisure time to scientific farming. He died in East Machias, Maine, March 13, 1873.

LOWELL, Percival, astronomer, was born in Boston, Mass., March 13, 1855 ; son of AuguH- tus and Katherine Bigelow (Lawrence) Lowell. He was graduated from Harvard with the degree A.B. in 1876. For several years he resided in Japan and while there in 1883 was appointed secretary and counsellor to the Corean special commission to the United States, the first em- bassy sent from there to any Occidental power. In 1894 he established the Lowell observatory, Flagstaff, Ariz. In 1896 this observatory was for a time removed to the city of Mexico. He deliv- ered before the Lowell Institute six lectures on " Japanese Occultism " in 1893-94, and four lectures on " The Planet Mars " in 1894-95. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; a member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, of the American Philosophical society of Phila- delphia and of the American Oriental society. He is the author of : Choson : the Land of the Morning Calm (1885) ; The Soul of the Far East (1888) ; Noto : an Unexplored Comer of Japan (1891) ; Occult Japan, or the Way of the Oods (1895) ; 3Iar8 (1895) ; and scientific pa[)er.s.

LOWELL, Robert Traill Spence, clergyman, was born in Boston, Mass., Oct. 8, 1816 ; son of the Rev. Charles and Harriet Bracket (Spence) Lowell. He was pre- pared for college at Round Hill school, Northampton, Mass., under Joseph G. Cogswell and George Bancroft, 1823-28,and was graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1833, A.M., 1836. He stu- died medicine at Harvard for a time, and was employed by his brother Charles Russell Lowell, a lead- ing merchant, in Bos- ton, Mass. He com- menced the study of theology in 1839, and on the invitation of Bishop Spencer of Newfound- land, went to Hamilton, Bermuda, where he was ordered deacon in 1842, ordained priest in 1843, and served as domestic chaplain to the