Source:
“Mrs. Michael Lowry Succumbs in Hospital,” Youngstown Vindicator, Section 1, Page 16. May 7 1945, accessed November 3, 2013. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kQtJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=A4MMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1460,1861252&dq=leetonia+michael-lowry&hl=en
When I graduated from Ursuline in 2000, my graduation party featured a life-size picture of me in my tux before senior prom, printed on white paper so family and friends could write a message of support/good luck/inspiration. It’s a fairly common thing, I suppose, for a new graduate to need all the help he can get leaving the nest for the first time. Afterward, not wanting to dispose of these sentiments, I folded this massive piece of paper and stored it in a Rubbermaid container where it sat for years. Sorting through some boxes this past summer, I realized it wasn’t practical to keep it when I needed to make room in those bins for my Lego’s, a Star Trek comic book collection and a stockpile of Air Force unit patches, enough to outfit an entire squadron, that still clogged my old bedroom at my parents’ house.
I took one final read of what was written on that large piece of paper. Some comments were witty, others sentimental, and some were just plain stupid (“Never change!” – like that’s even possible). Of everything written, there was one comment that stuck with me. In the top, right corner, my grandpa Howard Witt wrote something so very Howard – “Peace be with you!”. My Grandpa Witt had incredibly strong faith and shared that faith where he could, whether in writing, in his spoken words or in the stained glass crosses he crafted that still grace many homes in Youngstown (and don’t forget The Vatican!). I cut this corner off the rest of the paper and it’s in my scrapbook, a fantastic reminder of an honorable and loving grandfather.
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| Grandpa Witt and a very young me taking a stroll during a trip to Topeka, Kansas to visit relatives. |
A 15-year old kid with his two parents. His mother doting over him, his father off to work each day. This was my grandfather and his parents in 1940. Charles James Lowry was a sophomore at Ursuline High School when Census Bureau employee Helen G Fouistell knocked on the door of 207 Thornton Avenue, on Youngstown’s North Side.
Carrying her oversized clipboard and a new Census sheet, she found my great grandmother Margaret home on Friday, April 5, 1940. My great grandfather Charles Edward was probably off at work, a analyst at Republic Steel. Steel still put bread on the table in Youngstown in 1940. Five of the 19 employed individuals that Helen interviewed for this census sheet worked in steel mills.
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| Click to enlarge. |
State: Ohio
County: Mahoning
City: Youngstown
Ward: 1
Block: 169
Sheet: 2B
Enumeration District: 96-14
Enumerated by: Helen G Fouistell, Enumerator
Address: 207 N Thornton Avenue (map)
Line 41 – 43
Household 31
Rented or Owned: Rented
Monthly Rent: $31
Does this household live on a farm? No
Lowry, Charles E, head, male, white, 39 years old, married. Has not attended school since March 1, 1939. Attended school through 12th grade. Born in Ohio. On April 1, 1935 lived in same place. Was at work for pay the week of March 24-30, 1940. Works 40 hours a week as an analyst in a steel mill. Worked 52 weeks in 1939. Earned $2,000 wages in 1939, with no wages from another source.
” Margaret M., wife, female, white, age 37, married. Has not attended school since March 1, 1939. Attended school through 12th grade. Born in Pennsylvania. On April 1, 1935 lived in same place (not a farm). Did not work or seek work for pay. Engaged in housework with no income from another source.
” , Charles J., son, male, white, age 15, single. Born in Ohio. On April 1, 1935 lived in same place. Has attended school since March 1, 1939. Completed school through H-1 (high school, 1 years). Has no income from a job.
Sources:
1940 U.S. Federal Census, Mahoning County, Youngstown, population schedule, Enumeration District 96-14, Sheet 2B, Dwelling 31,. Charles E Lowry; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 October 2013), citing National Archives microfilm publication Roll T627_3267.
The Lowry’s of Youngstown are a large clan. My grandparents Chuck and Jean Lowry are responsible for eleven children, 15 grandchildren, and ten great grandchildren! Add to that number spouses, stepchildren, and pets, and there’s even more Lowry’s!
That said, my grandfather was an only child, and my dad and his siblings know a bit about their great aunts and uncles, but not much. The Lowry’s never hosted large extended family gatherings like the Groucutt side of the family because there was not a large extended family to host!
I’ve been working hard to fill some of these gaps and along the way discovered a deceased Lowry cousin that current Lowry’s have never met but we should all be aware of his contribution to America. He shall now be referred to as:
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| He even looks like a Lowry! |
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| This chart shows Ralph’s relationship to the people on the right, which is my family line. Click image to enlarge. |
Edward, a coal miner, was in the process of making his way West while the rest of the family remained in Ohio and Pennsylvania. By 1900, Edward, Sarah, Ralph and his brother Edward Jr. were living in Ferry, Washington, which Ralph would call home through college. He attended the Washington State University, receiving a degree in 1917 in civil engineering.
For the next forty years, Ralph worked for the Bureau of Reclamation as an engineer. He was a construction engineer on the Gibson Dam project. This dam was built between 1926 and 1929 in western Montana to irrigate land in the Sun River Valley. His greatest accomplishments were to come, however, when he accepted a position as an engineer on the construction of the Hoover Dam.
In 1931, Ralph was appointed as a Field Engineer on the Hoover project. For the next five years he worked as one of a number of engineers before he was offered a promotion. Head engineer Walker Young was leaving the Hoover project and Ralph became the senior government engineer just as construction was wrapping up.
While the Hoover Dam is certainly the most well known of Ralph’s projects, he did not stop there. He served as an engineer on the Shasta Dam and Coulee Dam construction projects.
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| Ralph, third from the right, with members of the California Supreme Court and other state officials who are inspecting the Shasta Dam. Bureau of Land Management photo; CSU Chico Archives. |
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| Ralph Lowry, Construction Engineer for Reclamation, left, congratulates Frank Crowe, Superintendent for Pacific Constructors, Inc., right, on the placing of the first bucket of concrete in Shasta Dam. July 8, 1940. USBR photo and caption. |
Tracing your family back to the ‘old country’ can be fun and rewarding. You may learn what town that were from, what their occupation was, where they lived in relation to other family members, the church they attended, and more. It’s not always the easiest process in the world (pun intended). It can even be a real impossibility.
Genealogy isn’t always about certainties. I can’t always prove everything I want to be true, or think to be true. One of those many things currently is where my 3rd great grandfather Michael Lowry was from in Ireland. I have several documents that state he was born in Ireland. Every available census record from 1860 through 1920 says ‘Ireland’ as his place of birth. I have a death certificate which reads the same. Thanks to the 1920 Census, I’m likewise fairly certain that he emigrated from Ireland around 1849, when he was 20 years old. That, however, is where my research has thus far ended.
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| Click to enlarge. |
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| My 98-year old 3rd great grandpa Michael Lowry in 1928. He died about 4 months after this photo was taken. |
From the Ursuline Irish 1941 ‘Ursulinian’ yearbook, in the ‘What We Leave Behind’ column, “Joe Guerriero places under the protective wing of “Chuck” Lowry, his art of salemanship.”
lowry genealogy 