Lowry

Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame…

joelowry1982 1940s, Lowry, Paternal
People often wonder why I’m such a huge Notre Dame football fan. “Did you go to Notre Dame?” No. “Did your dad?” No. It’s quite simple. It’s in my blood. My love of Notre Dame football goes back at least three generations, when Midwestern, Catholic, Irish-Americans were looking for something to rally around. Ironically, it was a Norwegian chemist named Knute Rockne who brought the Fighting Irish to the national stage.
As Notre Dame football kicks off for the 126th time, it’s worth remembering those seasons that came before. The weekend of November 21 – 22, 1942, my grandfather Chuck Lowry and two buddies traveled from Youngstown to South Bend, Indiana. #8 Notre Dame took on the dismal Northwestern Wildcats. The Irish, coming off a loss to #6 Michigan, beat the ‘Cats 27-20. Notre Dame finished the season 7-2-2 (with ties against Wisconsin and the tough Middies of the Great Lakes Naval Station). 
A young Chuck Lowry in front of the Main Administration Building.
Chuck’s friend Walt Huebner in front of the the Main Administration Building.

The signage celebrates 100 years since Father Edward Sorin founded the Our Lady’s University.

Al Dohar on campus.

The Stadium

The Rockne Memorial. This rec center was only five years old when this photo was taken in 1942.
Church of the Sacred Heart. It was elevated by Pope John Paul II to Basilica status in 1992.
The Main Administration Building

The Grotto

Photos from a family collection. Click to enlarge.

Treasure Chest Thursday – Family Photo Bonanza!

joelowry1982 Lowry, Paternal, Pepperney, Treasure Chest Thursday

I haven’t posted much to the blog because I’ve been working on a rather large photo project. I’ve been scanning and uploading close to 1,000 family photos. Most of the images are from the Lowry and Pepperney families (my paternal line).

This project really started when my grandfather Charles Lowry passed away in 2007. I was just beginning to take an interest in genealogy. It was a year or two later when I was at an aunt’s house when I first laid eyes on the photos. I was so early in my genealogical research that I didn’t know who most of the people were. I knew they were family, in some cases distant, but I couldn’t put names with the faces.

Fast forward to this past summer and I finally feel like I have a firm footing on the Lowry family line. When I started, I knew so little about the Lowry family relative to my maternal lines that I really made a push this summer to learn more. The photos have proven invaluable making the history come alive.

You can view these photos by clicking the link below. I’m still working on captioning them, and some have generic file names which I hope to adjust. Doing that for 1,000 photos is not an easy task. I would appreciate your comments and corrections, either here, on Facebook or on the Flickr pages themselves.
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http://www.flickr.com/badge_code_v2.gne?show_name=1&count=5&display=random&size=m&layout=v&source=user_set&user=48152674%40N00&set=72157634931264099&context=in%2Fset-72157634931264099%2F

Joe Lowry's Margaret Pepperney Lowry Collection photoset

Wordless Wednesday – Pepperney Family photo

joelowry1982 Lowry, Pepperney, Wordless Wednesday
Family photo from a collection of my great grandmother Margaret Pepperney Lowry’s photos. Click to enlarge.
The Pepperney’s, maybe around 1950. I’m going to try and put this one together. You can judge me in the comments. The relationships in parentheses are to me.
Standing (left to right): Margaret Pepperney Lowry (great grandmother), Katherine Butsko Pepperney (great grand aunt, husband of James Sr.), James Pepperney Sr. (great grand uncle, brother of Margaret)
Seated: probably Chuck Lowry (uncle), George Pepperney (great great grandfather), Catherine Pepperney Campana (1st cousin, 2x removed; daughter of Katherine and James Sr.), Eleanor Pepperney (great grand aunt; sister of my great grandmother Margaret), Katherine Pepperney (great grand aunt; sister of my great grandmother Margaret), Charles James Lowry (grandfather), Charles Edward Lowry (great grandfather)
Floor: James Pepperney (1st cousin, 2x removed; son of Katherine and James Sr.)


Tombstone Tuesday – Ralph Lowry (1889 – 1973)

joelowry1982 Cemetery, Lowry, Paternal
In the far northeast corner of the El Carmelo Cemetery in Pacific Grove, California is an older columbarium that contains the remains of Ralph Lowry and his wife Gladys.
Ralph is my first cousin, 3x removed; this makes him my great grandfather Charles’ first cousin. It’s doubtful that Ralph and Charles ever met. Ralph spent his entire life living on the West Coast, and after his father moved West through Missouri, Colorado, and Washington in the late 1870’s, he never went back (that I can determine).
During a recent vacation, we were staying just a few miles away from El Carmelo, and figuring it would be years before I got back, Eileen and I detoured. Even on vacation, genealogy isn’t far from my mind. 

Eileen insisted I pose for a picture. I agree that this is sort of weird.




You can see the headstone of Ralph’s mother previously featured here.

Friday’s Faces of the Past – Grandpap, Pap, Charles and Jr.

joelowry1982 Four Generations, Lowry, Paternal, Photo Friday
Four generations of Lowrys in Leetonia, Ohio.

This photo has recently soared to the top of my list of favorite photos. Four generations of Lowry men in one shot, with a history that dates back nearly 185 years.

The oldest Lowry, Michael ‘Grandpap’, was about 97 years old when this photo was taken on 12 February 1928. My dad tells me that he was blind and nearly deaf at this point. As he died in June 1928, he would not survive more than a few months after this photo. Incredibly, a man who spent his life as a coal miner lived long enough to be the oldest in a photo of four generations. Check out his moccasins!

My 2nd great grandfather Michael ‘Pap’ was 59 years old. Michael and Bridget Conley Lowry’s youngest son was born in August 1868 in Huntington, Pennsylvania. He died in 1949 in Mayhew Nursing Home in Columbiana County.

My great grandfather Charles Edward Lowry was born in September 1899. He died in 1975. The little man with the double-breasted peacoat is my grandfather Chuck. I never knew him as ‘Junior,’ but it’s been great to see more than a few pictures with that caption. My great-grandmother Margaret Pepperney Lowry was quite the photobug and was excellent at providing captions.

I have a lot of photos from the late 1920s that I’ve scanned and will be publishing over the next few weeks, but this one is the cream of the crop.

Source:
Michael Lowry Sr., Michael Lowry Jr., Charles E. Lowry, and Charles J. Lowry, photograph, taken in Leetonia, Ohio in February 1928; digital image, photocopy of original, scanned in 2013 by Joseph Lowry; privately held by Patrick Lowry, [address for private use], Poland, Ohio; Three men and a young boy on a porch; Provenance is Mary Pepperney Lowry to Charles Lowry to Mary McCaffrey to Patrick Lowry.

Wordless Wednesday – 98-year old Michael ‘Grandpap’ Lowry

joelowry1982 Lowry, Paternal, Wordless Wednesday

I’m impatient and couldn’t wait to post this crappy photo of a photo. Taken in 1928 in Leetonia, Ohio, this is my 3rd great grandfather Michael “grandpap” Lowry. This is part of a series of photos involving his son Michael, grandson Charles and great grandson Charles. Grandpap was about 98 years old when this photo was taken. He didn’t survive the year. I’m scanning them all to a higher quality and will post the better version later.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday’s Obituary – Sarah Lowry (1858 – 1915)

joelowry1982 Lowry, Obituary, Paternal

I have previously shown the tombstone of my 2nd great grand aunt Sarah Lowry. Thanks to a great service provided by the Washington State Library, I now have two obituaries for her, both from the Republic News Miner (still the paper of record in Republic). The first, a death notice, appeared on 5 Feb 1915, just two days after her death. While she was living in Spokane at the time, she spent much of her later life in Republic, Washington, a very small town 123 miles to the northwest.

Sarah and her husband Edward have been a tough nut for me to crack and continue to occupy a significant amount of my research time. One of their sons went on to do very great things for this country and I hope to feature him in the future. Sarah and Edward are the only Lowry’s who moved out of the Ohio area and to the West. I don’t know Sarah’s maiden name, where she was born, or who her parents are. I don’t know when or where Edward died, but believe he outlived Sarah. Interestingly, her obituary makes no mention of Edward so perhaps they were separated or divorced. So many questions, so little time. Fortunately, the blogosphere never runs out of ink!

(click to enlarge)
The second is a funeral announcement that appeared a week later, 12 Feb 1915. It’s not exactly clear but it appears that her funeral was held in Republic in the local Presbyterian church. Today, there’s only one Presbyterian church in Republic, on Keller Street. I’m not certain that was the church in question, and they don’t have a website.

(click to enlarge)
Also worth noting are the ‘Extra Fancy $2.50 Jonathans now $1.00 at The Palm Store.’ I have no idea what that means. If they are referring to apples, that is an incredibly expensive price in 1915.
Source:
Sarah Lowry obituary, Republic News Miner, Republic, Washington, February 5 and 12, 1915, page 1. Provided by the Ask a Librarian service of the Washington State Library (K. Smeenk, Reference Librarian). Received via email on 27 Jun 2013.

Wordless Wednesday – Cousins

joelowry1982 Lowry, Paternal, Wordless Wednesday
One of my favorite photos. All of the Lowry cousins on Thanksgiving 1998 (I think), save Lindy Jean and Jude, who were not yet born. This was probably the last time we were all together until our grandfather died in 2007. Between us, these young kids now have 10 kids of their own.
Top to bottom, left to right: 
Joe, JP, Mike, James, Caroline, Katie, Laura, Kelly, Jeannie, Jen, Colleen, Kaitlyn, Sara