Paternal

Census Sunday – 1940 U.S. Census for Charles E. Lowry and Family

joelowry1982 Census Sunday, Lowry, Paternal

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.

Relationship to Me:
Charles Edward Lowry (1899 – 1975)
father of:
Charles James Lowry (1924 – 2007)
father of:
Patrick Edward Lowry
father of:
Joseph Patrick Lowry

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.

That Dam Lowry!

joelowry1982 Lowry, Paternal

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:

That Dam Lowry!

He even looks like a Lowry!
That Dam Lowry is Ralph Lowry. Ralph was born in Bevier, Missouri on April 18, 1889 to Edward and Sarah Lowry.

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.

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.

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.
Ralph retired in 1949 as the Assistant Chief Engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation and settled in Monterey, California. He died on August 18, 1973 in nearby Carmel, California. Eileen and I vacationed there this past summer and I wouldn’t let her leave without a stop at Ralph’s grave. He and his wife Gladys are buried in the columbarium at El Carmelo Cemetery.

Family Lines – Lowry’s back to Ireland

joelowry1982 Lowry, Paternal, Pedigree

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.

Click to enlarge.
In genealogy, the normal method of tracking ancestors is to work backwards through time. Once you hit a brick wall, it’s nearly impossible to know what exactly is on the other side. For 3rd great grandpa Mike, my first step should be to figure out when and where he entered the United States. The 1920 Census, from 71 years after his supposed arrival, is not the surest document to determine those specifics. It would be more helpful if I could find naturalization papers or helpful arrival records, but the luck of the Irish has not yet been on my side. One of the challenges is not a lack of a ‘Michael Lowry’ in these records, but too many. Learning enough about Mike that I can figure out which one is actually him is the challenge.
My 98-year old 3rd great grandpa Michael Lowry in 1928. He died about 4 months after this photo was taken.
That said, it’s not hard to imagine the life that Michael left behind, even if I don’t have the details. 1849 was the height of the Great Famine in Ireland, when a million men, women and children left the old sod looking for a new life in America, England, and Australia because they could no longer survive in a country being crushed by England. England demanded that all Irish foodstuffs, except for the potato, be exported. “Paddy’s Lament’ by Thomas Gallagher paints an incredibly bleak and heart-wrenching picture of Ireland in the late 1840’s. It’s clear that there was no other option for Mike but to leave his home aboard a ‘famine ship’ and have hope of starting over in a new world.
Did he travel alone? Did he travel with siblings or parents and if so, did they survive the journey and establish families here? Perhaps some of the other Lowry’s I’ve met over the years are in fact cousins. Not in the sense that we are all cousins, because we share a last name, but traceable cousins with a known common ancestor. Only time and more research will tell. Fortunately, I have no plans to give up the hunt.

Happy Blogoversary to Me!

joelowry1982 Maternal, Paternal
It was a year ago today that I first created this blog as a tool to help me capture my family history. I’ve posted around 80 different articles including photos, documents, and stories. My first real post was the wedding announcement of my grandparents Chuck and Jean Lowry. I’ve since added several stories to that post, provided by my uncle Chuck Lowry. You can read it here.
My sincere thanks to the 5,300+ visits this site has received in the past year. Most of those visits have been from automated, internet-searching bots, but I thank the few hundred visits that family and friends have added to that number.
Here’s to many more years of tracing my family history!

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 – Grandpa and Ma Pepperney

joelowry1982 Paternal, Pepperney, Wordless Wednesday

The back of this photo says ‘Grandpa and Ma Pepperney’. Assuming my great grandmother Margaret Pepperney Lowry wrote those words, and I believe she did based on the handwriting, then this is Frank and Margaret Buhl Pepperney, my 3rd great grandparents. Frank was born in 1847 in the Austrian Empire (although where specifically is unknown). His wife Margaret was born 1849 in Pennsylvania. They were married in 1870 in Pittsburgh. Frank died in 1927, Margaret in 1923. Both died and are buried in Pittsburgh.