John Lowell

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Hon. John Lowell (June 17, 1743–May 6, 1802), born in Newburyport, Massachusetts; the son of Rev. John and Sarah Champney Lowell. John Lowell was a respected lawyer, selectman, jurist, delegate to Congress, and federal judge.

Known in his family as The Old Judge, distinguishing him from the proliferation of John's, John Lowell is considered to be the patriarch of the Boston Lowells. He, with each of his three wives, would establish three distinct lines of the Lowell clan that would, in turn, propagate celebrated poets, authors, jurists, educators, merchants, bankers, national heros, activists, innovators, and philanthropists. John Lowell, his decendants, and many other established New England families, would define American life in the nineteeth and twentieth centuries. (Geenslet 1946)[1]

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[edit] Family

While John Lowell was the Reverend's second son, he was their only child survive infancy. John was amongst the third generation in the Lowell family to be born in the new world and the second generation to attend Harvard College. Lowell would graduate at the age of 17, like his father before him, in 1760. John was admitted to the bar in 1763 and soon after established his law practice in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

In 1767, John married his first wife, Sarah (1745–72), daughter of Stephen H. and Elizabeth (Cabot) Higgenson, on January 8, 1767. John and Sarah had two children, Anna Cabot (1768–1810) and John (1769–1840). John the younger, known first within his family as The Boston Rebel, and later in life as The Roxbury Farmer for his love of agriculture and support of botanical studies, would produce the clan line that included businessmen, John Amory Lowell, Augustus Lowell, and Ralph Lowell; federal justices, John Lowell and James Arnold Lowell; author and innovator, Percival Lowell, Harvard President, Abbott Lawrence Lowell; and poet Amy Lowell. Sarah Lowell died on May 5,1772.

John married his second wife, Susanna (1754–77), daughter of Francis and Mary (Fitch) Cabot, on May 31, 1774. Together they had three children, Sarah Champney (1771–1851), Francis Cabot (1775–1817), and Susan Cabot (1776–1816). Francis Cabot would become a leader and innovator in American industry and the city of Lowell, Massachusetts would be named in his honor. Decendants of Francis Cabot include businessman and philanthropist, John Lowell, Jr.; federal justice, Francis Cabot Lowell; and architect, Guy Lowell. Susanna died on March 30, 1777.

At the onset of the American Revolution, and after Susanna's death, seizing upon the opportunity, as the wealthy Tories of Boston fled local hostility for the saftey of England, abandoning their grand estates, John Lowell relocated his children to Roxbury, Massachusetts and his law practice to Boston. On December 25, 1778, John married his third wife, Rebecca (1747–1816), widow of James Tyng Esq. and daughter of Hon. Judge James and Katharine (Graves) Russell.

John and Rebecca had four children, Rebecca Russell (1779–1853), Charles Russell (1782–1861), Elizabeth Cutts (1788–1864), and Mary (1786–89). Charles Russell's son was the famous American poet James Russell Lowell and his grandsons included, the American Civil War hero Gen. Charles Russell Lowell; Boston banker and family lawyer William Lowell Putnam; and poet, Robert Lowell.

While there are several notable members of other families who can trace their heritage this family, it is through John Lowell's daughter-in-law, wife of Francis Cabot, Hannah Jackson (1776–1815), grandaughter of Edward and Dorthy (Quincy) Jackson, that decendants of both, Francis Cabot and John Amory, are related to the Holmeses of Boston; which include poet, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., and U.S. Supreme Court justice and Civil War hero, Hon. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr..

Other notable children of the daughters and grandaughters of John Lowell include, businessman and aviation pioneer, Godfrey Lowell Cabot; mathmatician, Julian Lowell Coolidge; and writer, biographer, Ferris Lowell Greenslet.

[edit] Career

After establishing his law practice in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1763, John Lowell served as a City Selectman in 1771–72, 1774, and 1776. Lowell was an enthusiastic patriot and served for a time as a lieutenant of Massachusetts militia. In 1776, he was elected Representative to the General Court from Newburyport, and in 1778, he was elected to the same post from Boston.

Lowell was chosen to be a member of the convention that was tasked with framing the Massachusetts Constitution in 1779. He is best remembered for authoring Article I and his insistence upon it's adoption into the Bill of Rights, "All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties..." (Lowell 1899, p 35)[2]

John Lowell's son, Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D., wrote in a personal letter eight decades later, "My father introduced into the Bill of Rights the clause by which Slavery was abolished in Massachusetts... and when it was adopted, exclaimed: 'Now there is no longer Slavery in Massachusetts, it is abolished and I will render my services as a lawyer gratis to any slave suing for his freedom if it is withheld from him...' and he did so defend the negro slave against his master under this clause of the constitution which was declared valid by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1783, and since that time Slavery in Mass. has had no legal standing." (Lowell 1899, p 35)[3]

In 1782–83, John Lowell was elected to represent the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a Delegate to the Third Congress of the Confederation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is of historical interest to note that during the Third Congress' second session, held in Princeton, New Jersey, that Princeton was the capital of the United States of America and Princeton University's, Nassau Hall would host the entire American government. The Continental Congress met in the library on the second floor and it was there, according to the University, "Here Congress congratulated George Washington on his successful termination of the war, received the news of the signing of the definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain, and welcomed the first foreign minister—from the Netherlands—accredited to the United States." [4]

Lowell returned to Boston with an appointment to the U.S. Admiralty Court of Appeals. In 1784, he was appointed commissioner to settle the boundary dispute between Massachusetts and the State of New York. John was appointed to the Massachusetts Court of Appeals for a brief time in 1789 before being appointed to a newly created seat, Judge of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, by President George Washington. He served the newly created federal government in this position until 1801. On February 18, 1801, President John Adams nominated Lowell to serve as the first Chief Judge, another newly created seat, on the U.S. Circuit Court for the First Circuit (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island). And Lowell continued to serve his country until his death the following year.

John Lowell was also a member of the Harvard Corporation for 18 years, and a Charter Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Lowell died at his home in Roxbury on May 6, 1802 at age 59.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Greenslet, Ferris. (1946) The Lowells and Their Seven Worlds, Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0897602633.
  2. ^ Lowell, Delmar. (1899) The Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America from 1639 to 1899, Rutland VT: The Tuttle Company. ISBN 9780788415678.
  3. ^ Lowell, Delmar. (1899) The Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America from 1639 to 1899, Rutland VT: The Tuttle Company. ISBN 9780788415678.
  4. ^ Leitch, Alexander. (1978) A Princeton Companion, Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691046549

[edit] External links


Preceded by
James Lovell		 Massachusetts Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation
1782–1783		 Succeeded by
Stephen Higginson
Preceded by
Created		 Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
1789–1801		 Succeeded by
John Davis (judge)
Preceded by
Created		 Chief Judge of the U.S. Circuit Court for the First Circuit
1801–1802		 Succeeded by
Abolished
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