Enoch Louis Lowe

Enoch Louis Lowe
29th Governor of Maryland
In office
January 6, 1851 – January 11, 1854
Preceded by Philip F. Thomas
Succeeded by Thomas W. Ligon
Member of the Maryland House of Delegates
In office
1845
Personal details
Born (1820-08-10)August 10, 1820
Frederick County, Maryland U.S.
Died August 23, 1892(1892-08-23) (aged 72)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Resting place St. John’s Cemetery
Political party Democratic
Alma mater Stonyhurst College

Enoch Louis Lowe (August 10, 1820 – August 23, 1892) served as the 29th Governor of the state of Maryland in the United States from 1851 to 1854.

Early life

He was the only child of Bradley Samuel Adams Lowe and Adelaide Bellumeau de la Vincendiere. He was born, August 10, 1820, in the manor-house of The Hermitage, on the Monocacy River, Frederick County, Maryland. At thirteen he entered Clongowes Wood College, Ireland, where he was schoolmates with Thomas Francis Meagher. Three years later he matriculated at Stonyhurst College, England, where he was friends with Francis Mahony, and Miles Gerard Keon, the novelist. He graduated first in his class in 1839.[1]

Studying with Judge John A. Lynch, of Frederick, he was admitted to the bar in 1842.[1]

Family

In 1844 Lowe married Esther Winder Polk,[2] of Somerset County, Maryland, who was a relative of James Knox Polk. They had eleven children, and seven children survived: Adelaide Victoire, married E. Austin Jenkins;[3] Anna Maria, religiense of the Sacred Heart, died 1889; Paul Emelius; Vivian Polk; Victoire Vincendiere, married John M. Stubbs; Enoch Louis; Esther Polk; Mary Gorter, married Francis de Sales Jenkins.[1]

Political career

Lowe served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1845, as a member of the Democratic National Convention in 1856, and as a U.S. Presidential elector in 1860.[4] Lowe took the oath of office as Governor of Maryland on January 6, 1851. The most important events of his administration were the adoption of the Maryland Constitution of 1851, the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to the Ohio River, and a reduction of the state tax rate from 25 cents to 15 cents on a $100.

Civil War and Later life

He supported the Confederacy during the Civil War.[5] During the war, he lived at Richmond, Virginia,[6] and Milledgeville, Georgia. After the war, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, joining the law firm of Richard F. Clarke and W. H. Morgan.[1]

He is mentioned in the song Maryland, My Maryland, which would later become the state anthem.[1][7][8]

He died at St. Mary's Hospital, Brooklyn, on August 23, 1892.[1] He is buried at Saint John's Cemetery, Frederick, Maryland.

Assessment

He was, perhaps, the greatest stump speaker of his day. ... Few young men ever had a more brilliant career in this state than Enoch Louis Lowe. ... He had the advantage of collegiate training abroad, with which was combined a pleasing address, winning speech and clear-cut, States' rights, patriotic principles.

James McSherry. Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, writing to a member of his family, paid this tribute to Lowe's memory:

The superb attainments of your father as a forensic and popular

orator were perhaps never equalled by anyone who ever lived in

this country.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Caleb Clarke Magruder (4 Nov 1912). Enoch Louis Lowe, Governor of Maryland, 1851 - 1854. Year-Book of American Clan Gregor Society.
  2. ↑ George Adolphus Hanson (1876). Old Kent. John P. Des Forges. p. 194.
  3. ↑ Clayton Colman Hall (1912). Baltimore. Lewis Historical Publishing Co. p. 888.
  4. ↑ Joshua Dorsey Warfield (1905). The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland. Kohn & Pollock. pp. 280–281.
  5. ↑ "Maryland Governor Enoch Louis Lowe". Former Governors' bios. National Governors' Association. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  6. ↑ "''EX-GOV. LOWE, OF MARYLAND, IN RICHMOND'', The New York Times, July 12, 1861". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  7. ↑ Maurice Garland Fulton (2003). Southern Life in Southern Literature. Kessinger Publishing. p. 500. ISBN 978-0-7661-4624-2.
  8. ↑ Carl Holliday (1908). Three Centuries of Southern Poetry (1607-1907). M.E. Church South, Smith & Lamar, agents. p. 252.
Political offices
Preceded by
Philip Thomas		 Governor of Maryland
1851–1854 		Succeeded by
Thomas W. Ligon
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