Nina Sankovitch - The Lowells of Massachusetts: An American Family

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For Jack, forever and in all situations

The Lowell Family

Sixteenth CenturySeventeenth Century

Percival Lowle (15711664) married Rebecca (15751645) in 1590s. They had eight children. Three of their children emigrated with them to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639: John Lowle (15951647), Richard (16021682), and Joan (16091677).

John Lowle had five children with his wife, Mary, including a son named John Lowle (16291694).

John Lowle was married three times and had seventeen children. With his third wife, Naomi Sylvester, he had a child named Ebenezer Lowle (16751711).

Seventeenth CenturyEighteenth Century

Ebenezer Lowle married Elizabeth Shailer (16751761). They had six children, one of whom was named John Lowle (17041767).

The Reverend John Lowle changed the spelling of the family name to Lowell and married twice, but had children only with his first wife, Sarah Champney: two boys, both of whom were named John Lowell. The first son died in infancy, but the second son, Johnthe Old Judge(17431802) married three times.

Eighteenth CenturyNineteenth Century

John the Old Judge Lowell

married Sarah Higginson (17451772) in 1767. They had three children: AnnaNancyCabot (17681810), John The Rebel Lowell (17691840) and Sarah SallyChampney (17711851).

married Susanna Cabot (17541777) in 1774. They had two children: Francis Cabot Lowell (17751817) and Susanna Susan (17751816).

married Rebecca Russel Tyng (17471816) in 1778. They had four children: Rebecca Lowell (17791853), Charles Russell Lowell (17821861), Elizabeth Cutts Lowell (17831864), and Mary (17861789).

John The Rebel Lowell married Rebecca Amory (17711842) in 1793. They had five children: RebeccaAmoryAmory (17941878), John Amory Lowell (17981881), Anna Cabot (18011802), Anna Cabot (18081894), and Sarah Champney (18101816).

Francis Cabot Lowell married Hannah Jackson (17761815) in 1798. They had four children: John Lowell, Jr. (17991836), Susan Cabot Lowell (18011827), Francis Cabot Lowell II (18031874), and Edward Jackson Lowell (18051830).

Rebecca Lowell married Samuel Gardner (17671843) in 1797. They had a son named John Lowell Gardner (18041884).

The Reverend Charles Russell Lowell married Harriet Brackett Spence (17831850) in 1806. They had six children: Charles (Charlie) Russell Lowell (18071870), RebeccaLittle Bec or BeccaRussell Lowell (18091872), Mary Traill Spence Lowell (18101898), William Keith Spence Lowell (18131823), Robert Traill Spence Lowell (18161898), and James Russell Lowell (18191891).

Elizabeth Cutts Lowell married Warren Dutton (17741857) in 1806. They had two children: John Lowell Dutton (18071844) and James Russell Dutton (18101861), who later changed his name to James Dutton Russell.

Nineteenth CenturyTwentieth Century

John Amory Lowell married Susan Cabot Lowell (18011827) in 1822. They had two children: Susan Cabot (18231868) and John (18241897). After Susan died, John married Elizabeth Cabot Putnam (18071881) in 1829. They had four children: Augustus Lowell (18301900), Elizabeth Rebecca (18321904), Ellen Bancroft (18371894), and Sara Putnam (18431899).

John Lowell Jr. married Georgina Amory (18061830) in 1825. They had two children: Georgina Lowell (18271830) and Anna Lowell (18291830).

John Lowell Gardner married Catherine Endicott Peabody (18081883) in 1826. They had a son: John Lowell Gardner II (18371898).

Charles Charlie Russell Lowell married Anna Cabot Jackson (18111874) in 1832. They had four children: Anna Lowell (18331906), Charles Russell Lowell (18351864), Harriet Lowell (18361920), and James Jackson Lowell (18371862).

Mary Traill Spence Lowell married Samuel Raymond Putnam (17971861) in 1832. They had four children: Alfred Putnam (18351855), Georgina Putnam (18351914), William Lowell Putnam (18401861) and Charles Lowell Putnam (18451847).

James Russell Lowell married Maria White (18211853) in 1844. They had four children: Blanche (18451847), Mabel Lowell (18471898), Rose (18491850), and Walter (18501852).

James Dutton Russell married Sarah Ellen Hooper (18161848) in 1835. They had four children, including Warren Dutton (18401862).

Augustus Lowell married Katherine Bigelow Lawrence (18321895) in 1854. They had seven children: PercivalPercyLowell (18551916), Abbott Lawrence Lowell (18561943), Katherine Katie Lowell (18581925), ElizabethBessieLowell (18621935) and her twin, Roger Lowell (1862 1863), May Lowell (May 1, 1870), and Amy Lowell (18741925).

Harriet Lowell married George Putnam in 1860. Eldest among their five children was William Lowell Putnam II (18611924).

John Lowell Gardner II married Isabella Stewart (18401924), founder of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, in 1860.

Mabel Lowell married Edward Burnett (18491925) in 1872. They had five children, including James Russell Lowell Burnett (18731947), whose name was changed to James Russell Burnett Lowell at the request of his grandfather James Russell Lowell.

KatherineKatieLowell married Alfred Roosevelt (18561891) in 1882. They had three children: Elfrida (18831963), James Alfred (18851919), and Katharine (18871961). After Alfred died, Katie married Thomas J. Bowlker (18581917) in 1902.

Bessie Lowell married William Lowell Putnam II in 1888. They had five children: George (18891960), Katharine (18901983), Roger (18931972), Harriet (18971900), and Augustus (18991947).

Through the broad Earth roams Opportunity

And knocks at every door of hut or hall

Until she finds the brave soul that she wants.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, HAKONS LAY

that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things,

may abound to every good work

2 CORINTHIANS 9:8

On this stone, in this urn

I pour my heart, and watch it burn

AMY LOWELL, BEFORE THE ALTAR

I n the summer of 1925, Ada Dwyer Russell built a bonfire in the back gardens of the Sevenels estate in Brookline, Massachusetts. Sevenels had been home to the Lowell family for over half a century, but now Amy Lowell was dead, and no one of her family would ever live here again. Amy had instructed Ada before she died: Burn all my letters. On this hot and humid summer day, Ada would finally undertake the task. Even from beyond the grave, Amys will was too strong to ignore. Ada had been Amys companion for over thirteen years and she would not go against Amys wishes now.

Their black cat, Winky, came out to the garden with Ada. Winky ran ahead as Ada made her way down a graveled path to the barn. No horses anymore, just the old pony carts in the back, dusty and covered with cobwebs, skeletons of the past. So much had started and ended with a pony cart. In front of the carts, where the horses used to be, Amys Pierce-Arrow automobile. The wooden slats of the stalls had been removed to make room for the majestic car. George, the chauffeur, who had been around longer than Ada, had taken care of the car as if it were his very own baby, washing it and drying it with the softest of old rags, waxing it in round motions, covering it with flannel, winter and summer, to keep the dust off. The Pierce-Arrow would have to be sold and the proceeds added to the estate. Ada had no need of a car now.