Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 378] is a flourishing and prosperous merchant of New Bedford, Pulaski township, where he has built up a lucrative business in his few years of residence and connection with the mercantile interests of that village. He has the welfare and good name of New Bedford much at heart, and few men contribute so much to its general prosperity. His birth occurred in Coitsville, Mahoning Co., O., on July 15, 1847, His parents, Robert and Margaret (Stewart) Lowry, were natives of the same place.
Wiliam [sic] Lowry, the paternal grandfather of William S., was of Irish birth, and came to this country in the latter part of the last century, settling near Lowellsville, Ohio; there he bought a piece of land that was still in its natural state of wildness, and gradually made it into a valuable farm, and came to be known as a man of means and excellent parts. He selected for his wife Mary Houston of Lancaster Co., Pa. She gave birth to nine children, five of whom are living: Mrs. Amy Cowden, Mrs. Mattie McBride; Mrs. Margaret Cowden; James J., who lives on the homestead in Ohio; and Robert, who became the father of William S.
Robert had an education that might be termed meager and desultory in its character; during his boyhood days, his time was claimed chiefly by farm duties, and as he grew up he naturally followed agricultural pursuits. He located near Coitsville, Ohio, where he owned one hundred acres, by the culture of which he gained an honorable livelihood, and laid by a competency. He was a Democrat until John C. Fremont's candidacy for the Presidency, when he voted for the "Pathfinder of the Rockies," and became an influential member of the Republican party. He held various offices of trust and responsibility; he was justice of the peace twelve consecutive years, and served as county commissioner from 1866 to 1872. On Sept. 22, 1842, occurred his union with Margaret Stewart, whose father was William Stewart of Coitsville. Their household contained four children: Mary J.; William; Theorissa J.; and Sarah E. Mary J. married D. C. McBride of Mahoning township, Lawrence County, and had two sons, one of whom is Robert B., a United Presbyterian minister of Oskaloosa, Iowa, and the other is Charles C. William S., the second child of Robert Lowry, is the subject of this biography. Theorissa J. became the wife of J. W. McNabb, and they had a daughter, Laka. Mr. McNabb is now deceased. Sarah E. married W. S. Allen, and they live on the old homestead in Ohio with their three sons—George, Leander, and Stewart. Mrs. Robert Lowry died July 1, 1873, and was borne to her last resting-place on earth grieved by many friends. On May 18, 1876, Mr. Lowry contracted a second alliance with Anna Madge of Mercer Co., Pa. He departed to his long home in 1891, at the age of seventy-four. His widow survives him and resides in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania.
Our subject supplemented his district school education by a course in Westminster College of Wilmington township. He engaged in farming, and also ran a threshing-machine for sixteen years. In 1876, he settled in Pulaski township, and bought a farm, which he conducted with great uniformity of success until 1894, when he launched out into mercantile pursuits in New Bedford. He has held minor offices in the gift of his fellow-citizens and allies himself thoroughly with the Republican party, whose principles he warmly supports.
In 1869, he was bound by the ties of wedlock to Mary E. Mars, whose father was J. J. Mars of Pulaski township, and they have two children, of whom the elder, Edwin R., was born Dec. 28, 1870; he attended Grove City College, and also Smith's Commercial School at Meadville, Pa. He is now a clerk in his father's store, and was married Feb. 25, 1897, to Clara McCluskey of New Bedford. The daughter, Nellie, married Prof. A. E. Eckles of Mercer County. The family belongs to the M. E. Church of New Bedford, in which they are active and useful members.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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Updated: 30 May 2001