Lowell family: Difference between revisions

The Lowell family settled on the North Shore at Cape Ann after they arrived in Boston on June 23, 1639. The patriarch, Percival Lowle (1571–1664), described as a "solid citizen of Bristol", determined at the age of 68 that the future was in the New World. A man of wealth, he sailed from England aboard the merchant vessel, the Jonathan, in April, 1639 with a party of 16 people: his two sons John (1595–1647) and Richard (1602–82) and their wives, servants, furniture and livestock.

Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor, John Winthrop needed solid dependable people to settle the North Shore area as a buffer against the French from Canada and he urged that the Lowells relocate to Newburyport on the north shore of the Merrimack River on the border of the failing Province of Maine.^[1]

The Harleian Society, a British publisher of the official Royal Heraldic visitations, describes the Lowle Coat of Arms (sic) from the herald's records taken in Somersetshire in the years 1573, 1591, and 1623.^[2]

• Blazon: Sable, a dexter hand couped at the wrist grasping three darts, one in pale and two in saltire, all in argent.
• Crest: A Stag's head cabossed, between the attires a pheon azzure.
• Motto: Occasionem Cognosce (Awk-kaw-see-OH-nem Kaw-GNAW-skeh).

The English translation: A shield with black field displaying a right hand cut-off at the wrist and grabbing three arrows, one vertical and two crossed diagonally, in silver. Above the shield, a male deer's head mounted behind the ears, and between its antlers a barbed, broad arrowhead in blue. And a loose translation of the family motto, Know Your Opportunity.

Use of the Lowell Coat of Arms have varied slightly between the generations; some families omitted the pheon azzure or substituted blunted bolts for the pointed darts; and one generation, notably a pastor, used an urn in his families crest instead of the stag's head. The right for a man to bear arms traditionally passes from father to eldest son; occassionally subsequent generations change the Coat of Arms to reflect their lives or vocations better, sometimes even "quartering" their Coat of Arms with another family by way of marriage.

It's mentionable that some believe that the Lowle Coat of Arms fell into abeyance when Percival Lowle and his son's emmigrated to Massachusetts. They were still subjects of the Crown and it's favor until the colonies declared Independence from Britain in 1776 and were entitled to bear their Coat of Arms. Also, there were a number of Lowles who remained in England who could claim the right.

Many suggestions about the origins of the medieval name Lowle were offered during the late 20th century. Some argued that it was Welsh or Saxon while others supported the name was of Norman origin. It was even suggested that it originated from the latin word Lupus, meaning Wolf and was a cadet branch of an ancient Franco noble family, most notably of the family that included Hugh Lupus.

Lowell family historian Delmar R. Lowell, gave much weight and persuassion to the origins of the name Lowle in his work and he and others concluded the Lowle's of England were unquestionably of Norman descent and came into England with William the Conqueror. Unfortunately, dispite Lowell's passion, he gives no authoritative or collaborative proof to support his presumptions.

Lowell's research relied heavily on a few principals that must be assumed to be true in order to support his theory. First, he cites a William Louel as being listed on the Battle Abbey Roll; a list of Norman supporters who attended the invasion of England at the side of the Duke of Normandy in 1066 and fought in the Battle of Hastings. This list, which began with just over 600 names, grew to over 3000 in the centuries afterwards, and has since been discredited with having too many names that were known to have come over in the waves of emmigration following the Norman conquest. Second, he assumes that Louel was transformed to Lowle, at some point in the 200 years between 1066 and 1288, when his own documentation runs into a dead end with William Lowle of Yardley in Worcestershire.

There is a reasonable possibility that Lowell is right. The use of the letters U and V, being interchangable in medieval times, and of W, made popular by the Norman's by 1300, do make such a transition appropriate. And when one considers the literacy rate, the language and cultural exchange between the Welsh, the Saxons, and the Normans, and the sorrowful state of record keeping during those centuries it becomes clear how Louel can transform into Lowle over the generations.

In addition, one needs to consider that there were still Louel's in England on the Scottish Marches in the Royal Burgh of Roxburgh when Edward Longshanks, King of England, ordered the nobility and gentry in Scotland to swear an oath of allegiance to him in the Ragman Roll in 1291. It is during this period, in 1288 that the earliest documentation for the name Lowle appears. William Lowle of Yardley in Worcestershire is documented as being a yeoman and standing as a witness to a border dispute between two of his neighbors. It is from this time and place that Delmar Lowell traces the descent of the Lowle's through England until their departure for the colonies.

It's notable to mention that documentation for this period also exists in The National Archives of England showing that there were also Lowels in the Welsh Marches. In 1317, William de Braose, 1st Baron Braose petitioned King Edward II, the King's Council, and the Parliament to request that Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March send two justices to arrest and bring to trial 200–300 men he accused of attacking his Knights and Ministers and for, "trespasses made against the King's peace to Braose and his people of Gower." now called Glamorgan in Wales. Members named in this band of men included Ieuan and Griffith Lowel for the offensive against Port Eynon.

Delmar Lowell also suggests the long line of noble Norman families that Lowle proginitors married into implies that the name Lowle is of Norman origin. Again, he may be right. However, as the Norman and Angevin Dynasty's proved time and time again, powerful and noble men married their daughters to their enemies in order to create peace and alliance when fighting could be avoided. So presuming Norman fathers married their daughters to good Norman boys would be a mistake. It was often a business arrangement made for the protection, profit, property, or peace of the noblemen themselves. And while tith and title were not typcally handed down through these alliances, often money, property, economic opportunity, and other favor was. And this proved an especially useful and political tactic in the Scottish and Welsh Marches where powerful nobles, often refered to as the Marcher Lords, were placed by Kings to act as a buffer between England and its enemies to the north and to the west.

It also needs mention that speculation has been made that the Lowells are related to the Lovells, the Howells, and the Powells. No documentation has ever been offered to support this. All three families have well documented Norman roots and are of noble descent and have inherited land and title in the Peerage of England since 1066. While the Lowles enjoyed centuries of favor under the nobles, and they married daughters of noblemen called Wake, Lyttleton, Russell, and Percival to name a few, there is no documentation suggesting they are a cadet branch of any of these noble families.

After Percival Lowle emmigrated to the new world with his sons and after some subsequent generations Lowle became Lowell. Delmar Lowell suggests that Rev. John Lowell was the catalist in getting the Lowell family into cohesion regarding the spelling of the surname sometime after 1721. At the time, Lowells all over New England spelled their names as many different ways as there were branches. Some spelled their surname Lowel, Lowle, Lowell, Lowl, and some spelled it Louell, and Louel even after arriving in the new world. Spelling was so poorly controlled that some early wills show one son with the name Lowle while another son is Lowel and the wife as Lowell all in the same document. It's unlikely that one member of the family had such a big impact on the name. He may well have influenced many Lowells in America to be consistant, however, documentation shows that Lowles in England started spelling their name Lowell around this time as well. By the mid 18th century in England there are plenty of documents for Lowells and none for the prior spellings. Therefore, it is suggested that the proliferation of literacy and a trend to clean up and standardize the English language caused members of the family on both sides of the Atlantic to adopt the phonetic spelling.

• Abbott Lawrence Lowell, lawyer, historian, philanthropist, and former President of Harvard University
• Amy Lowell, poet, critic, publisher, and sister of Abbott Lawrence and Percival Lowell
• Andrea Lowell, actress and model
• Augustus Lowell, businessman, philanthropist, and father of Percival, Abbott Lawrence, and Amy Lowell
• Carey Lowell, actress and wife of actor Richard Gere
• Charles Russell Lowell, Sr., Unitarian pastor, son of the The Old Judge, father of James Russell, and great-great grandfather of Robert Lowell
• Charles Russell Lowell, Union General and Civil War hero
• Charlie Lowell, keyboardist for Jars of Clay
• Chris Lowell, actor
• Delmar R. Lowell, pastor, Civil War veteran, and genealogist
• Edward Jackson Lowell, author and father of Guy Lowell
• Francis Cabot Lowell (1775–1817), businessman and co-founder of Lowell, Massachusetts
• Francis Cabot Lowell (1855–1911), U.S. Congressman and Federal Judge
• Guy Lowell, architect and landscape designer
• James Russell Lowell, poet, critic, publisher, abolitionist, Harvard professor, and foreign diplomat
• Joan Lowell, actress and newspaper reporter
• John Lowell aka The Old Judge, Federal Judge appointed by President George Washington and American Revolutionary
• John Lowell, Jr., aka The Boston Rebel, Federalist lawyer and son of The Old Judge
• John Lowell, Jr. Son of Industrialist Francis Cabot Lowell and founder of the Lowell Institute
• John Amory Lowell, businessman and philanthropist
• Josephine Shaw Lowell, sister of Civil War hero Robert Gould Shaw, first woman to hold a public office in New York City, and wife of Gen. Charles Russell Lowell
• Maria White Lowell, poet, abolitionist, and wife of James Russell Lowell
• Mike Lowell, MLB baseball player for the Boston Red Sox
• Norman Lowell, founder of the extreme-right Maltese political party, Imperium Europa
• Percival Lowell, author, astronomer, founder of Lowell Observatory, and brother of Amy and Abbott Lawrence Lowell
• Ralph Lowell, businessman, philanthorpist, and founding force behind Boston's WGBH public television
• Robert Lowell, poet and lecturer
• Scott Lowell, actor

Some Lowell daughters married into other influential families with notable decendants.

• Sir Cuthbert Lowell Ackroyd, 1st Baronet, Lord Mayor of London (1955–56)
• Godfrey Lowell Cabot, businessman and philanthropist
• Julian Lowell Coolidge, mathmatician
• Abbott Lowell Cummings, noted Yale architectural historian
• William Lowell Putnam, banker, lawyer, and philanthropist
• Ava Lowle Willing, Philadelphia socialite and ex-wife o John Jacob Astor IV (RMS Titanic casualty)

• 
  James Russell Lowell
• Amy Lowell
  Amy Lowell
• 
  Percival Lowell
• A. Lawrence Lowell
  A. Lawrence Lowell
• Ralph Lowell
  Ralph Lowell
• 
  John Lowell, Jr.
• 
  Charles Russell Lowell
• 
  John Amory Lowell

• First Families of Boston
• Lowell Institute
• Lowell, Massachusetts
• Lowell disambiguation page

• The Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America from 1639 to 1899 is available for free download at Google Books.
• Lowell descendant Carol Bundy speaks with ThoughtCast about her biography of the Civil War cavalryman Charles Russell Lowell, Jr.
• Domesday Books The National Archives, England
• The Ragman Roll