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Welcome toConnections, following the primary lines of Jenkins-TerryGregory-Strange-Green-BarnettMcSwain-Dumond-Padgett-Butler


  • Born December 12, 1839 - Pine Creek, Warren, Indiana
  • Deceased September 3, 1903 - St Charles, Arkansas, Arkansas,aged 63 years old

 Parents

  • Henry Lowrey, born in 1800 - Shippensburg, Cumberland, Pennsylvania, deceased August 19, 1862 - Indiana aged 62 years old
    Married December 11, 1838, Presbyterian Church, Ft Wayne, Allen, Indiana, to
  • Catherine Wirt Tilley, born December 28, 1806 - Bladensburg, Prince George's, Maryland, deceased before 1890 - Wewoka, Seminole Nation, Indian Territory

 Spouses, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren

 Siblings

 Paternal grand-parents, uncles and aunts

 Maternal grand-parents, uncles and aunts

(display)

 Events


 Notes

Individual Note

John Tilley Lowrey/Lowry was born in Indiana and his wife Sarah Frances (Sallie) Pentecost was born in Arkansas. Our focus on them centers in Ethel, Prairie Township, Arkansas County, Arkansas.

Their daughters Susan Frances (Susie) and Ruth married McSwain men. The McSwains had migrated from North Carolina about 1874-5. Other related McSwains are found in other Arkansas counties around the same time or earlier.

The Lowrey family name is spelled different ways in public and family sources. Roger Louis McSwain, son of Louis Wirt McSwain, and grandson of Susie Frances Lowry (who married Wiley Carey McSwain) found that Susie's family name was spelled Lowrey on Louis Wirt's birth certificate.

Public records spell it various ways. In a genealogy prepared by John and Sallie's daughter Octavia the family name is consistently spelled Lowrey. This is also the spelling we find on son Tilley Wirt Lowrey's records.

After receiving information from family members, I began looking for further documentation on the Lowreys. I found Henry and Catherine Lowrey and their son John T in White County, Indiana, where we see John was a Medical Student in 1860.

1860 Federal Census, White County, Indiana, 5 July, Prairie Township, PO Brookston, page 58, Hse #421, Fam #423
Henry Lowery 60 M Freight Agent born Pennsylvania
Catherine Lowery 52 F b District of Columbia
John T Lowery 20 M Medical Student b Indiana

By 1870, John has finished his medical training and set up his practice as a physician in Pike County, Indiana. His father died in 1862, and his widowed mother is living with him in or near Petersburgh.

1870 Federal Census, Pike County, Indiana, 6 June, Jefferson Township, Petersburgh, p 9-10, Hse/Fam #77
Lowry, John T 30 M W Physician $100 Real Estate $300 Personal b Indiana
Lowry, Catherine 60 F W Widow b Maryland

1880 Federal Census, Hernando County, Florida, 3 June, 60th Immigration District, District 60, page 6, Hse/Fam #52
Lowrey, J T W M 40 Physician Ind Penn MD [b abt 1840]
Lowrey, S T [should be S F] W F 25 Wife Housewife Ark Tenn Ark [b abt 1855]
Lowrey, K E M W F 5 Dau Ark Ind Ark [b abt 1875]
Lowrey, K W W F 74 Mother MD MD MD [b abt 1806]
Lowrey, J T Jr W M 1 Son Fla Ind Ark [b abt 1879]

The 1900 census had meanwhile provided some information on John's family. This was the first census in which I found John, so had little on his family background in Indiana, when I was putting this together from the McSwain side. He is not reported with the family 20 years later in the 1900 census.

1900 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 29 June, Chester Township, District 1, page 11A, Hse #369, Fam #375
Lowry, John F [should be T] Head W M Dec 1839 60 Married 28 yrs IN Pennsylvania Maryland Physician
Lowry, Sallie F Wife W F Dec 1855 44 Married 28 yrs 11 children, 6 living AR TN AR
Lowry, Kate Dau W F Sep 1875 24 AR IN AR
Lowry, Wirt Son W M Dec 1882 17 TX IN AR
Lowry, Susa [Susie] Dau W F May 1885 15 Ind Terr IN AR
Lowry, Ruth Dau W F May 1888 12 Ind Terr IN AR
Lowry, Octava [Octavia] Dau W F Feb 1890 10 Ind Terr IN AR
Lowry, Lucile I Dau W F Aug 1897 2 Ind Terr IN AR

The birth states of the children informs us that John and Sallie were married in Arkansas, in September 1875. Octavia's genealogy for this family, provided to me by John and Sallie's grandson Kenneth Wirt McSwain, reports that Catherine's full birth date as 22 September 1875.

Some time after the birth of Kate, they moved to Florida within the next year, and their next two children, John Tilley and Thomas Henry, were born there before they moved to Texas. Thomas Henry died of Enteritis in 1879, reported in the 1880 census Mortality Index. I have not found a record of John Tilley, Jr after the 1880 census. He may have being already married and out on his own in 1900.

They moved up to Indian Territory before the birth of Susie in May 1885. They remained there until after August 1897 when Lucille was born. Sometime within the next three years, they were established in Chester Township of Arkansas County (east of Gillette) before the census in June 1900.

John died in 1903, and in 1910 three of the children are in the household with Sallie (spelled Sally here), now reported as head of the household. In the 1910 census, Sallie is a widow. John died in 1903.

1910 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 27 April, Chester Township, District 3, page 5B, Hse #74, Fam #75
Lowry, Sally F Head F W 65 Widow AR TN KY
Lowry, Wirt Son M W 27 Single TX IN AR Shell Digger, River
Lowry, Octavia Dau F W 20 OK IN AR Teacher, Country School
Lowry, Lucille I Dau F W 12 OK IN AR None

From the census, other documents and family information we have, John and Sallie moved from Arkansas to Texas after the birth of their first child Catherine Eliza (Kate) Lowry in 1875. Octavia informs us that there was one female child before Kate, stillborn in 1874.

Tilley Wirt Lowrey was born in Texas, then all the other children were born in Indian Territory. The family moved to Indian Territory (later Oklahoma) between 1883 and 1884, being in Indian Territory for the birth of the third child Susie Lowry on 4 May 1885. Ruth was born there on 30 May 1887. The two younger children were born in the Territory also, Octavia in 1890 and Lucille in 1897, before the family moved back to Arkansas, where they are recorded in the 1900 census back in Ethel, Arkansas.

The 1910 census reports Ruth as born in Arkansas, but this seems to be a reporting error, since the 1900 and 1920 say Indian Territory or Oklahoma. And this matches the other family information reporting both Susie and Ruth born in Oklahoma. Susie married Wiley Carew McSwain, while Ruth married his cousin James Marvin McSwain in the same community of Ethel, where their mother was from and where their older sister Kate had been born.

In 1910, Ruth has been married to James (Marvin) McSwain for 5 years, and they have two daughters. Note that Ruth's state of birth is reported here as Indiana.

1910 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 20 April, District 18, Page 3A, Prairie Township, Hse/Fam #42
McSwain, James Head M W 25 Married 5 years AR NC NC Farmer
McSwain, Ruth Wife F W 23 Married 5 years bore 2 children, 2 living AR IN AR

 Sources

  • Individual: 1870 Federal Census, Pike County, Indiana - 6 June, Jefferson Township, Petersburgh, p 9-10, Hse/Fam #77 - - Lowry, John T 30 M W Physician $100 Real Estate $300 Personal b Indiana; Lowry, Catherine 60 F W Widow b Maryland
    1880 Federal Census, Hernando County, Florida - 3 June, 60th Immigration District, District 60, page 6, Hse/Fam #52 - - Lowrey, J T W M 40 Physician Ind Penn MD [b abt 1840]; Lowrey, S T W F 25 Wife Housewife Ark Tenn Ark [b abt 1855]
    1860 Federal Census, White County, Indiana - 5 July, Prairie Township, PO Brookston, page 58, Hse #421, Fam #423 - - Henry Lowery 60 M Freight Agent born Pennsylvania; Catherine Lowery 52 F b District of Columbia; John T Lowery 20 M Medical Student b Indiana
    Lowrey-Wirt Genealogy, by Octavia Lowery - O B Jenkins Genealogy Collection - - John Tilley Lowrey, b 12 Dec 1839 Pine Creek, Warren Co IN, d 3 Sept 1903 St Charles, Arkansas, Arkansas; married Sarah Frances Pentecost [no birth or death info] 3 July 1872 in Tillar, [Arkansas County,] Arkansas -- Octavia's genealogy courtes - y of Kenneth Wirt McSwain
    1900 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas - 29 June, Chester Township, District 1, page 11A, Hse #369, Fam #375 - - Lowry, John F Head W M Dec 1839 60 Married 28 yrs IN Pennsylvania Maryland Physician; Lowry, Sallie F Wife W F Dec 1855 44 Married 28 yrs Bore 11 children, 6 living AR TN AR

  Photos and archival records

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 Family Tree Preview

      Jasper Wirt 1731-1798 Catherine Nolastname ca 1730-
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James Lowrey 1745-1811 Hannah Watts 1756-1803 John Tilley  Barbara Wirt ca 1755-
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Henry Lowrey 1800-1862 Catherine Wirt Tilley 1806-/1890
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John Tilley Lowrey 1839-1903