One of the leading agriculturists and stockmen of Shipman township is
John Lowis, who has also been a prominent factor in the educational
development of the township as well as in the promotion of its public
utilities. He was born in the vicinity of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, on
the 28th of October, 1852, and is a son of John and Anne (Jackson)
Lowis. The parents were both natives of Westmoreland county, England,
the father’s birth having there occurred on the 12th of March, 1822, and
that of the mother in March. 1826. The Lowis family originally came from
Scotland, the great-great-great-grandfather of our subject having moved
from there to England, which was thereafter the home of this branch of
the family. Left an orphan at the age of four years, John Lowis, Sr.,
was brought up by his brother Richard in Westmoreland county, England.
There he was also educated and married to Miss Jackson, who belonged to
an old Westmoreland family. She was the only one of her people to come
to the United States, but some of her brothers emigrated to Australia.
When he was about twenty-eight years of age John Lowis, accompanied by
his wife, came to America, landing at New York. From there they went
directly to Black Hawk, in southwest Wisconsin, where he worked in the
lead mines and also engaged in farming. In 1857 they removed to McLeod
county, Minnesota, locating near Glencoe, where he entered some
government land. During the Civil war he volunteered as a soldier in the
campaign against the Sioux Indians in Dakota, and was stationed for a
time at Fort Abercrombie. In 1866 Mr. Lowis brought his family to
Macoupin county, settling in Shipman township in the vicinity of Piasa.
Soon thereafter he disposed of his land in Minnesota, purchasing
property in Jersey, Christian and Macoupin counties, being the owner at
one time of fifteen hundred acres. He was a man of rare judgment and
keen sagacity, whose discernment enabled him to so direct his energies
as to realize the best possible results. He helped to organize the bank
of Medora in 1877, continuing to be identified with this institution
until his death which occurred at his home in Shipman township in 1896.
One of Macoupin county’s prominent citizens of the pioneer period, he
did much to advance the various public utilities of his township and
promote the general welfare of the community. Both he and his wife
affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church of Piasa and he voted the
republican ticket. To Mr. and Mrs. Lowis were born ten children: George,
who is a farmer in the vicinity of Dexter, Iowa; John, our subject;
Isabella, who is unmarried and living in the vicinity of Piasa,
Illinois; Alice A., the widow of Joseph Offliter, of Morrisonville,
Illinois; Mary Jackson, the deceased wife of William Kitchel, of
Morrisonville and the mother of ten children; William, who is also a
resident of Morrisonville; Christopher, who died at the age of five
years; Ruth Elizabeth, the wife of G. R. Waggoner, of Piasa; Joseph
Dickinson, who is living at Morrisonville; and Charles E., who is
residing in the vicinity of Piasa.
Reared on the farm of his
father, John Lowis acquired his education in the district schools in the
vicinity of his home. After the mastery of the common branches he
discarded his school books, and gave his undivided attention to the
acquirement of an agricultural training under the direction of his
father, who subsequently took him into partnership in the cultivation of
the home farm. At the age of twenty-nine he left the parental roof, and
marrying, established a home of his own. He took his wife to his present
homestead, which at that time contained but one hundred and sixty acres
of land, located on section 6, Shipman township. He had purchased this
property about two years previously and had it improved and under
cultivation. During the long period of his residence here Mr. Lowis has
effected many changes in his property, having erected a new residence
and outbuildings, all of which are substantially constructed and modern.
His holdings have been increased at divers times until he now owns five
hundred acres of land, all under cultivation and in excellent condition.
He has been very successful in his undertakings, having applied himself
persistently and intelligently to the cultivation of his fields and his
stock-raising. He makes a specialty of the feeding and raising of cattle
and hogs for the market, breeding a good grade of Poland China hogs.
Shorthorn cattle and Shropshire sheep, and he also keeps some fine
Percheron draft horses.
In March, 1882, was celebrated the
marriage of Mr. Lowis and Miss Augusta Wilton, a daughter of George and
Harriet (Palmer) Wilton. Both parents were natives of Westmoreland
county, England, the father having been born in 1826 and the mother in
1828. The paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Wilton, emigrated
to the United States in the ’50s, settling in Lake county, Illinois, in
the vicinity of Antioch, where he engaged in farming until his death,
which occurred at the age of eighty-four years. To Mr. and Mrs. Richard
Wilton were born five sons and one daughter: Duke, who was killed at the
battle of Sebastopol during the Crimean war; George, the father of Mrs.
Lowis; Thomas, a farmer of Lake county, Illinois, now deceased; Edwin,
who is engaged in farming in Lake county; Richard, who was a member of
the Union army and killed in battle; and Mary Jane, now deceased, who
married Abraham Pitman of Westmoreland, and after his death came to
America, locating in Lake county. George Wilton, the father of Mrs.
Lowis, enlisted in the English army and served during the Crimean war,
being at Sebastopol when his brother Duke fell. After the close of the
war he returned to England and engaged in farming until 1871, when he
emigrated to the United States with his family. He purchased one hundred
and sixty acres of land on sections 5 and 6, Shipman township, Macoupin
county, where he continued to make his home until he died. He was a
member of a company that put in one of the first coal shafts sunk in
this section of the state, located at Medora. Mrs. Lowis’ maternal
grandfather, Richard Palmer, spent his entire life in Westmoreland
county, England, living to attain a ripe old age. To Mr. and Mrs. George
Wilton were born ten children, six sons and four daughters: Flora
Deborah, the deceased wife of William Robinson, a retired farmer of
Carlinville; William, who is a farmer of Lake county, Illinois; Edwin,
who is a resident of Chesterfield, Illinois; John Ashell, a farmer
residing near Medora; Charles, who is living in Chesterfield; Lilly, the
wife of Edwin Clower of Kansas; Augusta, now Mrs. Lowis; Sidney George,
who is living on the old homestead near Medora; Sabina, the wife of
James Brown, a farmer of Macoupin county; and Richard, who is living in
Jersey county, where he engages in farming.
Mr. and Mrs. Lowis
are the parents of five children: Bertha A., the wife of Lawson Rhoads,
a farmer of Shipman township, who has two children, Paul and Marie; Bina
I., the wife of George M. Hayes, a Methodist minister of the Central
Illinois Conference, now located at Reddick, Illinois; Edith W., who
became the wife of Irl Rhoads, a farmer of Jersey county, in the
vicinity of Medora; and John Russell and Mary A., both of whom are
unmarried and living at home.
The family affiliate with the
Methodist Episcopal church of Medora, of which Mr. Lowis is one of the
charter members. They take an earnest and active interest in the work of
its various organizations, and for twenty-four years he was
superintendent of the Sunday school. Elis political support he gives to
the republican party, but has never served his township in any official
capacity save as school director in Medora, with which position he will
have been identified for twenty-five years at the expiration of his
present term. He has always taken a very deep interest in all
educational matters and has been instrumental in lifting up the standard
of the schools of Medora as well as in the erection of their fine new
school building. His interests in the township are extensive and varied.
He is vice president and one of the directors of the Bank of Medora and
was a member of a company organized to prospect for coal in this
vicinity, but their efforts were unfruitful. He is one of the
substantial and influential citizens of the community whose efforts are
ever exercised for the development and advancement of all that is best
and highest either morally or intellectually, ever maintaining a
standard of life all should strive to attain.
Extracted 18 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 602-605.
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