Lowell, John 1769-1840
Author; born in Newburyport, Mass., Oct. 6, 1769; graduated at Harvard College in 1786; became a prolific writer, and published about twenty-five pamphlets. He was a strong political partisan, but would never take office, and he wrote severely against the supporters of the War of 1812-15. With his extraordinary colloquial powers and elegant and logical pen, he wielded great influence in Massachusetts. Mr. Lowell was a founder of the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Boston Athenaeum, the Savings Bank, and the Hospital Life Insurance Company. For many years he was president of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society. He died in Boston, March 12, 1840.
Lawyer; born in Newburyport, Mass., June 17, 1743; graduated at Harvard College in 1760; admitted to the bar in 1762, and settled in Boston in 1777. He held a seat in the convention which drew up the constitution of Massachusetts in 1780, and was a member of the committee which drafted that document. It was through his urgency that the clause “all men are born free and equal” was inserted. In 1783 the State Supreme Court decided that his position respecting slavery was legal and the institution was abolished in Massachusetts. He died in Roxbury, Mass., May 6, 1802.
Philanthropist; born in Boston, May 11, 1799; was educated in Edinburgh and at Harvard College until 1815, when he was compelled to travel for the improvement of impaired health. A fine scholar, the inheritor of a large fortune, he indulged his passion for travel and books, after being engaged a few years in commercial life. He bequeathed $250,000 for the maintenance forever in Boston of an annual course of free lectures on a variety of subjects, and on this was established the Lowell Institute, which began its work in the winter of 1839-40. He died in Bombay, India, March 4, 1836.
