Joseph Macauley (J.M.) Lowe would have been my 4-great uncle, the brother of my 3rd great-grandfather, William "Thomas" Lowe.
I've known I was a Lowe descendant most of my life and was familiar with the names Moses (J.M.'s father), Jake and Alvin (nephews of J.M.), and a few others. My father remembered "Uncle Jake Lowe" and always said his full name when he spoke of him. My mother's grandfather spoke of Alvin and his store in Williamstown. I knew who some of Uncle Jake's descendants were - went to school with one. When I'd ask my father how we were related (obviously his last name wasn't Carr or Abercrombie or Angell, the names I knew the "how" about), he'd say "through the Carrs". What an answer, right? One time I did get him to say that his great-grandmother Carr was a Lowe before she married. I really don't think he knew more than that. He didn't even know her first name. I've often wondered why he didn't know more and haven't been able to decide. I find not knowing to be a bit irksome! But such is life, right? So finding Judge J.M. Lowe in my family tree was like winning the lottery. I was beginning to connect the dots. Thomas and "Mack" (as he was known in Pendleton County) led me to Moses, my fifth great-grandfather.
During his youth, J.M. Lowe was an ordinary boy. He swam in the Mill Pond with his brothers and the neighbor boys on Saturday afternoons. He worked on the farm. He had the ordinary boyhood memories: of grandma, of singing, of church, and of family. Yet he grew up, left Pendleton County, Kentucky and became extraordinary, someone his descendants should be proud to claim. Researching and studying him makes me wonder if the mark I've made during my time in 'life's pilgrimage' will be worthy of a page in someone's blog a hundred years or so after my pilgrimage has ended.
During the Civil War, J.M. Lowe enlisted in the 4th Kentucky Cavalry Company D, CSA. He served three months. Upon returning home, he went to Indiana where he taught school and read law in the evenings. After passing the bar, he moved to Missouri, working as an attorney, a prosecutor, judge, and eventually the President of the National Old Trails Road Association. As president of the Association, he pushed for federal funding of an "ocean to ocean" highway based on connecting the old trails such as the Santa Fe trail. He put much time and effort into this organization. On paper, he seems tireless. In reality, I'm sure there were times he was exhausted. He didn't give up. That's his legacy. When the going got tough, as I'm sure it did, he kept going.
This book is in the public domain and is available to download free here: An Idle Hour in Life's Pilgrimage by J.M. Lowe
Other Sources:
Legendary Route 66: A Journey Through Time Along America's Mother Road by Michael Karl Witzel & Gyval Young-Witzel
The national old trails road : the great historic highway of America by Judge J.M. Lowe
