John Watson Lowe
John Watson Lowe
Born
in Randolph
N. H.
Oct. 11, 1837
Died
Jan. 3, 1890
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
Biography
Because there are no extant issues of the Caller for the period in January of 1890 when John W. Lowe died, no obituary of John has survived in the local Corpus Christi newspapers. Census records and other document as well as other articles from the local paper do give some information on him. The gravestone of John W. Lowe reports that he was born in Randolph, New Hampshire on 11 October 1837. Census records from 1870 and 1880 confirm that he is a native of New Hampshire of that approximate age. Most likely he gravitated to the south because of his work as a brick mason. He would have been especially busy around the period he died because of the Ropes boom that was taking place in south Texas with its center in Corpus Christi. John appears in the 1870 census in Refugio County (p.152B) with a wife, Jane, and two children, Kate and Charles. Living with the family is also a carpenter named Dave Brady who (like Jane Lowe) is a native of Ireland. In this census, the children are listed as “Loweâ€. However, in the 1880 census, they are listed as “Berwick†and are clearly stepchildren to John W. Lowe. They indicate their father is from “Germany†in this census (1880 federal census of San Patricio County, page 379B). Because of their ages, this would mean that Mary Jane actually married John Watson Lowe sometime after 1865. It is unclear how Jane lost her first husband. She seems to be the Jane “Burwick†who is married to Steve Burwick and living in Galveston in the 1860 census prior to the Civil War (1860 federal census of Galveston County, page 466B). This Jane is also of Ireland and born about 1837 like Mary Jane Lowe. Steve Burwick is a butcher and says that he comes from France. It may be that he comes from Alsace Lorraine or a similar region that was claimed at different times by both France and Germany. At any rate by the 1900 census record his daughter Kate is claiming he came from New York which further complicates the question of her father’s place of birth. That Jane was initially married to a Mr. Burwick is substantiated by the burial of their son, “Charles Burwickâ€, between John Watson Lowe and Mary Jane Lowe in Old Bayview Cemetery. John W. Lowe must have moved to the Corpus Christi area subsequent to the 1880 census because his widow and stepchildren are listed in the city in the1900 and 1910 census records as well as in city directories from that time. John continued to work in the brick mason business it seems because he also had some trouble with his partner, and in 1888 articles are found in the local paper in which John gives notice that his partnership with H. H. Holland is terminated until such time as Mr. Holland makes a settlement with John on their account. His notice indicates that the two were masons authorized to use “Fire and Water King Roofing Cement†in the counties of Nueces, Duval, Webb, Aransas, and Victoria. That would show that he was active in a large region of south Texas as a mason (C. C. Caller of 8 December 1888, page 5 col. 2 and of 29 December 1888, page 2 col. 4). John Watson Lowe died on 8 January 1890 and was buried in Old Bayview Cemetery. The early death records of the city of Corpus Christi note that he died of apoplexy in Spohn (early records page 40 #424). His stepson Charles Burwick was placed beside him only four years later in July of 1894, but Mary Jane survived her husbands and three children. Only her daughter Kate Burwick-Smith was alive when Jane died in May of 1913.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell