Mrs. M. J. Lowe
Mrs. M. J. Lowe
Born
Aug. 15, 1837
Died
May 16, 1913
May she rest in peace
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
Biography
Because there are no extant issues of the Caller for 1913, no obituary of Mary Jane Lowe has survived from the Corpus Christi paper. Census records and other documents from Nueces County do give us some information on her. Her tombstone reports that she was born on August 15, 1837; and the census records of 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 all report that she was a native of Ireland. The census record of 1910 (Nueces County E. D. 97, sheet 9A) lists her living near the end of her life at 1601 Mesquite Street next to her only surviving child, Kate (Mrs. Alexander) Smith. In this census Mary J. reports that she came to the United States about 1855. It seems likely that she married sometime after coming to America because the information on her children indicate that their father was German and that his last name was “Burwickâ€. She may be the Jane Burwick who is found with her husband Steve in Galveston County in 1860 (p. 466B). That Jane is also from Ireland, and her age fits for someone born in 1837. If this is so then Steve Burwick is the father of Charles (also buried in Old Bayview Cemetery) and Catherine “Kate†Burwick. Jane is next found in the 1870 census record of Refugio (p. 152B) with her next husband, John Watson Lowe. With John and Jane are children Kate and Charles. In this census they are listed as having the last name of “Loweâ€. However, they are 10 (Kate) and 8 (Charles) years old. John Lowe is a brick mason and lives near a cabinet maker. Dave Brady, a 30 year old carpenter of Ireland, lives with the family, but it is not clarified if he is a possible brother of Mary Jane. Of course, if Dave is her brother then her maiden name is Brady. By the 1880 census John and Jane are living in San Patricio County (p. 379B) and now Kate and Charles are listed as Catherine and Lawrence, and their last name is given as “Berrickâ€. The burial of Lawrence Charles next to his mother indicates that the last name (as found on his tombstone) is “Burwickâ€. Charles is buried between his mother and his stepfather in Old Bayview Cemetery. It is in Deed Records of Nueces County that Jane lists herself and her two surviving children, Catherine “Lowe†and Lawrence C. “Lowe†as the only surviving heirs of John W. Lowe (volume T page 456-6 of May 14, 1890). Charles died in 1894 and was buried next to his deceased stepfather so in her final census record (of 1910) Mary Jane says that only 1 of 4 children still survive. That child is her daughter Catherine “Kate†Burwick who married Alexander Smith. Presumably at least two of her children died between 1860 and 1870 census records as they are not noted in either of these. In the 1900 census of Nueces County (E. D. 130, sheet 2/page 1B) Mary J. Lowe lives on Mesquite Street, and her daughter and the Smith family live with her. By 1900 Kate and Alexander have been married 10 years, and they have two children: Edna born in April of 1892 and Edward born in February of 1897. That would mean that both children were born after the death of Kate’s stepfather (John Watson Lowe). By the 1910 census, it is now Alexander who is head of the household, and his mother-in-law lives with the family in which she must have found comfort and care in her old age. After her death she was placed next to her son Lawrence “Charles†Burwick in Old Bayview and near the remains of her second husband John Watson Lowe.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell