Member Biography

Biography

Morrow Barr Lowry (R27) Crawford and Erie Counties 1862-1864 (R29) Crawford and Erie Counties, 1865-1870

Early Life:

Morrow Barr Lowry, born March 6, 1813, Mayville, Chautauqua County, New York; son of Morrow and Anna Barr Lowry; old log schoolhouse education; engaged, hardware store, 1828; moved Buffalo New York  hardware store through 1831; engaged business, wholesale butter distribution and cattle sales, Conneautville, Crawford County; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1842-1843; delegate, Republican National Convention, 1860; private, Civil War, 1861; elected, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1862-1870; married, Harriet S. Hendersen Lowry; died, January 19, 1885 (aged 71), Kirkbride’s Asylum, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; interment, Erie Cemetery, Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania. 

Early Career: 

Engaged business, wholesale butter distribution and cattle sales.

Financed, formation of Erie’s 83rd Regiment, private, mustered in, August 27, 1861, donating $2,000 to care for wounded and indigent soldiers from the regiment, mustered out, corporal by Presidential Order, Nov. 11, 1861.

Pennsylvania Politics: 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1842-1843. 

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 27th district, Crawford and Erie Counties, 1862-1864; committee assignments, Federal Relations, Pension and Gratuities and Railroads. 

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 29th district, Crawford and Erie Counties, 1865-1870; committee assignments, Federal Relations and Railroads.  

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Biography: 

Official Website - PA House Archives Official Website

Legacy:

The Lowry Building that housed the abolitionist The True American was owned by state Senator Morrow Barr Lowry, in the Civil War era one of Erie’s most successful businessmen, but far more than that.  Known as the “Moral Conscience” of the senate, Lowry advocated abolition in the state legislature, as well as debt forgiveness for the poor.  An acquaintance of John Brown, Lowry visited the radical abolitionist in Charles Town, Virginia while he awaited execution for the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry that helped trigger the Civil War.  When the war arrived, Lowry donated $2,000 to those enlisting in the 83^rd Pennsylvania Infantry and pushed for arming free black men as soldiers for the Union Army.  Lowry later championed the establishment of the Pennsylvania Soldiers and Sailors Home, and his farm on what was then Cooper Road eventually was sold to the Sisters of Mercy to establish Mercyhurst College. 

Suffered a paralytic stroke in his final year of senate service. Retired to manage his business interests, he also spent time in Kirkbride’s Asylum, Philadelphia, convalescing, until he was committed fulltime, 1876.  

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an editorial written by Mercyhurst History Professor Doctor Chris Magoc in observance of Black History Month. It was featured in the Erie Times-News on Sunday, February 26, 2023.) ‘Black freedom, the struggle for American democracy’ | Mercyhurst

Cited: 

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members "L"". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Manual of Rules and Legislative Directory together with the Constitution of the United States and of Pennsylvania Smull, J.A., (Editor) (1866) pages 261-263.

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1870) Smull, J.A., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 433, 436-438.

The New York Times (New York, New York) Saturday, January 24, 1885, Page 5
Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Saturday January 24, 1885, Page 2

Black freedom and the struggle for democracy in Erie and America

Morrow Barr Lowry – A Shared Heritage

The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Lowry

Morrow Barr Lowry (1813-1885) - Find a Grave Memorial