Friday, March 17, 2017

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.....BUT ALMOST FORGOTTEN



Named the Fulda, Laurel or Lowell Cemetery

From the  findagrave website for A.J. Lowell
The above photo of the grave marker is from the findagrave website for A.J. Lowell
As I rush back and forth from Glenwood to White Salmon, via Gilmer Valley I pass this small, white, fenced cemetery.  It contains apparently two graves.  One small and unmarked except for a metal stake in the ground.  The other grave is marked by this stone.  It reads...

A.J. LOWELL
BORN
DEC. 16, 1827
DIED
JULY 19, 1890
---------------
Gone but not forgotten

I have stopped several times, climbing up the bank, to read the stone, only to forget the name.  I have been told several stories of who is buried in the little white fenced cemetery.  The most common story has been,... a mother and child rest here.  Like all history, the stories are questionable, and what I write here is questionable, but I have tried to accurately research my information.  

Abram Jay Lowell is illusive in history.  Thanks to Jeffrey Elmer for finding this tidbit in the July 25, 1890  Portland Oregonian and documenting it.  It is the only reference I have been able to find about Mr. Lowell's death.

"The dead body of Mr. A. J. Lowell, of the same section, just south of Mount Adams, was found in his field on last Saturday by some of his neighbors.  The family were all away from home at that time, at their milk ranch in the mountains, and it is the general supposition that he died from heart disease."

Before I continue on with the life of A.J. Lowell, I want to clarify that he did not live across the road, where the Whitcomb-Cole cabin once stood. His farm was north, down the hill on Kreps Lane at what most of us know as the Willy Gribner farm. I suspect he was buried up on the hill away from the bottom ground that flooded in the spring.

A.J. Lowell was born December 16, 1827 to Elinor White and Nyrum Lowell at Lowell's Corner, New York State. There is a book titled:

"The Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America from 1639 to 1899"

The Lowells were a prominent and well educated family on the east coast.

In 1863 A.J. is living in Black Hawk County Iowa and on September 17, he marries Ella or Elicy Francis Mitcheltree Walker. Elicy, was born in Pennsylvania in 1824 to James Mitcheltree. When A.J. marries her, she is a widow with three children. She was previously married to Rynear Walker in 1852. In the 1860 Iowa census Rynear and Elicy have three children. Kate, James and George.
Rynear enlisted July 1, 1861 with Company E, Iowa 5th Infantry Regiment organized at Burlington, Iowa. Mustered into Federal forces on July 15, 1861. The unit had a strength of 1067 men. It suffered 250 fatalities and 299 wounded. Rynear died of sun stroke on June 29, 1862 in Mississippi. He is buried in the Union National Cemetery, Corinth, Mississippi.

I found no information as to why A.J. was living in Iowa, but he marries Elicy in 1863 and on February 29, 1864 he enlists into "I" Co of the Iowa 16th Volunteer Infantry.
In August of 1864, their son A.B.J. Lowell is born.
Abraham's unit fought in Vicksburg and accompanied Sherman's army through Georgia. In the battle at Atlanta, they ran out of ammunition and were captured. The prisoners were sent to Andersonville. The men were exchanged in September, fought through the Carolinas and eventually mustered out at Louisville in July 1865.


A.J. must have been injured at some point in battle, because in 1877 he files for an invalid's pension. I think he must not have received it, because Elicy files for it after his death.

In 1878, the family is living in Tipton Nebraska. Listed as children are A.J. Lowell Junior age 13 and George Walker age 19. I have not been able to find information about the other two Walker children. They were older than George and probably living on their own.

In the 1887 Census, A.J. Lowell age 60 and Ella Lowell age 64 are living in Camas Prairie, Klickitat County.  With them are ABJ Lowell age 22 and George Walker age 28.  
I have no idea what brought the family to Camas Prairie.  There are names in his Infantry Unit that are familiar, so I wonder if A.J. knew a Civil War veteran who had settled here in Camas  Prairie.    I plan on checking out some of those names.  Also, there are Walkers who came early to the Oregon Territory.  There are some indications they were relatives of Rynear Walker.  

What happens to the family and farm after the death of A.J. Lowell??   
TO BE CONTINUED.....