Enoch Louis Lowe
Enoch Louis Lowe (August 10, 1820 – August 23, 1892) was the 29th Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1851 to 1854.
Enoch Louis Lowe | |
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29th Governor of Maryland | |
In office January 6, 1851 – January 11, 1854 | |
Preceded by | Philip F. Thomas |
Succeeded by | Thomas W. Ligon |
Member of the Maryland House of Delegates | |
In office 1845 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Frederick County, Maryland U.S. | August 10, 1820
Died | August 23, 1892 72) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | (aged
Resting place | St. John’s Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic |
Alma mater | Stonyhurst College |
Early life
He was the only child of Bradley Samuel Adams Lowe and Adelaide Bellumeau de la Vincendiere. He was born on August 10, 1820, in the manor-house of The Hermitage, on the Monocacy River, Frederick County, Maryland. At thirteen he entered Clongowes Wood College, Ireland, where he was schoolmates with Thomas Francis Meagher. Three years later he matriculated at Stonyhurst College, England, where he was friends with Francis Mahony and Miles Gerard Keon, the novelist. He graduated first in his class in 1839.[1]
Studying with Judge John A. Lynch, of Frederick, he was admitted to the bar in 1842.[1]
Family
In 1844, Lowe married Esther Winder Polk,[2] of Somerset County, Maryland, who was a relative of James Knox Polk. They had eleven children of whom seven survived: Adelaide Victoire, married E. Austin Jenkins;[3] Anna Maria, religiense of the Sacred Heart, died 1889; Paul Emelius; Vivian Polk; Victoire Vincendiere, married John M. Stubbs; Enoch Louis; Esther Polk; Mary Gorter, married Francis de Sales Jenkins.[1]
Political career
Lowe was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1845, a member of the Democratic National Convention in 1856 and a U.S. Presidential elector in 1860.[4] Lowe took the oath of office as Governor of Maryland on January 6, 1851. The most important events of his administration were the adoption of the Maryland Constitution of 1851, the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to the Ohio River and a reduction of the state tax rate from 25 to 15 cents on a $100.
Civil War and later life
He supported the Confederacy during the Civil War.[5] During the war, he lived at Richmond, Virginia,[6] and Milledgeville, Georgia. After the war, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, joining the law firm of Richard F. Clarke and W. H. Morgan.[1]
He is mentioned in the song "Maryland, My Maryland", which later became the state anthem.[1][7]
He died at St. Mary's Hospital, Brooklyn, on August 23, 1892.[1] He is buried at Saint John's Cemetery in Frederick, Maryland.
Assessment
He was, perhaps, the greatest stump speaker of his day. ... Few young men ever had a more brilliant career in this state than Enoch Louis Lowe. ... He had the advantage of collegiate training abroad, with which was combined a pleasing address, winning speech and clear-cut, States' rights, patriotic principles.
James McSherry. Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, writing to a member of his family, paid this tribute to Lowe's memory:
The superb attainments of your father as a forensic and popular orator were perhaps never equalled by anyone who ever lived in this country.[1]
References
- Caleb Clarke Magruder (November 4, 1912). Enoch Louis Lowe, Governor of Maryland, 1851 - 1854. Year-Book of American Clan Gregor Society.
- George Adolphus Hanson (1876). Old Kent. John P. Des Forges. p. 194.
Enoch Louis Lowe.
- Clayton Colman Hall (1912). Baltimore. Lewis Historical Publishing Co. p. 888.
Enoch Louis Lowe.
- Joshua Dorsey Warfield (1905). The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland. Kohn & Pollock. pp. 280–281.
- "Maryland Governor Enoch Louis Lowe". Former Governors' bios. National Governors' Association. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
- "EX-GOV. LOWE, OF MARYLAND, IN RICHMOND,". The New York Times. July 12, 1861. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
- Maurice Garland Fulton (2003). Southern Life in Southern Literature. Kessinger Publishing. p. 500. ISBN 978-0-7661-4624-2.
- Carl Holliday (1908). Three Centuries of Southern Poetry (1607-1907). M. E. Church South, Smith & Lamar, agents. p. 252.
External links
- Works by or about Enoch Louis Lowe at Internet Archive
- Esther Winder Polk Lowe, (painting), Smithsonian Art database
- LOWE FAMILY PAPERS, MS. 1949, Maryland Historical Society, Library of Maryland History
Party political offices | ||
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Preceded by Philip Francis Thomas |
Democratic nominee for Governor of Maryland 1850 |
Succeeded by Thomas Watkins Ligon |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by Philip Thomas |
Governor of Maryland 1851–1854 |
Succeeded by Thomas W. Ligon |