Representative women of New England/Martha Perry Lowe
MARTHA PERRY LOWE, poet and journalist, was born in Keene, N.H., November 21, 1829, daughter of General Justus Perry and his wife, Hannah Wood. She was educated in Keene and in the private school of Mrs. Charles Sedgwick at Lenox, Mass., then one of the leading institutions of the kind in New England. She devoted nmch time in her earlier years to music, literature and travel.
In September, 1857, as Martha Perry, she married the Rev. Charles Lowe, a Unitarian minister, who at a later period was known as one of the leading clergymen of that denomination in America.
Mr. Lowe was born in Portsmouth, N.H., November 18, 1828. His parents were John and Sarah Ann (Simes) Lowe. While he was very young, they removed to Exeter, N.H. His paternal grandparents were Elisha P. and Maria (Yeaton) Lowe; and his maternal grandparents, George and Nancy (Hardy) Simes.
The home of his grandfather Simes was for many years the headquarters in Portsmouth of the Universalist ministers, he being an active member of that denomination. Mrs. Elizabeth Yeaton, his father's grandmother, was a devoted Unitarian.
Charles Lowe was fitted for college at Phillips (Exeter) Academy, was graduated A.B. at Harvard University in 1847 and from the Divinity School in 1851. In 1852 he accepted a call from the Unitarian church in New Bedford to become colleague to the Rev. John Weiss. He was onlainctl in July, antl con- tinued active in the duties of the ministry until the failure of his health led him to seek rest and change in foreign travel, (ioing abroad in September, 1853, he journeyed in Europe, Egypt, and Syria, and then spent some time studying in Germany, returning to Boston in May, 1855. His next pastorate was in Salem (September, 1855, to July, 1856) ; his third and last, in Somerville, to which place he removed with his family in the autumn of 1859, and where he remained aTesident as long as he lived. Elected secretary of the American Unitarian Association in June, 1865, lie served as such "with singular and growing success" until the spring of 1871, when his strength gave way and he resigned the office.
His patriotism during the stirring events of the Civil War was earnest and practical. His health not permitting him to enter the army, he offered his services to Governor Andrew in any capacity he could fill, and was appointed chaplain at the camp at J^ong Island. In No- vember, 1864, as chairman of the Army Com- mission of the American Unitarian Association, he visited the soldiers at the front. He also served as one of the Teachers' Conunittee of the New England Freedman's Aid Society. In all these positions he renderetl invaluable service to the Union cause.
At the time of his death, June 20, 1874, he was editor of the Unitarian Review.
Mr. and Mrs. Lowe had two daughters, both of whom are married and live in Somerville. Mrs. Lowe survived her husbantl many years, her earthly life closing at her pleasant home on Spring Hill, May 7, 1902. She was devoted to the higher interests of Somerville, and during her long resilience in that city slie substantially aided its charities and schools. In appreciation of her services in behalf of educational projects the school board, soon after her death, named a new building in her memory.
Mrs. Lowe often participated in public gath- erings, and accepted invitations to read original poems on special occasions. She was a fre- ([uent contributor to papers and magazines, and made many earnest appeals for the cause of charity, temperance, woman suffrage, and other objects connected with the public welfare. She was the author of "The Olive and the Pine," a volume of poems published in 1859; " Ivove in Spain, and Other Poems"; "The Story of Chief Joseph"; "Bessie Gray"; Me- moir of Charles Lowe; and a book of Easter poems, called "The Innnortals."
The following notice of Martha Perry Lowe is taken from an address by the Rev. William H. Pierson, pastor of the Ihiitarian church in Somerville: —
"Mrs. Lowe was a woman of delightful per- sonal qualities. She had the advantages of early culture and education. Her journey to S])ain when she was a young girl to visit lier brother, who was the Secretary of the Ahieri- can Legation, and who married Carolina Coronado, a Spanish poetess, lent a tinge of romance and imagination to her mind, which revealed itself afterward in many of the poems she wrote about that fascinating but mediiL'val country. But the basis of her mind was sound common sen.se. ' ~
"She came here with her young and talented husband somewhat more than forty years since, to be the pastor's wife in the First Con- gregational (Uiutarian) Society of the town, and from that time to this, in matters of education and the schools, in matters of temperance and reform, and in those that concern the rights and suffrages of women, in matters which related to the local Alliance, of which she was president for many years, in the work of the Unitarian Association, of which at one period her husband was the able and efficient secretary, and to whose interests she was ardently devoted — in all these things by her written and spoken words she was not only doing good to the community, but she was building up a character and influence of her own, the recognition of which is to-day the sweetest and most grateful tribute we can pay to her memory.
"Mrs. Lowe was ever giving out, thinking, writing, expressing her thought. She would be inditing a poem, composing an article for the Unitarian Review, the Christian Register, or the local journal, making an address at the Alliance, the Educational Union, the Woman's Suffrage Club. In this way she kept herself alive, alert, in touch with the great world and its interests. In the old days of the Unitarian Review many turned in every issue first of all to the section headed 'At Homo and Abroad,' articles which she wrote for that publication for many years.
"Besides the good work that Mrs. Lowe did and the influence she exerted, there was another salient feature in her life that no one who had any particular acquaintance with her could fail to recognize. That was the sweet remembrance of her husband. Charles Lowe was the idol of her heart. To lovingly write the story of his life and work, to cherish his character and memory, to live over again unceasingly the happy days and years in which they lived together for causes dear to humanity and God, was her greatest joy and delight. ... A typical Unitarian, she loved the church of Channing. She was proud of its past, and had high hopes for its future.
"Mrs. Lowe was one of the clearest and most positive in her own expression of what she believed to be true. Her whole life and character was kindly, philanthropic, beneficent. He sought to be useful and to do good in the world. Hence the large place and the wide and long-sustained influence she has had in this community."