Once the wagon was packed and the horses harnessed, John picked up an old gun barrel from the yard, stood it on its end, and told his wife that whichever direction it fell would be the direction they would travel. John and Mary needed to make a decision whether to move south to Arkansas, where Nicholas was moving, or to move north to Marion County, Missouri, where Mary’s parents had recently relocated. John’s sixth farewell was to his uncle Nicholas Norris in 1827. Mary was an intelligent woman, who finally taught John how to read and write, since he missed getting any kind of education as a child. During the early years of their marriage, they lived in Madison County, Missouri. Her family was living in Arkansas at the time she and John were married. Her grandfather was a Loyalist who was killed in battle while serving in the English Army during the Revolutionary War. John married his second wife, Mary Wilcox, February 1, 1824, in Shelby County, Tennessee, where his first wife’s parents lived. I don’t know the source of this photo, but it is said to be my third-great-grandparents, George Peacock and Sarah Lowry Peacock, John Lowry’s oldest daughter. After only six years of marriage, she died in 1823, leaving John alone with two young children. After the marriage, they moved to Madison County, Missouri, where their two children were born, William Grooms Lowry, born February 10, 1818, and my third-great-grandmother, Sarah Lowry, born October 16, 1820. John married his first wife, Susan Grooms, in 1817 in Nashville, Tennessee. John was piloting a steamboat heading up the Mississippi River, and James was piloting a steamboat heading the other direction. John’s fourth farewell was to James, when they met for the last time in Natchez, Mississippi. He worked for a while as a riverboat pilot, as did his brother James. He was said to be a strong, sturdy man and a great hunter, known for his fighting abilities. This was around the time the War of 1812 was just beginning. The story is told that he walked away, barefoot, with a light snow on the ground, but this may have been an embellishment added to enhance the drama of the moment. She watched her thirteen-year-old son leave for the last time wearing tow trousers, a hickory shirt, and a ragged hat. Since he was running away from his indenture, he couldn’t remain at home, so his mother gave him instructions on how to locate some members of her family. This encouraged John to escape from his difficult life with the wheelwright and begin a better life elsewhere. After one of these beatings, Ira became sick and later died. The wheelwright was a cruel, violent man, who would often beat his apprentices. The widowed Polly Lowry could not afford to support all her children, so John and Ira were indentured to a wheelwright. We don’t know how many children were in the Lowry family, but we do know of at least two brothers, James and Ira. Although it was assumed he had drowned, it was also considered a possibility that he might have been murdered for the money that might have been in the mail he carried. William’s hat was later discovered on the stream bank, but neither he nor his horse was ever seen again. One day while servicing his mail route, a storm arose, and a stream he regularly needed to cross was overflowing. William Lowry worked as a mail carrier for the United State government. John Lowry’s first farewell was to his father, to whom he never got a chance to say good-bye. Photo of John Lowry from the Church Historians Office, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. John Lowry Senior’s early life appears to have been filled with many sad farewells. The things we know about John Lowry’s early life come from history recorded by his granddaughter, Sarah Jane Lowry Reynolds, as it was related to her by her father, John Lowry Junior. Some people would call this a brick wall in their family tree, but I prefer to see it as a temporary barrier that will someday be vanquished. Slightly more can be found concerning John’s mother, Mary “Polly” Norris, born about 1769, the daughter of Thomas Norris, who is thought to have come from England, settled in the colonies, and served in the Revolutionary War. We know that his father, William Lowry, was born about 1769 and lived in Robertson County, Tennessee, but little more information can be found beyond that. Such is not the case with the family of my fourth-great-grandfather John Lowry Senior. After several years of researching family history, I can trace most of my ancestors at least back to when they first arrived in North America.

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