The Rev. Titus Lowe (17 December 1877 – November 1959
at Archives of DePauw University and Indiana United Methodism) was an English-American

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

and The Methodist Church, elected in 1924.

Birth and family

Titus Lowe was born in Bilston,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the son of William Henry and Anna (Scribbins) Lowe, and moved to America in 1892 at the age of 14 with his mother and sisters Annie, Louisa and Mary. His father and older brothers, Thomas and George, had moved to America in 1890, where they lived in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, and worked in the area's

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

mills. Lowe married Anna Bessie Creed (b. 1880) on October 18, 1901. They had two daughters, Madelyn Bessie Lowe and Evelyn Oldham Lowe, and a son who died in infancy. Anna died in 1911. Lowe married Edith Eglantine Egloff (b. 1876) on January 6, 1913, and had one daughter, Anna Jane Lowe, by that marriage. After Edith's death in 1955, Lowe married Ellen Louise Stoy (1890-1979) on January 8, 1957.

Education

Lowe graduated from

Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consortium ...

, earning a B.A. degree in 1900 and an M.A. in 1908. He attended the Western Theological Seminary (now Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) between 1900 and 1902. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He also received several honorary doctorates.

Ordained ministry and missionary service

Lowe entered the Pittsburgh

Annual Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main pu ...

of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1900. He was appointed

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of the Fourth Street Methodist Church in Braddock, Pennsylvania, a post he held from 1900 to 1903. He then went as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, pastoring the

Thoburn Thoburn is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: People * Crawford R. Thoburn (1862–1899), American Methodist minister *Isabella Thoburn (1840–1901), American Christian missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church in North India * ...

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, 1903–1908. Lowe returned to the United States in 1908 and was appointed pastor in

South Fork, Pennsylvania South Fork is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 928 at the 2010 census, down from 1,138 at the 2000 census. Geography South Fork i ...

(1908–09). Then he was appointed, in succession, to the First Methodist Churches of Cedar Falls, Iowa (1909–13) and

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

(1913–21). In 1921, he was elected corresponding secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, holding in this position until elected to the episcopacy. In 1917–18, Lowe was a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

under the auspices of the International Committee of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was elected a delegate to Methodist Episcopal General Conferences (1916–24).

Episcopal ministry

Lowe was elected to the episcopacy of the Methodist Episcopal Church by the 1924 General Conference. He was assigned to the

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

episcopal area (1924–28). He was then assigned to the

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, Episcopal Area (1928–39) and to the

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Episcopal Area of The Methodist Church in 1939. His offices were located at 305 Underwriters Bldg. in Indianapolis. Lowe's accomplishments were many while episcopal Leader in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, including being a charter member of the World Service Commission of the Methodist Church,

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of the Methodist Commission on Interdenominational Relations, president of the Methodist Hospital of Indianapolis and president of the Methodist "Council of Bishops".

Honors

Lowe was honored with the

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...

degree (1916) and the LL.D. degree (1926) by the Nebraska Wesleyan University. Ohio Wesleyan gave him the D.D. in 1920. The

College of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound (UPS or Puget Sound) is a private university in Tacoma, Washington. The university draws approximately 2,600 students from 44 states and 16 countries. It offers 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 traditional an ...

honored him with the

L.H.D. The degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (; DHumLitt; DHL; or LHD) is an honorary degree awarded to those who have distinguished themselves through humanitarian and philanthropic contributions to society. The criteria for awarding the degree differ ...

in 1931. Lowe was a

33rd degree The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States often omits the ''and'', while the English Constitution in the United Kingdom omits the ''Scottish''), commonly known as simply the Sco ...

mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...

. He was also named a "Significant Sig" by the national Sigma Chi fraternity.

Retirement and death

Lowe retired from the episcopacy in 1948, and was appointed executive secretary of the Methodist Commission on Overseas Relief for five years. He lived in Indianapolis until his death in November 1959.

Notes

References

*
Bishop Titus Lowe Papers, M997.004, M999.025
Archives of DePauw University and Indiana United Methodism, Archives and Special Collections, DePauw University Libraries.
Genealogical information about Titus Lowe
from ''Rootsweb''. Retrieved 5 February 2007.

External links

Significant Sigs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Titus 1877 births 1959 deaths Ohio Wesleyan University alumni American Methodist bishops Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church American people of World War I American expatriates in Singapore Methodist missionaries in India American expatriates in India Methodist missionaries in Singapore Methodist missionaries in the United States American Methodist missionaries People from Bilston English emigrants to the United States 20th-century Methodist bishops People from Cedar Falls, Iowa Pittsburgh Theological Seminary alumni