Charles Lowell (15 August 1782 – 20 January 1861) was a Unitarian minister and a son of judge

John Lowell John Lowell (June 17, 1743 – May 6, 1802) was a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation, a Judge of the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture under the Articles of Confederation, a United States district judge of the United States Distr ...

, as well as the father of

James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that ...

and Robert Traill Spence Lowell.

Biography

He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended

The Roxbury Latin School The Roxbury Latin School is a private boys' day school that was founded in 1645 in the town of Roxbury (now a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts) by the Rev. John Eliot under a charter received from King Charles I of England. It bills ...

and later Phillips Academy in Andover. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1800, where he studied law and then theology. After two years in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and one year on the Continent, Lowell was, from 1806 until his death, pastor of the West Congregational (Unitarian) Church of Boston, a charge in which Cyrus A. Bartol was associated with him after 1837. From that year until 1840, he traveled extensively in Europe and the east. During the latter part of his life Lowell officiated only occasionally in his church. Lowell was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...

in 1814, and served on its board of councilors from 1820 to 1853.Dunbar, B. (1987). ''Members and Officers of the American Antiquarian Society''. Worcester: American Antiquarian Society. He married Harriet, daughter of Robert T. Spence, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, an officer in the U. S. Navy. Harvard gave him the degree of D.D. in 1823. He was a fellow of its corporation from 1818 until 1833. He was a member of literary societies in the United States and elsewhere. The "Proceedings" of a parish meeting that was held in his memory were published in 1861. Almost alone, he spoke out from the pulpit against slavery to Boston's elite.

Family

He was a son of

, "The Old Judge", and half-brother of businessman

Francis Cabot Lowell Francis Cabot Lowell (April 7, 1775 – August 10, 1817) was an American businessman for whom the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, is named. He was instrumental in bringing the Industrial Revolution to the United States. Early life Francis Cabot ...

. His sons included the poet

and clergyman Robert Traill Spence Lowell. His daughter was

Mary Lowell Putnam Mary Traill Spence Lowell Putnam (December 3, 1810 – June 1, 1898) was an American author. She was the sister of James Russell Lowell, and the daughter of Rev. Charles Lowell. She had an aptitude for acquiring languages: she was eventually fl ...

. His son Charles Russell Lowell married to the writer

Anna Cabot Lowell Anna Cabot Lowell (September 29, 1811 – January 7, 1874) was an American writer. Biography Anna Cabot Jackson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1819. She married Charles Russell Lowell, Jr., son of Charles Russell Lowell, Sr. She was the m ...

and they had a daughter who died in young age around 1850.

Works

He contributed largely to periodical literature and published many separate discourses, a volume of ''Occasional Sermons'', one of ''Practical Sermons'' (Boston, 1855), ''Meditations for the Afflicted, Sick, and Dying'' and ''Devotional Exercises for Communicants''.

Notes

References

* *

External links

*
Annotated volumes of the Massachusetts Register by Charles Lowell
is at the Harvard Divinity School Library at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...