LOWRANCE, Eli Martin

LOWRANCE, EVANS, CARMENE, DOGGIT

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 2/10/2014 at 18:46:21

Biography ~ Eli Martin Lowrance

"Biographical and Historical Record of
Ringgold and Decatur Counties, Iowa"
(Lewis Publishing Company (1887)), Pp. 515-16:

ELI M. LOWRANCE i sone of the pioneers of Decatur County, and resides on section 9, Morgan Township. He entered 160 acres of land as soon as it came into market, and settled upon it March 3, 1853. He still owns 120 acres of the original entry, also 120 acres on section 16. There was considerable timber on the land, mostly hickory. There are but two others now in Morgan Township who had made settlements when Mr. Lowrance came. The following incident shows the condition of the county when he settled here: About April 1, 1853, Mr. Lowrance was notified to attend court as a grand-juryman. The court was held in the timber on Little River bottom. The court-house consisted of a shed of the most simple kind. It was made of stakes set in the ground with forks for the support of cross-pieces. The roof consisted of bruch covered with prairie grass; no sides nor flooring. The jury room was a neighboring corn crib. Such was the manner in which justice was dispenced in those early days. The following incident may be of interest: A. J. Evans had been elected State's Attorney in the fall of 1852. He was a little late in putting in an apprearance upon the occasion just mentioned, and the court had already begun the work of the session. Mr. Evans apologized to the court for his tardiness, but was met by the prompt and rather sarcastic reply, "It is all right, Mr. Evans, we are getting along very well without you." Mr. Evans was a young man at that time; but notwithstanding his deliquency upon the occasion mentioned, he became quite eniment as a lawyer, and was a highly-respected citizen of Decatur County.

Mr. Lowrance was born in Middle Tennessee, February 8, 1828. His grandfather, Jacob Lowrance, was a native of Ireland and came to America before the Revolutionary war, in which he took an active part. After the war he married and settled in Georgia, and afterward removed to Tennessee. The father of our subject, [Dr.]Josiah Newton Lowrance, is still living in Tennessee, at the age of ninety-nine years, having been born November 17, 1787. He has been twice married. By his first marriage he had seven children, four of whom are still living. Eli M. was reared in his native State and married Martha Doggit. He came to Davis County, Iowa, in the spring of 1852, and the following spring to this county, as before stated. For his second wife Mr. Lowrance married Allina Carmene (sic). Politically he is a Democrat, as were hs father and grandfather before him. Soon after his grandfather's marriage he purchased a drawing-knife and a hand saw, which he gave to his son, Josiah N., upon his marriage, who in turn presented them to his son, Eli M., when he married, and the latter has given them to his son, Francis Marion. These implements have been in the family considerably over a century.

NOTE: Eli Martin Lowrance died March 12, 1903, and was interred at Union Cemetery, Woodland IA. Albina (Carmene) Lowrance was born January 1, 1832, in Indiana, and died August 29, 1922, Leon IA, interred at Leon Cemetery, Leon IA.

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, February of 2014