McGrew, Lowry

MCGREW

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 10/2/2008 at 16:12:56

Lowry McGrew

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.189, Neola Twp.)
Lowry McGrew, saloon-keeper, Neola, was born in Westmoreland County, Penn., July 18, 1831. His father, John McGrew, was born in Pennsylvania in 1796; emigrated to Illinois in 1843; remained in Rock Island County till about 1870, when he removed to Pottawattamie County, Iowa. He died in Harrision County, Iowa, in 1876. His mother, Elizabeth (Robbins) McGrew, was born in Pennsylvania; came West with her family, and died in Rock Island County, Ill., in 1845. She was the mother of eight children - four boys and four girls. Our subject commencted the business of life by mining, in 1860, in Colorado, in the California Gulch Gold Mine. After five years spent there, he went to Mexico, where he spent five years in different places and various employements. After leaving Mexico, he spent eight years herding cattle, and then, in 1873, located at St. Louis, Mo., where he was employed about a year as night clerk in a hotel. August 21, 1874, he came to Neola, farmed for a time, and then opened a saloon where he now is. Mr. McGrew was married, in Neola, Iowa, June 28, 1879, to Miss Ida Norris, born in Michigan July 21, 1853, daughter of J. W. Norris. Mr. McGrew is a Republican.