Loren Lorenzo Stowell
THE STOWELLS IN INDIANA
We know very little of Loren Lorenzo Stowell's early life. He grew up in a stable New England family and community and spent his childhood in a good New England tradition of hard work. As he reached his maturity, the country was again involved in war -- the War of 1812 -- and he joined in protecting the country. We do not know where he enlisted, but there are indications that he fought with troops from New York, where many of the Reeds lived. It is possible that he married his wife in New York state and lived there for awhile, before coming to Ohio.
He again appears in the records in Sherman Township, Huron County, Ohio, in the 1820 census. In addition to him and his wife and newly born daughter, Laura (his first-born and named for his twin sister), there are three boys under five years of age living with him. These were probably relatives, who had been taken into his home, but we do not know who they were or how and if they were related.
Sherman Township had been settled only eight years before by a group of men from Norwalk, Connecticut (Jonathan Fitch, Daniel Sherman, Burwell Fitch, Samuel Seymour, Adam Swan and John and Seth Keeler). Huron County is located at the extreme western end of the Ohio Western Reserve, that portion of land in Ohio that had been part of Connecticut, when that state's claim stretched to the Mississippi River. It was reserved for veterans of the Revolutionary War. Huron County is known as "the Firelands," for land here was given to those Connecticut residents who had property burned by the British during the Revolutionary War. Many of those who received lands were unable to settle on them, so they sold or assigned them to other people. We have yet to find the actual transfer of lands to Loren Lorenzo Stowell, but assume that this is what brought him to the area. Also there were people from Connecticut, who might have been know to him from his time there.
The first six children of Loren Lorenzo and Mary Matilda (Reed) Stowell were born in Sherman Township, Huron County, Ohio. They were: Laura (b. 1820) married Homer Field; Oliver H. (b. 1822) died in Brady, Kalamazoo County, Michigan 1843; John E. (b. 1824) married Rhuey Ann Powers; George Washington (b. 1826) married Margaret Rice; Lewis M. (b. 1828) married Mary Ann Treece; Marcus Lafayette (b. 1830) married Mary Elizabeth Fuller. Their last two children were born in Brady, Kalamazoo County, Michigan: Myron H. (b. 1832) married Lestina Melvira Sutzer and Loren (b. 1835) died in 1845 or 46.
It is from the six children of this marriage, who reached adulthood, that the Stowells of northern Indiana descend.
The 1830 census of Sherman Township, Huron County, Ohio, shows Loren Stowell and his family. The three boys from the 1830 census are no longer in his keeping. However, from later records in Kalamazoo, we suspect that he kept contact with them. From the History of Kalamazoo County, Michigan, printed in 1880 on p. 303 appears the following:
- Bradley S. Williams, a native of Genessee County, New York, and later a
resident of Huron County, Ohio, came to Michigan in the month of August
1835 and made his home in Schoolcraft Township on Prairie Ronde. During
the following winter he taught school on the south side of the prairie.
At that time Mr. Williams was not yet of age. In the fall, after
examining the territory in the neighborhood of the Smalley settlement,
and other parts, he finally pre-empted the farm he now owns on Section 5
& 6 and began improving it, plowing the first furrow in that part of
town. The reason he and Mr. Stowell chose this locality was because it
abounded in better timbers than any other. Mr. Williams did not settle
upon his place until the fall of 1839. He remained about 20 years and
removed to Kalamazoo, which has been his home, and at which place he is
now quite extensively engaged in manufacturing.
Lorenzo Stowell settled in 1838, which was a very sickly year. Dr. David E. Brown of Virginia Corners, in Schoolcraft Township, attended principally to the sick of this town and all were ailing, and his doses are remembered with pleasure (?) by those who were under his care. Mr. Stowell moved finally to Lake County, Indiana, and at the age of about 90, died at Lowell in the county.
The early land records of Kalamazoo County, Michigan, show that Lorenzo Stowell owned 160 acres of land in Section 5 (Brady Township). All of his family, save the oldest son, Oliver H. Stowell, appear in the 1840 Michigan census for Brady Township, Kalamazoo County. He was probably away working at another place at the time, being 18 years of age. Shortly after the census was taken his wife and oldest son died in 1842 and 1843, respectively. These events marked the break up of his family. After the death of his wife, he was left with six children all under the age of eighteen. His only daughter, Laura Abigail, had married two years prior to the death of her mother and was then living in Wisconsin with a child of her own, so she could not assume the responsibility for rearing her brothers. It is not known exactly how Loren Lorenzo dealt with the situation, but from later records it appears that the children were placed in homes of friends and relatives for care.
All trace of Loren Lorenzo Stowell is lost during the next 12 years, but during that time he moved to Indiana. It is not until his second marriage in Porter County, Indiana, on 2 Aug 1854, to Emily A. Hyde that he reappears in the records. We do not know for sure, however, that he was living in Porter County at the time; he may have been living in Lake County and traveled to Porter for his marriage. He had a son, Loren Stewart Stowell, born about 1856, by this marriage.
Loren S. Stowell aged four, appears in the household of John and Rachel Reed of Eagle Creek Township, Lake County, in the 1860 census, indicating that his mother had died and that he had been placed with them. They were probably relatives of Loren Lorenzo's first wife, Mary Matilda Reed. It appears that John Reed died in the next decade, for Loren Stewart Stowell appears in the 1870 census as Stewart Reed, aged 14, living with his foster mother, Rachel Reed, who in turn was living with James and Emily Fuller in Cedar Creek Township. They were probably relatives of hers. Stewart Stowell lived with his half-brother, John E. Stowell, at Momence, Kankakee County, Illinois, in 1880 and later settled at Shelby, Indiana, with his wife, Elsa. By 1900 he is shown in the census in West Creek Township, Lake County, and my grandfather, Roscoe C. Born, is boarding with him and his wife.
Loren Lorenzo Stowell married a third time to Elizabeth Gibbs on 25 Mar 1857, again in Porter County. The last record we find of him is in the 1870 census where he and his wife, Elizabeth, are living in Cedar Creek Township in the town of Shelby. In 1860 he had listed his occupation as gardener, but in 1870 has no occupation, so we assume that he had retired. Elizabeth Stowell, his wife, is found in the 1880 census of Shelby, but he is not, indicating that he died in the 1870's. It is not known where he or any of his wives are buried.
He left a rich heritage to his children. Although the family was separated, there is every indication that when they reached adulthood they reestablished contact with one another. John E. Stowell died in Lake County and is buried in the Lowell Cemetery. George Washington Stowell died in Salem, Oregon. Lewis M. Stowell is buried in the Sanders Cemetery, West Creek Township, as is Myron H. Stowell. Marcus Lafayette Stowell went to Kansas and died at Saxman in 1893. Four of the sons of Loren L. Stowell fought in the Civil War -- Lafayette with Co. D, 42nd Ill. Infantry; Lewis M. Stowell with Co. A, 99th Ind. Infantry; John E. Stowell with Co. 2, 73rd Ind. Infantry; and Myron H. Stowell with Co. H, 42nd Ill. Infantry.
All of his children by Mary Matilda Reed left descendants, save Oliver H., who died at the age of 20, and Loren, who died at the age of 10. Although Loren Stewart Stowell, his child by the second wife, married, he appears to have left no offspring.
The foregoing history of the family was made possible because of the careful recording of family history by a number of people. All that remains now is to make sure that the history of the Indiana Stowells is continued and that dates and places are recorded in writing before they pass from the memory of the present generation. I encourage each and every one of you to keep records of your own family and share them when the time comes to write the history of the descendants of Loren Lorenzo Stowell, so that future generations may know of their Stowell heritage.
Gerald M. Born
April 1985
NOTES
In his obituary, the first wife of John E. Stowell was named Rhuey Shumway rather than Rhuey Ann Powers. He later married Mrs. Ruth Gragg in 1855 and then Mrs. Eliza A. Doolan.
The birth year given for Lewis M. Stowell in his obituary is 1829 rather than 1828.
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