Grandmother Lillian Lee Taylor Lowe

Our Grandma Lowe ~ Brown ~ Grochow

Lillian Lee Taylor was born November 17, 1902, in Taylor, Missouri. She was the second child born to William Patterson and Mary Alice (Bates) Taylor.

Taylor, Missouri

When she was two years old, her father sold his half of the family farm to his older brother Lee.

Taylor Family Farm - William Patterson, father William Inskip, mother Ellen Elizabeth, younger sister Lulu May

William Patterson and Mary Alice (Bates) Taylor

William, his wife Mary Alice, Lillian's older brother Lucius (Lou) and she began the move to Canada. Papa Taylor took advantage of the Canadian Land Grand Act.

On their trip north a family named Brown, from Illinois, joined the caravan. The Brown children were Robert, Grace and a 13 year old named Leonard Douglas.






The Taylor and Brown families settled near Acme, Alberta, Canada. Lucius (Lou) and Lillian's younger sister and brothers were born there and the family enlarged. They were: Ruby Alice, Bates Inskip, William (Bill), and Albert Dudley.

Lillian, age 15

Many stories were told by Grandma of those early days growing up in Canada. One story was about the remittance man from England who had his own private movie theater. Another story was of the two English sisters that lived with the Taylors; one cooked and the other sewed. Then there was the time that she and her younger sister Ruby were invited out to dinner by an English brother and sister. The main course was 1 boiled egg - each!

She shared memories of the fact that water was brought in by the water wagon. Water was taken from a distant pond, which of course froze in the winter and every one ice skated. Lillian loved playing ice hockey. Another item of great interest in that time was the laying down of food stores for winter use.






The Taylor Family of Acme, Alberta, Canada, would have visited neighbors and school friends, as seen in the photos below of Grandma's friends who had a farm near Carstairs, Alberta, Canada.

Wood's home near Carstairs, Alberta, Canada, Ralph Heaton, Lillian (age 15), Ray Woods (brothers John & Harry Woods)

Henry Wood's farm east of Carstairs, Alberta, Canada - Harry Wood, Lillian (age 15), Ralph Heaton, Margaret Wood

Franklin High School, c. 1912

Grandma moved to Seattle in her high school years and lived with her Uncle Albert Webster and Aunt Lulu May McIntyre, (Lulu was younger sister to Papa Taylor.) She graduated from Franklin High School, in Seattle, WA, c. 1919.

Kamola Hall Dormitory, Ellensburg Normal School

She then attended Ellensburg Normal School  and received her teaching certificate.  She roomed in the same dormitory (c.1919 - 1921) that I roomed in 1969-1971, Kamola Hall, an all girl's dormitory.

Kamola Hall, 1971, friends - Lou, Steph, Maggie and me

Ellensburg Normal School became Central Washington College of Education in 1937, Central Washington State College in 1961, and finally Central Washington University in 1977. I attended Central from September 1969 - August 1971.

 I'm 60 years old and the Dormitory is 100 years old

I re-visited Kamola Hall, on the Central Washington University campus, in May of 2011, on its 100th Anniversary.











Grandma's first employment was the all-grades school at Hyak, WA, on Snoqualmie Pass, where her younger brothers and sister must have been some of her pupils. Their Papa Taylor was one of the sub-station operators.

http://content.statelib.wa.gov/u?/ellensburg,2240 - 1928

"A school teacher, stands in the doorway of the Hyak School building located at Hyak, Washington near the summit of Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Mountains.  The school served the children of Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad workers."

Grandma would have taught here c. 1922 - 1923.


When the Taylor family moved to Kittitas, WA, Grandma began teaching in the Kittitas Valley. One of the School Board director's name was Robert C. Grochow (R.C.)

She married Thomas Lee Lowe in 1927.  Her brother Dudley brought Tom to the Taylor home as Tom had fed Dud canned pineapple. Dud thought, "This man is worth knowing."

Grandma and Grandpa lived in Cle Elum where their son, William Thomas (my father), was born in 1928. They moved to St. Marie's Idaho where their daughter, Norma Lee (my aunt), was born in 1929.

Thomas Lee Lowe, 1930-41 - Othello, WA

They moved again to Othello, WA, to Kittitas, WA, and back to Othello, WA, always to places where Grandpa Lowe worked as engineer on the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.

Grandma led the singing at the Presbyterian Church and joined the Ladies Aid Society in Othello, WA.

The photo on the right is of the Easter Sunday School, 1932, in Othello, WA. My father "Bill" is the little 4 year old sitting down on the far right, with his sister, 3 year old Norma beside him.



Grandma also always provided ample hot food to the hobos who rode the rails during the Depression. Many times my father and my aunt would come home from school at noon lunch and a stranger would be sitting on the back porch having his lunch too, provided by Grandma.

The Lowe family moved to Poulsbo, WA in 1941, where Grandma resumed her teaching and she became the Poulsbo Elementary Librarian.

After the death of Grandfather Thomas Lee Lowe in 1946, Grandma re-met Leonard Brown, now a widower, and they were married. They continued to live in Poulsbo, WA.  They often visited extended family who were still located in Ellensburg and Thorp in Kittitas County, Ephrata, Grant County, and Alberta, Canada.

Grandpa Leonard Brown, Great Grandma Alice Taylor, Grandma Lillian (Lowe) Brown, Cathy Lowe c. 1956 Ellensburg, WA

We lost Grandpa Leonard Brown in 1969. Some time later Grandma re-met R.C. Grochow (from the time she was teaching in Kittitas, WA), and they were married in the Spring of 1972. At that time Grandma was living in Issaquah, WA. R.C. Grochow died in 1973, living Grandma a widow again.

Norma Lee (Lowe) Mathies, Lillian Lee (Lowe) Grochow and William Thomas Lowe, 1976

In 1981, she moved into a Redmond retirement home where she was still very much in charge of her life. After a serious operation in September 1988, she moved to a nursing home where she lived to the age of 91. We lost our Grandma in 1993.

She was known by many names - Mother - Mom - Grandma - Sis - Sister - Auntie Sis. A uniquely brilliant, kind, loving woman who left memories to warm the heart whenever her name is mentioned.

Lillian, Cathy & Bobby Lowe, 1953, her first and third grandchildren

This photo is very dear to me. My baby brother, Robert Thomas Lowe (Bobby) was born in April 1953. He died of polio, 2 1/2 years later. The loss of this precious baby was hard on our entire family: parents, big sister, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.

~ Much of the above history was provided by my Aunt Norma Lee Lowe Mathies. She is Grandma's daughter and second child, sister to my father William Thomas Lowe. I am grateful that she wrote down the memories and history of Grandma's life. ~

The Coulter Family of Catawba Co., No. Carolina

Examples of Ships of the 1740's and 1750's

The ship: "DRAGON", Georg Spencer, Master, from Rotterdam, Holland, last from Deal, England. With foreigners from the Palatinate and Zweibrücken, it arrived in port in Philadelphia Pennsylvania - Sept. 26, 1749, carrying 563 passengers. 

On board was one, Johann Martin Kolter - age 19. He adopted the anglicized name - Martin Coulter.

Port of Philadelphia Pennsylvania 1752

Lillian, school teacher and librarian

Except for my italics to clarify 
which member is named, 

this account below was handwritten by 
Lillian Lee Taylor Lowe Brown Grochow, 
in the year 1977. 

Lillian was the mother of William Thomas Lowe, 
my father.

The Coulter Family of Catawba County, No. Carolina 

Martin Coulter, the pioneer, was born in 1730, in the Palatinate. Concerning his birthplace, his great granddaughter, Dorcas Ann Coulter (Mrs. Thomas [Lafayette] Lowe) said, "He came from Germany along near the Swiss border; perhaps from the Swiss side, but I think from the German side." [note Dorcas Ann Coulter is Tom [Thomas Lee born 1887] Lowe's grandmother Lowe.]

Zweibrücken in Rhineland-Palatinate, now Germany, 19th century painting

He came to America on the ship "Dragon," Georg Spencer, Master, which sailed from Rotterdam, Holland, bringing 563 passengers, from the Palatinate and Zweibrücken, landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 26, 1749.

He married Catharine Rosanna Boone, born in 1733, in Pennsylvania, the second child of Joseph and Catharine Boone, and came to North Carolina with his bride in 1750. On May 1, 1750, Squire Boone headed the "Boone Caravan" down the Shenandoah Valley and into North Carolina. Doubtless Martin and his wife were in the group piloted by her uncle to lands along the eastern side of the Yadkin River.

North Carolina Colony, c. 1755

Where the Martin Coulters lived for the first few years in North Carolina is not known. He was a tailor and he probably followed this trade for a time in the neighborhood of the home settlement near Mockville, N. Carolina, or in Salisbury, N.C.

Catawbaw River to Yadkin River, Salisbury center, c. 1770

The first written record of Martin Coulter known in No. Carolina is in the minutes of the Rowan County Quarterly Sessions Court at Salisbury. These minutes record two items about him. First: April 18, 1758, Martin Coulter and John Anderson - non-suit; and second: Friday, April 31, 1758, his name is on the jury list.

There is no record of a home or ownership of land in the Rowan County Register or Deeds office. His first grant of land on which he built his permanent home was for 520 acres from the British Crown: April 6, 1765; his second: for 148 acres May 4, 1769; and his third for 7 1/2 acres: from the State of North Carolina, 1791. These tracts of land all joined making one continuous plantation. His western line was the meandering of the South Fork River, from a point not far below the junction of Henry's Fork and Jacob's Fork, southward to near the present Rocky Ford bridge.

Junction of Henry's Fork, Jacob's Fork, and South Fork, N 35° 38.162 W 081° 18.496 North Carolina

His plantation began at the junction of Henry's and Jacob's Forks, south to Rocky Ford Bridge, and the western border was the South Fork of the Catawba River

His first log house was built over a spring to insure a supply of water during hours of danger from Indians. Later a loghouse was built near the site of the house occupied by Elkanah Coulter. This latter site is marked "Mrs. Lowe" on Yoder's Map. The first house was in the creek valley about 1/4 mile to the west.

Martin Coulter was a progressive citizen as evidenced by the fact that he and William Deed, Nicholas Fry, Peter Ikerd, John Deed and four other men in 1773 purchased a tract of land from Philip Henry Greader, schoolmaster, the land having a schoolhouse, thereon, a condition of the purchase being these men would see that a school for the public was conducted. The site of this pioneer school building was on a small branch that falls into Sigmon Creek, about 1/2 mile above the bridge on which Highway 321 crosses the creek about one mile southeast of Newton.

He and his family were ardent patriots in the Revolutionary War. His great granddaughter, Mrs. Thomas [Lafayette] Lowe told of the great interest with which she often listened to her grandfather (Martin Coulter, Jr.) tell of his or his father's experiences in the war and of the anxiety they, at times, felt for the success of the colonies. How about the year, 1780, the father, though past military age, went with his sons, to the front and joined the ranks. Particularly voiced was the recollection of the description of an encounter with some of Cornwallis' men, in which his father came perilously near being captured. [note this Mrs. Lowe is Tom [Thomas Lee born 1887] Lowe's grandmother]

Other records indicate that he was in Major Chronicle's command at the Battle of King's Mountain Oct. 7, 1780. After the Battle of Cowpens, Jan 17, 1781, General Morgan ordered Colonel Samuel Hammond to take a detachment and keep track of Cornwallis movements. With 12 picked men he observed the march of the British Army and while the British were encamped at Ramsour's Mill, Jan 25, 1781. Colonel Hammond made his headquarters at Martin Coulter's place.

In addition to land grants mentioned, above, the records show that he both bought and sold land. When he divided his property between his sons, Martin Jr. and Philip in 1787, he owned 800 acres. [note Martin Coulter Jr., was Tom [Thomas Lee born 1887] Lowe's, grandmother Lowe's, great grandfather.]

He and his family were members of the German Reformed Church. He died in 1805 and is buried in the family burial ground atop a knoll over-looking the South Fork River, a few hundred yards south of his first home place. His wife, Catharine Rosanna Boone Coulter, lived until 1813. She is buried beside her husband.

Catharine Rosanna Boone was the daughter of Joseph Boone - This Joseph Boone was son of George Boone III who came from England and settled in Pennsylvania in 1717. Joseph was a brother of Squire Boone, the father of Col. Daniel Boone. Therefore, the wife of Martin Coulter, Sr. pioneer, was a first cousin of Daniel Boone. [Thus the end of Lillian's sketch regarding Martin Coulter, Sr.]

Further Research on the Coulter Family has brought forth more information on the German Community, Church locations and the Coulters involvement. 

THE HICKORY CHARGE

"Is composed of three congregations, Hickory, Bethel and Grace, all on the South Fork of the Catawba River. Of these churches only one is a union church, viz.: Grace. This place of worship is, perhaps, ten miles North-west of Lincolnton, in a community thoroughly German. About here it was the Yoders, Coulters, Reinhardts, Ramsaurs, Warlicks, Shufords, Wilfongs and Weidners had settled. It was for many years the most prosperous and intelligent Reformed congregation in the State. But owing to removals by death and dismissions to form other Reformed Churches, it has been very greatly reduced in number. Its early house of worship was, as common in this colony, of logs, and it was not until 1851 that this edifice, dear to the fathers, was made to give place to a neat brick house where the descendants of those good men who, in the wilderness, laid the foundation of the State and church, still worship after the fashion of the churches of the Reformation."

Grace Union Church and Cemetery, on the Hickory/Lincolnton Hwy.

In the Grace Lutheran Cemetery are buried many family members from both sides of my family. We find here: Lt. Col. Thomas Lafayette Lowe (great-great-grandfather), his wife Dorcas Anna Coulter Lowe (great-great-grandmother), their first son Thomas Lee Lowe (great-great uncle), and their second son Ottis L. Lowe, my great grandfather. From the Coulter family we find Martin Coulter, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Aydelotte Coulter.

THE LINCOLN CHARGE

"This charge is in old Lincoln County now, as well as in old Lincoln County of Revolutionary fame. A large part of this county was settled as early as 1745-'50, when the Germans found Pennsylvania too straight for them and turned their faces to a sunnier and more fertile clime.
Daniels Church.—It may be found about 4½ miles North-west of Lincolnton. It is also a union (Reformed and Lutheran) church. It is one of the older German churches in that region, and dates in origin with St. Paul's. Its members were the Warlicks, Ramsaurs, Coulters, Reeps, etc. No means are found by which to determine who organized this Reformed congregation. Its first permanent pastor was Rev. A. Loretz, who lived quite near, and who sleeps in its ancient and populous grave-yard. A better house of worship is now demanded, and the two parties in the union are about to separate and build their own sanctuaries."

Information on Churches: http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/document/csr08-0371#p8-751