[Ancestor] Lower

---

---

Husband [Ancestor] Lower

---

            AKA: [Ancestor] Lauer
           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

       Marriage: 

---

---

Wife

---

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

---

Children

---

1 M Jacob Lower ^{1 2}

---

           Born:  - Louisville, Stark Co, OH
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Sarah Meese (      -      ) 1 2

---

---

General Notes: Husband - [Ancestor] Lower

---

The following account of the first of this surname in Pennsylvania is written from family sources. Like many American names of foreign origin, spellings have been changed, and Lower is derived from "Lauer," a German word for ambush, usually applied in ancient times to one who lay in wait while hunting wild birds and animals.
Traditionally one of the founders of a branch of the American Lowers was a native of Wurttemberg, Germany, who made a fortune in the dangerous work of cleaning the city during a cholera plague. It is supposed that his son became a major in the German Army, during the Seven Years War, losing his life toward the end of this conflict. He was the father of one Adam Lauer, born in Wurttemberg, in 1755, who migrated to the New World, and for lack of means served an apprenticeship of eight years to pay for his ocean fare. Another tradition has it that he went aboard a ship for a social evening and awoke to find himself far at sea.
One is on safer ground when it is pointed out that there is a record of Hartman Lower (Lauer) and Adam Lower, as arriving in Pennsylvania, September 11, 1732, on the vessel "Pennsylvania." Possibly one was the father or grandfather of the Adam Lower of the above paragraph. They became British subjects upon arriving at Philadelphia, and after a brief stay near Baltimore, Maryland, settled in York County, Pennsylvania. When the Revolutionary War started, Jacob Lower, son of Hartman Lower, was married and had "four males and four females" as they recorded children at that time, and they lived in Dover Township, York County. Jacob's brother dwelt in Manheim Township. All the four sons of Jacob Lower served in the Continental Army, indeed the names of Adam, Balser, Christian, George Hartman, James, John, Joseph, Michael, Peter, Peter, Jr., Philip and William Lower are all on the rolls of the War of the American Revolution on file at the Pennsylvania State Library and Museum at Harrisburg. It seems evident that Adam Lower married Elizabeth Keiser, who was born on a ship en route to America, in 1757, and they were the parents of eleven children. Traditionally, Adam Lower went from Berks County to Williamsburg, Huntingdon (now Blair) County, all in Pennsylvania. He was a weaver by trade, and most of his children married while he was a citizen of Williamsburg. These children were: George, Jacob, Adam, Henry, Daniel, John, David, Catherine, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Mary.
Little is known of Jacob Lower, except that he was a generous soul and migrated to the "Northwestern Territory," which then included several of the present middle western states. He was known to the Pennsylvania family as the "lost brother," but it is believed that he was the progenitor of the Jacob Lower family in Stark County, Ohio, established in about 1800.

1 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 717.

2 Joseph Riesenman, Jr., History of Northwestern Pennsylvania, Vol. III (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., 1943), Pg 519.