The Lowe Family Tree

Maria Simons

Maria was born in 1841 in the area of Great Gap in Ivinghoe, England. At 10 months old, her family immigrated to North Royalton, Ohio aboard the ship Philadelphia. Here she was raised with her five siblings. At 16, Maria met a local tailor named Ed Christian from the village of Berea who was also an immigrant from the British Isles. The couple married in 1857 and Ed became a prominent figure in the community (and thus Maria did as well). The couple had 9 children together during their 53 years of marriage. Maria died in Berea in 1911 at the age of 70.

Edward Christian

Born in the parish Rushen on the Isle of Man, Ed was the youngest son to an agricultural laborer. As a teenager he apprenticed with a tailor and immigrated to Berea, Ohio at the age of 19. He set up a tailoring and furnishing store on the historic Front street section of the Berea "Triangle" which he operated for 56 years. Ed was also a councilman, township treasurer, founding member of the masonic lodge, president of the Board of Education, and held the office of Mayor while somehow finding time to marry and raise 9 children with his wife Maria.

Elizabeth Collier

Born to a saddler and farmer father at Amerton farm, Lizzie, as she was known, was raised on the outskirts of Stowe-by-Chartley. She married Samuel Rogers in Stowe in 1887 and five years later at the age of 30, they immigrated to Columbia Township, Ohio where they would live out the rest of their lives. Lizzie gave birth to 9 children and they were always very poor, struggling to provide for their children. Lizzie died in Berea, Ohio at her daughter's home.

Samuel John Rogers

Born to a corn miller father at Newinn Mill, Samuel was raised in Trentham, Staffordshire, England. He married Elizabeth Collier in Stowe-by-Chartley in 1887 and five years later at the age of 35, they immigrated to Columbia Township, Ohio where they would raise their children and live out the rest of their lives. They had 9 children in total and spent the majority of their lives in extreme poverty, constantly struggling to provide for their children. Samuel died in Berea, Ohio at the community hospital in 1930.

George Edward Christian

Born in Berea, Ohio, the son of a merchant tailor, George was the eldest of nine children. They were a fairly prominent family in the village as his father was very active in the community, eventually holding position of mayor during some of the town's most troubled times. George married in Lorain county at 25 and lived and worked in Cleveland as a machinist & laborer. He went through multiple periods of unemployment and eventually moved the family out to Medina where he became a farmer. After a few years in the area he became ill. The sickness never seemed to be diagnosed, but persisted for year before he finally succumbed at 58.