The Lowe Family Tree

Gullik was born 26 Jan 1794 on Hære Farm in Øvre Eiker, Norway to a crofter father who rented farmland to get by. The family moved to the mining town of Konnerud where Gullik spent his teen years. Here his father gave him ownership of a small parcel of land named Loe [pronounced loo] near his father's properties of Veierud and Knatholt. Gullik married his wife Maren Christensdatter Wear and lived here for at least 7 years. Family stories say his inability to manage money and a pension for drinking and card playing bankrupted the family, forcing them off the Loe property and out of town. It was the shame of his mother-in-law that bailed him out and saved the family. Gullik's own shame of the situation seemed to straighten him out and the carpenter bought Sondre Myhre farm in Svelvik where they spent the next 20 years before Gullik died in 1856.

Christen was born early 1790 at Dalen under Herland Farm in Svarstad in the Lardal parish of Vestfold. Christen's parents were Jon Andersen Dalen and Ingebor Olsdatter. His baptism occurred on the 11 Jul 1790 at Svarstad Church. Witnesses were Helene Pedersdatter Jerneland, Helvig Matthisdatter Dalen, Eric Kielsen Dalen and Peder Jensen Rennedalen.¹

Cornelius was born in Svelvik, Norway in 1860, son of a sailor. He took to the sea like his father by the age of 15. He married the girl he grew up down the street from named Birthe Marie Andreasen. The couple was wed in 1888 and 2 months later Cornelius received his official captain's certification. He captained his own ship for years and even captain a ship to China, but gave it up in 1907 to move his wife and 5 children to America. They settled in Cleveland, Ohio near his wife's twin sister and changed the family last name from Christoffersen to Christopher. Here Cornelius became a sexton for a local church where he worked the rest of his life. He died in 1927 at the age of 67.

Born to a ship's engineer in Haugesund, Norway, Thora was the youngest of seven children. She was raised by her mother while her father was regularly away at sea. At the age of 9 her mother died, prompting her father to remarry and provide another caretaker for her and her siblings. 4 step-siblings would follow in the coming years. At 16, Thora boarded the S.S. Kristianiafjord and joined her sister Anna in Cleveland, Ohio. When she turned 20 she married a Norwegian sailor and they raised 2 children together before his untimely passing 11 years later. Thora would eventually marry again, but lose her 2nd husband as well. She lived to be 94 and passed away in Cleveland.

Born in Svelvik, Norway, Christoffer immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio at the age of 17 with his parents and siblings. He was a third-generation sailor, son of a ship's captain, who had worked his way up to the rank of first mate (second in command under the captain). Christoffer sailed the Great Lakes aboard steamships moving goods like coal and ore from port to port and train to train aboard ships like William C. Atwater. Christoffer died young from complications due to cancer and left behind a wife and two children.