Christian Lower

Christian Lower (January 7, 1740 – December 19, 1806) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. A blacksmith, ironmaster, Revolutionary War officer, and long-serving state legislator before his election to Congress, he represented Pennsylvania as a member of the Republican Party and contributed to the legislative process during one term in office. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in early American history, as the young nation was consolidating its institutions and political parties, and he participated in the democratic process by representing the interests of his constituents in Pennsylvania.

Lower was born on January 7, 1740, in Klapperthall Junction, Tulpehocken Township, in what later became Berks County, Pennsylvania. He was descended from German Palatine immigrants who had come to the American colonies during the large-scale emigration of the early eighteenth century. His grandfather, Michael Lauer, was among those emigrants, and his father, also named Christian Lauer, migrated from New York’s Schoharie region to the Tulpehocken settlement in Berks County in 1723. The elder Christian Lauer ultimately became the owner of the Moselem Forge, an early ironworking enterprise in the region. Michael Lauer followed his son to Pennsylvania in 1728. Twelve years after this family resettlement, Christian Lower was born into a community shaped by German-speaking settlers and the developing iron industry.

In his early adulthood, Lower worked as a blacksmith, a trade that was central to frontier and rural life in colonial Pennsylvania. Building on this experience, he later became proprietor of an iron foundry, continuing the family’s association with iron production and metalworking. This background in skilled labor and enterprise placed him within the growing class of local leaders whose economic activities were closely tied to the development of Berks County and the surrounding region.

During the American Revolution, Lower emerged as a military and civic leader. In 1775 he served as a colonel of associated battalions, local militia units organized in support of the revolutionary cause. By 1780 he held the position of sublieutenant, an office connected with county-level military administration in Pennsylvania. Concurrently, he entered public office as county commissioner of Berks County, serving from 1777 to 1779. In this role he helped oversee county affairs during the turbulent war years, when local governments were responsible for supporting the Continental war effort and maintaining civil order.

Lower’s political career continued in the post-Revolutionary period with repeated service in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1783, 1784, and 1785, and returned to that body in 1793, 1794, and 1796. His legislative work at the state level coincided with the formative years of both the Commonwealth’s and the nation’s political institutions. In 1797 he advanced to the Pennsylvania State Senate, where he served continuously until 1804. Through these years in the lower and upper houses of the state legislature, he participated in shaping Pennsylvania’s laws and policies during the early national era.

Building on his long record of state service, Lower was elected as a Republican to the Ninth Congress of the United States. As a member of the Republican Party representing Pennsylvania, he contributed to the legislative process during his single term in the U.S. House of Representatives. His tenure in Congress placed him in the midst of the Jeffersonian period, when debates over federal power, economic policy, and westward expansion were central to national politics. He served in the House from the beginning of the Ninth Congress until his death in office, representing the interests of his Pennsylvania constituents at the federal level.

Lower’s family connections extended his influence into another generation of Pennsylvania public life. His sister, Eva Magdalena Lauer (1744–1815), married Michael Ley, who built the Tulpehocken Manor Plantation near Myerstown, Pennsylvania, a notable early Pennsylvania estate. Their son and Lower’s nephew, Christian Ley, followed a path similar to his uncle’s, serving in both the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania State Senate. The younger Ley later built Nutting Hall in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, another historic home associated with the extended family’s prominence in the region.

Christian Lower died on December 19, 1806, at his home in Klapperthall Junction in Tulpehocken Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, while still serving in the Ninth Congress. His death placed him among the early members of the United States Congress who died in office between 1790 and 1899. He was initially interred at the Tulpehocken Church Burial Ground. His remains were later disinterred and reburied at Christ Lutheran Cemetery in Stouchsburg, Pennsylvania, reflecting the enduring local recognition of his role as a Revolutionary officer, state legislator, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.