Robert Lowry

Robert Lowry (April 2, 1824 – January 27, 1904) was an Irish-born American lawyer, judge, and politician who served as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Indiana.

Early Life

Lowry was born in Killeleigh, County Down, Ireland, on April 2, 1824. He immigrated to the United States and settled in Rochester, New York, where he was educated in private schools and completed a partial academic course. He served as librarian of the Rochester Athenaeum and Young Men’s Association.

Legal and Political Career

Lowry studied law and moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1843. He served as city recorder in 1844 and 1845, was admitted to the bar in 1846, and commenced practice in Goshen, Indiana. He served as auditor of Elkhart County in 1852 and as a circuit judge that same year.

Lowry was president of the Democratic State convention and served as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions at Baltimore in 1860 and 1872. He served as a circuit judge from 1864 until January 1875, when he resigned, and as a judge of the superior court in 1877 and 1878. He was elected the first president of the Indiana State Bar Association in July 1879.

Congressional Career

Lowry was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1883, to March 3, 1887. He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury during the Forty-ninth Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1886.

Death

After leaving Congress, Lowry resumed the practice of law. He died in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, on January 27, 1904, and was interred in Linderwood Cemetery.