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JOHN A. LOWMAN and TEMPA STONE LOWMAN THURMOND

On the left is a daughter who married a Champain and 2 grand children. On the right is a son named Joe. He died at age 17.

John A. Lowman was born in 1852. He died on March 18, 1919 of what they then called heart dropsy. One unconfirmed source said the A. in his name was for Allen. I think the more likely name was Andrew. There were several people named Andrew But none, in the family named Allen..

He lived most of his life near the Dawson Co., Gilmer, Pickins County line. He did move for a while to Texas. One married daughter and her husband went also. They stayed along with two others that married Texas men. This was around 1905. A 1905 deed selling Dawson County land showed him living in Johnson County Texas. Jay said their Post Office was Grandview, Tx. but their main shopping center was Alvarado, Tx.

John was born in Dawson county. His father was Martin Lowman. His mother was Terissa Turner. Tempa was born in Gilmer County. Her father was John Stone. Her mother was Susan "Susie" Forrester.

My grandfather tells a story about John A.. Near the end of the war between the states he was twelve years old. During the war the home guard lived off the land so the people would hide their animals and food. Martin sent John to check on them and he ran up on the guard. They made him get off his horse and the were about to take it and he started to cry. The leader came up and told the others that he knew the boy's father well and they were not going to take his horse so they let him go.

My father said John W. told him he could remember his father making legal whiskey. He had a federal permit. Once ever few months a government man would come by and test it. I am not sure when this ended but it must have been before they went to Texas. This move must have been around 1904.

John did own 240 acres of land on Burnt Mountain. This was near the old Vantress Chicken Farm. Isaac Holbert also lived on that mountain. Isaac's daughter Louisa married John A. Lowman's son John Washington Lowman.

Tempa L. Stone Lowman Thurmond was born in Gilmer Co. on the 4th of June 1856. She was the child of John Stone and his wife Susan Forrester. After John's death in 1919 she married Vance Thurmond. Vance had several sons at home. She was in her 70s but she still cooked, washed and kept house for all of them. Her eyesight was good enough that she could still thread a needle. She got around well until a few years before her death.

I can just recall her. She died when I was just over five years old. Her and I think one of her daughters that worked in a plant, that made stuffed animals, gave me a stuffed cat. I am not sure what became of it. She also gave me a small pink plastic pistol that came out of a gum ball machine. I still have that today.

Jay tells a story pasted on by his father. When they were moving to Texas.They were loading all their goods on the train. The conductor was trying to hurry them up. He told them he was going to leave them. John A. told him to go ahead if he needed to. There would be another one along behind him. The conductor held the train.

On a trip to Chattanooga John A. and John W., still a kid, were still traveling at dark. They saw a light at a house and walked up to it. The man inside put out the light. When John knotted on the door, no one answered. John said, "A man and his boy need a place to sleep tonight.". There still was no answer. John kicked in the door. The man inside was afraid. John said, "Old man you have nothing to be afraid of. Me and the boy needed a place to sleep and you would not open the door." They stayed the night and left the next day.

John and Tempa had nine children that I know of. They had six girls and three boys. The girls were Loumanda, Senie, Rissie, Luler, Eller and Tempa. The boys were Lewis, John W., and Joe. Two of the girls stayed in Texas. One moved on later to Kentucky. The other three stayed in Georgia. All the boys died in Dawson County. Joe is buried in Gilmer County. Joe never married but died during the great flu.

John made all his own shoes for the whole family. He would start with the oldest child in the Fall and make them in order from the oldest to the youngest. Granddaddy said he got his shoes just before Christmas. During the Summer all the kids would go barefoot. They only got one pair a year.

 

This would have had to have happened within a year or two of his death and Daddy can recall this. John A was over six foot tall. He killed two very large bull snakes. He brought them by to show everyone. He held them up and they were longer than he was tall.

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John' family Bible was pasted to J. W. Lowman who pasted it on to Coy Lowman. I has their names a little different. The Bible shows the following:

Tempa and John Married October 26, 1873.

Tempa Lowman born June 4, 1856.

John Lowman born 1852.

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William Lewis Lowman Born May 21 1875.

Mary Lucina Lowman Born March 12, 1877

Louisa Terissa Lowman born July 2, 1876 or 1886

Lumanday Reminday born January 13,1883

Lueller Malinda born May 1, 1885

Susan Luanna born June 9, 1887

John A. Washington Lowman born March 23, 1889

James Bengman Lowman born August 14, 1891.

Tempa Lurand Lowman born June 29, 1894

Joseph Keener Lowman born December 14, 1897

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James Bengman Lowman died May 25, 1896

Terissa Burrell died Feburary 15, 1903

William Lewis Lowman died October 5, 1915

Tempa Champion died Feburary 3, 1918

Joseph K. Lowman Died Feburary 18, 1918

John A. Lowman died March 18, 1919

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Tempa L. Lowman died May 11, 1951

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Limer Gertude Champion born June 18, 1912

Dewey Duit Champion born April 8, 1914

Lewis Lee Champion born Feburary 3, 1918

Beney Dewitt Champion died October 6, 1920

William Champion died August 5, 1927

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