James Russell Lowell - Mt. Auburn Cemetery - Watertown, MA - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

In Watertown, within Mt. Auburn Cemtery, is this grave for James Russell Lowell, with his first wife, Mary White.

The cemetery entrance is located off Mt. Auburn Street, near the intersection with Belmont Street. Once you are in the entrance, go to the Stone Chapel within sight of the entrance and purchase a map of the cemetery ($1) that shows the location of notable landmarks and graves. The grave is located along Fountain Ave., on the way to Halcyon Pond.

The grave is among others for the Lowell family. James' grave is toward the back. It is made of slate and has the following text on it:

"Sacred to the memory of
James Russell Lowell
born 1819 died 1891
and of his wife
Maria White
born 1821 died 1853
and also of his second wife
Frances Dunlap
born in 1825 died 1885"

James Russell Lowell was born to minister Charles Russell Lowell and Harriet Bracket Spence Lowell. He was the youngest of six children. At the age of 15 he attended Harvard College; however, he was often missing in classes and church services. On his final year, he was asked to make a poem by his classmates. He was unable to recite his poem due to the fact that he was suspended - class mates raised funds to have it printed and distributed. While in exile, he was sent to Concord. There he met Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalists there. That poem criticized many movements of the day, including abolitionists and Transcendentalists. In 1840, he married Maria White. They had four children, though only one of them survived past infancy.

His views on abolitionists varied from college. However, Maria was an ardent abolitionist and succeeded in persuading her husband to be more involved in the movement. His second volume of works, Miscellaneous Poems," contains poems that shows stronger views. For a short span, the Lowells moved to Philadelphia, where James became editor of the abolitionist publication, the Pennsylvania Freeman. Lowell and friend, Robert Carter, started a literary magazine, The Pioneer. It was unusual in that it published mostly new works that was often very critical. However, it lasted only a few issues. In 1848, one of his most popular works, A Fable for Critics, was published. Also in that year, his most influential work, The Bigelow Papers, was published, which was a story of three main characters but was critical of the Mexican-American War and war in general. He made a trip to Italy around 1850 and from it he submitted articles about that trip, which were later collected together and published, as Fireside Travels in 1867. His wife died in 1853. James was devastated by this as he was with the death of three of his children.

Lowell was invited to speak at the Lowell Institute and through this was offered the same professorship chair at Harvard College that was recently vacated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He remained on the staff for 20 years. During that time he took another trip to Europe and met people such as Robert and Elizabeth Browning. He married Frances Dunlap in 1857.

Back to literature, In 1857, Lowell was the first Editor of The Atlantic Monthly. During this time, the magazine published high quality literature and hard criticisms. He also contributed to the publication, North American Review, which he coedited with Charles Eliot Norton.

In 1874, he became involved in politics. In 1877, he accepted being Ambassador to Spain. Later, he would be assigned to England. He remained in Europe until 1885. His second wife, Frances, died in that same year.

Lowell died in 1891, possibly from multiple issues.

Description: James Russell Lowell was a poet and abolitionist - though we wavered at times in his views; a poet who was associated with the Fireside Poets; an editor of a magazine in Philadelphia and first editor of The Atlantic Monthly, and an ambassador to Spain and England. Date of birth: 02/22/1819 Date of death: 08/12/1891 Area of notoriety: Literature Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Cemetery hours, generally during the daylight hours Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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