Edward J. (Edward Jackson) Lowell

Born in Boston in 1845, Edward Jackson Lowell studied at Harvard College, graduating in 1867. As a boy he spent time at school in Switzerland, where he learned French and German—languages that later helped shape his work as a historian.

Lowell trained in law and was admitted to the Suffolk County bar in 1872, but he did not stay in legal practice for long. After the death of his first wife in 1874, he stepped away from law, cared for his children, and devoted himself more fully to study and writing. He later married Elizabeth Gilbert Jones, daughter of one of the founders of The New York Times.

He is best remembered for historical works including The Hessians and the Other German Auxiliaries of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War (1884) and The Eve of the French Revolution (1892). Research trips in Europe led him into German archives and helped give his history writing a reputation for depth and seriousness. Lowell was also a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.