Lowe Family Papers

The bulk of the correspondence centers around the family of John Henry and Alice S. Lowe of Ellerslie, Georgia. With two brothers Bennie and Charlie, John Henry Lowe, a Georgia native, moved to Texas in 1887 with his wife, Alice Sorrell Lowe, originally from Chapel Hill, Alabama. In 1891, Alice and a baby daughter were murdered by a Black farm hand. Odus, the Lowes' four-year-old son, escaped unharmed. In November 1891, the confessed killer, Lee Green, was captured and lynched by a mob. Later, there was a trial in Texas for a supposed second killer. Henry Lowe returned to Alabama and married Lizzie Thompson of Stroud, Alabama, in 1892.

From Dadeville, AL, Schaffer Hood was the son of Imogene and W.L. Hood and the nephew of Alice Sorrell Lowe. He graduated from Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) in 1906. While at API, Hood was his senior class Historian, played football and basketball, was editor-in-chief of the Glomerata, and served as literary editor of the Orange and Blue, the student newspaper. In addition, he was a member of the Tennis Club and the German Club. Hood was voted "Most Intellectual Man in College" by the API student body.

The original letters of Accession 93-67 were in a trunk that belonged to Henry Lowe and were given to Cary Odus Lowe. The Condon letters then came into the possession of the donor because of her life-long friendship with Doris Condon Carson.