Lowell Cemetery

04/23/2026

What is the Lowell Cemetery keeping under wraps?

Join us for the unveiling of Jay Hungate’s sculpture “Eternal Flame” on Saturday, May 2 at 1 p.m.

04/21/2026

🗓️Save the Date

The Lowell Cemetery Spring Tour Weekend will be Saturday, May 2 and Sunday, May 3 at 10 a.m. Lowell Cemetery Trustee Richard Howe, Jr., will lead walking tours focused on stories of history, monuments, and the lives of those buried here. Both tours will begin at the Knapp Ave. entrance. Thanks to Linda Makiej for this beautiful photo.

04/18/2026

Dr. Mills Olcott Carter, born in Hanover, NH, on April 17, 1840, married Harriet Chamberlin in 1897. He worked as a druggist in Lowell, MA, for more than 30 years. According to a Facebook post on July 22, 2025, by DownTown Lowell, Carter and Sherburne Apothicaries was located at the corner of Merrimack and Bridge Sts. Dr. Carter died on March 3, 1904 and is buried on Wisteria Path with seven other family members.

📸Photo credit: DownTown Lowell FB.

Source: “Boston Evening Transcript,” March 3, 1904.

04/15/2026

James W. Bennett was born in Newmarket, NH, on March 21, 1833. James served as Mayor of Biddeford, ME, and was one that city’s leading contractors. He received the honorary title of Colonel while serving as a member of one of the Maine Republican governor’s staff. James died on this day in 1903 and is buried with family members on Cushing Ave.

Source: “Biddeford-Saco Journal,” April 14, 1903.

04/14/2026

Happy Birthday to William Livingston born in Tewksbury, MA, on April 12, 1803. As a young man, he worked as a laborer in the construction of the mills in Lowell, MA. He built up a large business as a contractor, handling contracts for the construction of railroads and canals.

In the 1840s, William challenged the Boston & Lowell (B&L) Railroad. He had established himself as a major contractor in Lowell and felt that the B&L was charging exorbitant rail fees. William assembled a group of investors to launch the Lawrence & Lowell (L&L) Railroad, and then the Salem & Lowell (S&L). Both railroads passed through Tewksbury. Livingston became the president of the L&L and a director of the S&L. The Lawrence & Lowell Railroad carried passengers to Lawrence, who could then transfer to the Boston & Maine and proceed to Boston. The Salem & Lowell competed with B&L on freight, carrying cotton to Lowell from the Salem seaport and fabric back to Salem.

William served in the Mass. State Senate in 1836 and 1837 and was a founding member of the Lowell Cemetery, serving as a trustee from 1841 to 1844.

The Livingston family house was on the corner of Chelmsford and Thorndike Sts. and became the first location for Keith Hall, a catholic girls’ high school. William died on March 17, 1855 in Jacksonville, FL. He is buried with his wife Mary Ann and their four children on Azalea Path.

04/13/2026

04/12/2026

Happy Orthodox Easter. Photo courtesy of Linda Makiej.

04/08/2026

The Lowell Cemetery crew are installing the new signs for West Meadow today.

04/05/2026

Happy Easter. Photo courtesy of Linda Makiej.

04/04/2026

The Lowell Cemetery Spring Tour Weekend will be Saturday, May 2 and Sunday, May 3 at 10 a.m. Lowell Cemetery Trustee Richard Howe, Jr., will lead walking tours focused on stories of history, monuments, and the lives of those buried here. Both tours will begin at the Knapp Ave. entrance.

📸Photo of cemetery daffodils is from April 2025.

04/03/2026

Happy Birthday to John Sewall Fiske who was born in Lowell, MA, on April 3, 1839. On August 9, 1862, John mustered into Company C, 13th Mass. Infantry Regiment. He was in the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, VA, the Second Battle of Bull Run, Manassas, VA, the Battle of Antietam, MD, and the Battle of Fredericksburg, VA. By the time he reached Gettysburg, PA, John was a seasoned foot soldier. Tragically, he died of a gunshot wound at the Battle of Gettysburg, on July 1, 1863, the first day of a three-day ordeal where a total of 51,000 soldiers were killed, captured, or declared missing.

He was buried in the Fiske family lot on Mistletoe Path. The inscription on his monument reads:

Here lies the body of
John Sewall Fiske
A member of the
13th Regiment Mass. Volunteers
He was born in Lowell on
April 3, A.D. 1839 and was killed
In the Battle of Gettysburg, Penn.
July 1st A.D. 1863

Read more about John and his portrait in the Winter 2026 issue of “Epitaph:” https://www.lowellcemetery.com/about/newsletters/. Portrait courtesy of the Lowell Historical Society