Hiram Harrison Lowry

Who was Hiram Harrison Lowry?

Hiram Harrison Lowry was an educator, Methodist clergyman and college president of China.

Hiram Harrison Lowry was born on May 29, 1843 in Zanesville, Ohio. He graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University, and received the degrees of A.B., A.M. and D.D.. In 1862-63 Lowry served during the American Civil War in the ninety-seventh regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In 1867 he was ordained to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was sent out to China. On October 10, 1867, Lowry arrived with his wife, Parthenia Nicholson in Foochow, where they labored till 1869. In 1869 he was sent to Peking, where the foundations of the work of the North China Mission was laid. In 1870 Lowry built up the first Methodist church in Northern China, the Asbury Church, named after the American Methodist Bishop Francis Asbury. From 1873 to 1893, Lowry served as superintendent of North China Mission, and since 1914 president of Huiwen University, the precursor of Yenching University and the modern-day Peking University. Lowry retired in 1922 and died in Peking on January 13, 1924.