Lowe-Fuller collection

Unidentified miniature photograph from the Lowe-Fuller collection

It Sutton Historical Society exists because of its supporters. We rely upon generous people with an interest in preserving the history of Sutton for the future, both financially and in the form of donations to our collection. 

We are always happy to hear from anyone who has items that relate to our mission. If you wish to donate them we are working towards being able to provide permanent, secure storage. If you would like to make them accessible for others, then we can digitize photographs and documents and you may keep the original. 

In 2025 we received a number of donations, and are working through processing them and adding them to our collection. One such donation was a large box of photographs and other ephemera relating to several local families that are underrepresented in our collection. 

We have chosen to give this collection the working title of the "Lowe-Fuller collection" as these families are the most predominant in the collection.  

The small photograph album from the collection is shared below. 

Dexter Daniel Lowe (1834-1917), a shoe cutter, married Jane Elizabeth Putnam (1837-1866) of Grafton at the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Dorchester, Boston, on 3 September, 1857. Dexter had only recently moved to Sutton, and it is unclear why the couple decided to marry outside the town. 

This photograph album likely belonged to Dexter, or his mother, Hannah (Buckley) Lowe, as it includes photographs of Jane, as well as Dexter's second wife's family. It was also clearly added to over time, rather than compiled in one go. 

Jane (Putnam) Lowe died in 1866, and Dexter remarried two years later. His second wife was Nancy Almira Barney (1843-1933), from Williston, Chittenden, Vermont. It is uncertain when Nancy met Dexter, but her brother had relocated from Vermont to Sutton a few years earlier, so she was possibly visiting the town. 

The captions below the photographs are a later addition, probably by Barbara Louise Lowe (1912-1983) or her brother, Walter Lowe (1909-1973). These siblings were children of Walter Albert Lowe (1860-1939) and his wife, Anna Louisa Fuller (1872-1938)
 
Names, and tentative identifications, appearing in the album: 

• Ed Osborne "married Stella Barney" - Edward Osborne (1838-1908)

Stella Osborne was Nancy Barney's sister

• Helen Osborne - Helen L Osborne (1860-1927)
• Leonis Osborne - Leona Osborne (1862-1946)
• Lill Osborne - Lillian Valentine Osborne (1868-1951)
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Helen, Leona and Lillian were daughters of George Washington Osborne and Helen (Barney) Osborne, Nancy's sister. 

• Dennis, Ella and Ira Barney - Dennis P Barney (1838-1904) and his two youngest children, Ella Louisa (1865-1937) and Ira Albert (1869-1914)

Dennis Perkins Barney was Nancy Barney's eldest brother

• "Papa's mother" Jane Lowe - Jane Elizabeth Putnam (1837-1866)
• Mrs D.D. Lowe "Wilkinsonville, Mass." (illustration, no photograph)
• Frank Warner
• Grandma Lowe, Nancy Barney Lowe - Nancy A. Barney (1843-1933)
• George Lowe
• Hiram Isham - Hiram Spaulding Isham (1851-1926)

Nancy Barney's mother was Stella Abigail Isham (1809-1885). Hiram was her cousin. 

• Aunt Mirandy Lowe - Marinda Hall Lowe (1926-1892) married Lowell Wiswell Jr. 
• Marietta or Henrietta Wizwell - Marietta Isabella Wiswell (1848-1936)
• Edward Barry 
• Walter Osborne
• George Howard - Private George Howard (1842-1868)
• Amos Buxton
• Aunt Abby Putnam - Abigail Melissa Putnam (1844-1921)
• Uncle Alfred's cousin
• Aunt Delia
• Dennis Barney - Dennis P Barney, as above
• Ella Barney - Ella Louisa Barney (1865-1937), daughter of Dennis