[taken from Chapter 1 Manx Worthies, A.W.Moore, 1901]

JOSEPH STOWELL (b. 1772, d. 1801)

, was the eighth son ¹ of Thomas Stowell and Ann Brown. He was a delicate boy, with " an extraordinary capacity for learning, and a peculiar fondness for books." At an early age he was sent to be educated by the Rev. Philip Moore at the Grammar School in Douglas, where he quickly distinguished himself by his proficiency in grammatical learning. " His tutor," says his brother and biographer, Hugh Stowell, the Rector of Ballaugh, " who was an enthusiastic admirer of genius, conceived a particular partiality for him." On Philip Moore's death in 1783, he went to the Academic School at Castletown Here, " after having obtained an accurate knowledge of the Roman and Greek classics, he entered on the study of mathematics with intense application." In 1792, he became tutor to the family of Governor Shaw He is at this time described as being " a scholar of no ordinary attainments-one furnished not merely with classical learning, but with general and extensive information-well versed in ancient and modern history-intimately connected with the best authors in the English language and no stranger to any of the departments of the belles lettres. " During this period, he found time to study the insular records, and he drew up a prospectus of a history of the island, which, unfortunately, never advanced beyond this preliminary stage. In 1794, he entered into Holy Orders, " with an ardent desire promoting the glory of God and the salvation of his fellow creatures." In the following year, he left Governor Shaw, and opened a school in Castletown, which he conducted with great success till 1799, when he was appointed to the mastership of the Grammar and Mathematical Schools at Peel. There he laboured with equal success, but his health, which was never good, sank under the severity of the task which he had undertaken, and his death was hastened by an attack of typhus fever. Let us quote briefly from a contemporary account of him. The writer of it, after dwelling upon his remarkable talents and attainments, says: " In the pulpit, his eloquence was irresistible. Assisted by slight notes, he pronounced discourses which left an indelible impression on his hearers. The unaffectedness, the suavity, and the elegance of his manners captivated all who knew him. . . . But what gave the finishing grace to his character was that the qualities of his heart rivalled those of his head. Active in the service of his friends, and benevolent to the poor, he was in every respect an instance of example forcibly illustrated by precept."²

2 There were 15 sons altogether.

2"Monthly Magazine," September, 1802, The above account is mainly taken from the "Memoirs of the Rev Joseph Stowell," by the Rev Hugh Stowell

Married Elizabeth LaMothe and left three sons and two daughters, viz:
1. Joseph , who died a bachelor;
2. Thomas (late of Ramsey), Surgeons
3. Rev. John LaMothe, Vicar of German
1. Elizabeth, who married the Rev. Edward Qualtrough, Master of the Peel Grammar School, and Supernumerary'
2. Ann , married Thomas Kewley, of Castletown.

Thomas Stowell married Mary Ann Cowell one of whose daughters, Amelia, married T.E.Brown.

References

R. Kissack The Genealogy of Mrs Thomas Edward Brown IoMFam History Soc Vol 3 No. 3 p54