CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Jesse Lowe

American mayor (1814–1868)

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ6186609
Source-derived summary

Jesse Lowe (March 11, 1814 – April 3, 1868) was the first mayor of Omaha, Nebraska, serving for one year from March 5, 1857 to March 2, 1858. An important real estate agent in the early city, Lowe is credited with naming the city after the Omaha Tribe.

Biography

Lowe was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and along with his brother Enos, the family soon afterward moved to the Indiana Territory, settling in Monroe County. Lowe's parents were strict Quakers. Jesse receiving his education at Bloomington College. After studying law and interning with Tilghman Howard in Indiana, Lowe decided not to become a lawyer, instead serving in the commissary of a Missouri volunteer regiment under Sterling Price. He was promoted to Paymaster in the U.S. Army served during the entire Mexican–American War. In 1853 he moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa where his brother was the city's tax collector.

On July 3, 1853, Lowe crossed the Missouri River with his brother Enos into Indian Territory, estimating the land across from Council Bluffs was going to become a great city. Jesse Lowe staked out a quarter-section and later bought three other quarter-sections, totaling 640 acres (2.6 km2).

Editorial summary

“Jesse Lowe” enters the record as american mayor (1814–1868). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jesse, Lowe and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1814, 1868, 1857, 1858—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1814-03-11. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Jesse, Lowe and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Jesse Lowe” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Jesse, Lowe and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6186609. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1814, 1868, 1857 and 1858.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Jesse Lowe”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Jesse Lowe primary sources, Jesse Lowe archive and Jesse research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Jesse Lowe”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Jesse Lowe” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.