Lovejoy family

Owen Lovejoy (1811-1864), brother of Elijah Parish Lovejoy, was a prominent abolitionist and congressman who staunchly supported President Lincoln during the Civil War. Born in Albion, Maine, to Daniel and Elizabeth Pattee Lovejoy in 1811, he was one of eight children. He grew up on the family farm in Maine and enrolled in Bowdoin College in 1830, but left in 1833 when his father died.

Elijah Parish Lovejoy, Owen's eldest brother, was a Presbyterian minister, editor of a newspaper, and an antislavery leader in Illinois. Three of his printing presses were destroyed by proslavery mobs, and Elijah was killed defending the fourth press from an attack in 1837. Owen and his brother Joseph wrote a memorial volume for Elijah, commemorating his courage in defending abolitionism and freedom of the press. This book, Memoir of the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy; who was murdered in defence of the liberty of the press, at Alton, Illinois, Nov. 7, 1837, became important propaganda for the antislavery movement, and made Elijah Lovejoy's name famous as a martyr for the cause.

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