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Lowell Varner Hammer, son of the Rev. John Domer Hammer and Edythe Lenore Varner, was a native of Ligonier, Pennsylvania. Mr. Hammer was graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a B.A., and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, with an M.A.

Following his graduation from the Pennsylvania State University in 1950, Mr. Hammer entered the U.S. Army and served on active duty for three years during the Korean War. He served first in the enlisted ranks of the Infantry and after graduation from Officer Candidate School, he served as a commissioned officer in the Field Artillery. He then was posted for several months in the U.S. before being transferred overseas to the Far East Command. Upon concluding his active duty service in the fall of 1953, he attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Massachusetts where he earned his graduate degree in 1954.

In August, he went to Washington, D.C. to commence what became a forty-year career in the Federal government. After serving thirty years as an officer in intelligence, national security and foreign affairs, Lowell retired in 1985, but returned to government service shortly thereafter and worked as a consultant for another ten years. During his government career, he was stationed abroad in U.S. Embassies in North and Central Africa and in Western Europe and traveled widely in Africa and Europe.

During his early Washington years, Lowell met Elizabeth Carter Bowers who had just returned from an overseas assignment and they were married in 1956. Lowell and Betsy had three children, Sarah Elizabeth (now Mrs. Jeffrey Haberl), Lowell Carter, and Christopher Allen (deceased). In 1997, Lowell and Betsy moved to Florida where they resided for nine years before moving to College Station, Texas. As hobbies, in addition to his genealogical and historical pursuits, Lowell engaged in oil and water painting, photography, antique restoration, artifact preservation, and other art and writing activity.

Society Memberships

  • National Gavel Society
  • General Society of Colonial Wars
  • Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (former Commander-in-Chief)
  • Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (former Commander-in-Chief)
  • Colonial Order of the Acorn
  • Colonial Society of Pennsylvania
  • Veteran Corps of Artillery State of New York
  • Saint Andrew’s Society of Washington D.C.
  • Order of Lafayette
  • National Society Sons of the American Colonists (former Captain General)
  • National Society Sons of the American Revolution (former President of the District of Columbia Society)
  • General Society Sons of the Revolution (former President of the District of Columbia Society)
  • National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims (former Governor of the District of Columbia Branch)
  • Hereditary Order of Descendants of Loyalists and Patriots (former Deputy Governor of the John Randolph Chapter)
  • Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States (former Commander of the District of Columbia Commandery)
  • Military Order of the World Wars (former Senior Vice Commander of the District of Columbia Chapter)
  • Sons and Daughters of the Colonial and Antebellum Bench and Bar
  • National Society Descendants of Early Quakers
  • National Society of the First Families of Delmarva
  • National Order of the Blue and Gray
  • Welsh Society of Philadelphia
  • Military Order of the Carabao

Authorship

  • Johann Frantz Hammer Palatine Pioneer in Pennsylvania and Maryland and his Descendants, 1999.
  • Essays appearing in The Contributor, a magazine in Melbourne, Florida
  • Articles that have appeared in publications of hereditary, historical, and genealogical societies and in academic and scholastic journals.
  • Personal writings used with my permission by other authors of family history/genealogy books.
  • Editor and principal writer of newsletter of the 933rd Field Artillery Battalion of the 31st Infantry Division.

Chivalric Orders

  • Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, Priory of Saint King Charles the Martyr (Inspector)

Listed In

  • Hereditary Register of the United States of America The Social List of Washington, D.C.

Other Notes

  • Sons of Veterans Reserve (Inspector General)
  • National Congress of Patriotic Organizations (Regent)
  • Provincial Families of Maryland
  • Clan Maxwell
  • Clan McAlister
  • American Legion, Paris Post #1
  • Veterans of Foreign Wars, Maryland Dept.
  • Army and Navy Union
  • Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels
  • Patriotic Order Sons of America
  • Lambda Chi Alpha social fraternity (Secretary, Zeta Chapter)
  • Delta Sigma Phi, international business and finance professional fraternity
  • Pi Lambda Sigma, political science/pre-legal honorary fraternity (Secretary/Treasurer)
  • Order of DeMolay (Past Master Councilor)
  • Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia
  • Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania
  • Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (Advisory Board Member)
  • Civil War Preservation Trust
  • Lincoln Commission of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church (Associate Chairman)
  • Lincoln Birthday National Commemorative Committee (Chairman)
  • American Foreign Service Association
  • Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired
  • American Foreign Service Club
  • DACOR/Bacon House
  • Army and Navy Club of Washington, D.C.
  • Fletcher Alumni Association (President, D.C. Chapter)
  • Penn State Alumni Association
  • Covenant Presbyterian Church (Current church affiliation)
  • Numerous international, national, state, county and local historical and genealogical societies.

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