[citation needed] He was private secretary to Justice Horace Gray of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts from 1880 to 1882.

[2] Lowell was nominated by President William McKinley on January 5, 1898, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated by Judge Thomas Leverett Nelson.

He was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 10, 1898, and received his commission the same day.

[2] On November 27, 1882, Lowell was married to Cornelia Prime Baylies (1859–1922) in New York City.

[5] Judge Lowell died suddenly on March 6, 1911, at his home on Beacon Street in Boston.