Within a few short months in 1830 and 1831, tragedy struck Lowell's household, with the deaths of his wife and two children. Heartbroken, John Lowell retired from business and attempted to assuage his grief with travel, first to the western states and subsequently in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Before departing for Europe in 1832, he wrote a will in which, according to his biographer, "he set aside a large portion of his ample property to be expended, forever, in the support of those courses of lectures in the city of Boston."