Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/58

38 LOW, Isaac, merchant, b. near New Brunswick, N. J., about 1735 ; d. in England in 1791. He ac- quired a fortune by trade in New York city, and in the early part of tlie Revolutionary conflict was an active Whig. He made public speeches in favor of resistance to taxation without representation, though opposed to the demand for independence, was chairman of the first committee of fifty that was appointed to correspond with the other colo- nies, and continued as chairman of the new com- mittee. He was also elected, with John Jay and other conservatives, to the 1st Continental con- gress, took part in its deliberations, and was a mem- ber of the Provincial congress of New York in 1775. He was the first signer of the association on 29 April, 1775, and on that occasion delivered a vio- lent speech against the king and parliament ; yet, while his colleagues in congress embraced the re- publican cause, he sought safety by adhering to the crown. In 1776 he was arrested on the charge of holding treasonable correspondence with the enemy. He remained in the city during the British occu- pation, and was one of the persons named in an act of attainder that was passed by the New York as- sembly on 22 Oct., 1779. Mr. Low was appointed by Sir Guy Carleton, previously to the evacuation, one of a board of commissioners to enforce the pay- ment of debts that were due to the departing loyal- ists. He went to England, and his property, includ- ing a tract of land in Tryon county, was confiscated. — His wife, who was a daughter of the mayor of Al- bany and a sister of Sir Cornelius Cuyler, was noted for her beauty of person and gentle manners. She died in London in 1820, at the age of eighty. — Their only son, Isaac, became a commissary-general in the^British army. — The first Isaac's brother, Nicho- las, merchant,' b. near New Brunswick, N. J., 30 March, 1739 ; d. in New York city, 15 Nov., 1826, became a prominent merchant in New York city before the Revolution, espoused the cause of in- dependence, and was elected a member of the as- sembly, and of the convention that adopted the United States constitution. He became, in 1796, part proprietor of a large tract in Jefferson and Lewis counties, N. Y., built a hotel and a cotton- factory in Ballston, N. Y., about 1810, and after- ward devoted himself to the settlement of his land, which included the sites of Adams, "Watertown, and Lowville.

LOW, Samuel, poet, b. 12 Dec, 1765 ; date of death unknown. He published his " Poems " in two volumes (New York, 1800). The first piece is an ode on the death of Washington, which was recited by John Hodgkinson in the New York theatre on 8 Jan., 1800. The collection contains also sonnets on many subjects, humorous poems, patriotic odes on the fourth of July and the adoption of the con- stitution, and a long descriptive poem on '• Winter Displayed," which was first published in 1784.

LOW, Will Hicok, artist, b. in Albany, N. Y., 81 May, 1853. He supported himself in New Yoi'k city in 1870-'3 by making illustrations for periodi- cals, and in 1873-7 was a pupil of Gerome and Caro- lus-Duran in Paris. After completing his studies, he returned to the United States and opened a studio in New York. He was one of the founders of the Society of American artists. Among his works are " Nine of the First Empire," exhibited at the Paris salon (1876) ; " Portrait of Mile. Al- bani," " Calling Home the Cows " (1880) ; " Skipper Ireson" (1881); "Arcades" (1882); and "Telling the Bees " (1884). He has illustrated two volumes of Keats's poems — the " Lamia " (1885) and " Odes and Sonnets " (1887) — and has done some good work in stained-arlass and house decoration.

LOWE, David Pearly, jurist, b. in Oneida county, N. Y., 22 Aug., 1823. He was graduated at the law department of Cincinnati college in 1851, pi'actised in that city for ten years, and then re- moved to Kansas, and took up his residence at Mound City. He declined the nomination of the Union party in 1862 for attorney-general of the state, but was elected a member of the state senate, and served two years. During the raid of Gen. Sterling Price into Kansas he performed military service as a lieutenant-colonel on Gov. Thomas Carney's staff. He was defeated as a candidate for chief justice in 1866, was a district judge in 1867-'71, and was twice elected to congress as a Republican, serving from 4 March, 1871, till 3 March, 1875. He was appointed a commissioner of pensions, and declined, but accepted the chief jus- ticeship of Utah territory, and subsequently re- sumed practice in Fort Scott, Kan.

LOWE, John, poet, b. near New Galloway, Scotland, in 1750 ; d. in Culpeper county, Va., in December, 1798. He was a son of the gardener of Ken mure castle, and was apprenticed to a weaver, but found means to pursue the academical course at Edinburgh, and studied theology while teaching in the family of a gentleman named McGhie, with whose daughter he exchanged vows of affection. He wrote verses descriptive of the scenery of the River Dee and Loch Ken, and was inspired by the death at sea of the lover of a sister of his betrothed to compose a melodious and affecting ballad called " Mary's Dream," by which his fame as a poet has been preserved. Not obtaining a charge in Scotland, he emigrated to this country in 1773, to become a tutor in the family of George Washington's elder brother. He subsequently conducted a boarding-school at Fredericksburg, Va.. which was at first successful, but eventually failed. Amid new scenes he forgot the lady to whom his faith was pledged, and married an American, but the union was not happy and he died at the house of a friend, having, it is suspected, taken a dose of laudanum. His poetical compositions were printed in Richard H. Cromek's "Remains of Nithesdale and Galloway Song," with a memoir by Rev. Mr. Gillespie. See also James Grant Wilson's " Poets and Poetry of Scotland " (New York, 1876).

LOWE, John Williamson, soldier, b. in New Brunswick, N. J., 9 Nov., 1809; d. in Nicholas county, Va., 10 Sept., 1861. He learned the print- er's trade in New York city, settled in Batavia, Clermont co., Ohio, in 1833, studied law, was ad- mitted to the bar, and practised in Dayton, and subsequently in Xenia, Ohio. He was a captain in the 2d Ohio volunteers during the Mexican war, and in the beginning of the civil war joined the National array as captain of the first company that was raised in Greene county, and was elected colo- nel of the 12th Ohio infantry, which formed part of Gen. Jacob D. Cox's brigade that operated in western Virginia, and cleared the Kanawha valley of the enemy. Col. Lowe on 17 July, 1861. at- tacked the enemy's position on Scary creek, but re- tired when his ammunition was nearly exhausted. He took part in the occupation of Charleston, Va., and at Carnifex Ferry fell while leading his regi- ment in a charge against a stronglv posted battery.

LOWE, Martha Ann, poet, b. in Keene, N. H., 21 Nov., 1829. Her maiden name was Perry. She was educated at Keene academy and at Elizabeth Sedgwick's school in Lenox. Mass., and married in 1857 Rev. Charles Lowe, of Exeter, N. H. She accompanied her husband to Europe in 1871, and during two years' residence there corresponded with "the " Liberal Christian." Her published