David P. Lowe Though he claims the Badger state as the place of his nativity, David P. Lowe has been a resident of Clayton county since he was a child of three years and during the long intervening period of nearly three score years and ten he has resided continuously on the old homestead farm, in Section 4, Sperry township, where his honored parents established themselves upon coming from Wisconsin to this county in the year 1847. The father was numbered among the very early settlers of Sperry township, where he reclaimed a farm from what was virtually a wilderness and where it was within his privilege and ambition to contribute generously and effectively to the social and material development and upbuilding of the county. He whose name initiates this review has long been one of the representative agriculturists of the township in which he was reared from childhood and in which he has been active and influential in community affairs continuously save for the period of his absence from home when serving as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war. Righteousness and resolute purpose have characterized his entire career, and now that the shadows of his earnest life begin to lengthen from the golden west he rests secure in the high regard of all who know him and compassed by the conditions that make for peace, prosperity and gracious contentment. Mr. Lowe was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, on the 10th of March, 1844, and is now the only living member of a family of nine children born to James M. and Betsy Elizabeth (Bates) Lowe, both of whom were born and reared in Pennsylvania, where they maintained their home until their removal to Rock county, Wisconsin. In the latter state they remained until 1847, when they came to Clayton county and established their home on a pioneer farm of one hundred and sixty acres of government land, the same being an integral part of the finely improved landed estate now owned by their only surviving child, the subject of this review. The father remained on this home place until his death, which was one of tragic order, as he was killed by injuries received when the team which he was driving ran away. He was about 75 years of age at the time of his death, which occurred December 3, 1878, his loved and devoted wife having been summoned to eternal rest on the 14th of August of the preceding year. They were kindly, earnest and sincere folk who placed true valuations on men and conditions and whose lives were replete in good works and gracious deeds. They were devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church and assisted in the organization of the first church in Sperry township, the father having likewise been the earnest founder of the first Sunday school in that township. Both he and his wife did all in their power to foster the causes of religion and education and to further high civic ideals in general. Mary, the eldest of their children, was born in 1830 and died young. All of the other children are now deceased with the exception of the subject of this review, who was the next to the youngest, and the names and respective dates of birth of the others are here consistently recorded: Sarah, July 24, 1832; John W., April 30, 1834; Emily, June 24, 1836; Elizabeth, January 30, 1838; James, September 16, 1841; Eliza Ann, January 16, 1843; Marilla, September 18, 1846. David P. Lowe was reared to manhood under the sturdy and benignant influences of the pioneer farm, to the work of which he early began to contribute his effective aid. He thus followed the even tenor of his way until his patriotism prompted him to tender his services in defense of the Union when the nation was plunged in the vortex of civil war. On the 11th of May, 1864, when twenty years of age, he enlisted as a private in Company A, Forty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, J. L. McCormick having been captain of the company. The regiment saw service principally in the states of Arkansas and Tennessee and Mr. Lowe was not called upon to participate in any of the greater battles marking the closing period of the great fratracidal conflict. He received his honorable discharge at Davenport, this state, on the 28th of September, 1864, and then resumed his association with the work and management of his father's farm. He has never abated his interest in his old comrades and indicates this by his active affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic. His landed estate now comprises two hundred acres and constitutes one of the splendidly improved and valuable farms of Sperry township, one hundred and sixty acres of the tract being the old home place of Mr. Lowe's parents. Appreciative of the policies and cause for which the Republican party virtually stood sponsor during the climacteric period of the Civil war, Mr. Lowe became affiliated therewith in his young manhood and has never since wavered in his allegiance. He has not sought public office of any kind but has served most effectively as township trustee, a position to which he was called by the importunities and votes of his fellow citizens. He holds membership in the Brotherhood of American Yeomen and he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Volga, which village represents their postoffice address. On the 12th of December, 1866, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lowe to Miss Elizabeth Ann Dempster, who was born in Wayne county, Michigan, and who is a daughter of John and Margaret (Templeton) Dempster and who came to Iowa about 1852, establishing their home on a pioneer farm in Fayette county, where they passed the remainder of their lives and where their daughter, Elizabeth Ann, wife of the subject of this review, was reared and educated. The parents were natives of Scotland, the father having been eighty-six years of age at the time of his death, and the mother having passed away December 31, 1907, at the age of 97 years. They became the parents of thirteen children, of whom the eldest is Margaret, who is the widow of Oscar Finch and who resides at Augusta, Wisconsin; William and Thomas are deceased, as are also the next two children, James and Anable; John is a resident of South Dakota; Mary is the widow of George A. Smith and resides in Missouri; Mrs. Lowe, wife of the subject of this sketch, was the next in order of birth: Jane resides at Volga, this county, and is the wife of James Bissell; Lavinia, David, Susanna and Luana are deceased, the last two mentioned having been twins. To Mr. and Mrs. Lowe have been born five children, concerning whom brief record is here given: Margaret, who was born July 24, 1867, is the wife of Albert Boleyn, of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this volume; Susanna, who was born December 7, 1869, died on the 17th of the following February; Daniel E., who was born September 24, 1871, remains at the parental home; Harry S. was born January 18, 1877, and died on the 4th of January of the following year, and Clarence E., who was born February 22, 1884, passed away on the 24th of July, 1886. source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical Times Down to
the Present; by Realto E. Price, Vol. II; page 253-255 |