John Jacob Low (November 5, 1809 – June 24, 1875) was an American seaman, hatter, merchant, innkeeper and farmer from Lowville, Wisconsin (Lowville was named after him) who served a single one-year term in the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Background

Low was born November 5, 1809, in Hyde Park, New York, to Gideon Low and Melissa Schryver. He received an academic education, and for years worked as a sailor, including as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of an ocean steamer. He also learned the craft of hatter, an expertise of which he would often boast in later years. On May 6, 1836, he married Catherine Morgan in her home town of Poughkeepsie, New York. They would have three sons and one daughter between 1837 and 1842. At his wife's request, he left the sea and invested his savings in a hat store in Albany, New York, but lost the business during the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abound ...

, and was forced to return to the sea as supercargo of the ship ''Richmond'' (captained by his brother-in-law), which traded in Europe and the East Indies. On one of these voyages, he fell prey to a near-fatal bout of yellow fever, severely damaging his constitution. He returned to

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, and opened a grocery store in New York City. While there he was a member of the 7th New York Militia Regiment, known in later years as the "Blue-Bloods."

Wisconsin

Having failed to prosper in New York, he came to Wisconsin Territory in early 1843, settling briefly in Green Bay (where he ran a hotel) before moving that same year to Fort Winnebago, where his father Capt. Gideon Low had been post commander. He partnered with a different brother-in-law there, running a general store for a couple of years. In 1845 Low moved to an area where in the prior year he had staked claim to some land. It was then part of Portage County, but in 1846 became part of the new Columbia County. The area where he had settled was named Lowville after him (although the extent of Lowville township would be reduced by the county

board of supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenc ...

in 1850); the first local election was held in his home, and when in that same year a Lowville post office was created, Jacob Low was its first postmaster. Low did not, however, hold any office in the government of the town which bore his name. In 1846, Low converted his house into an inn and

stage stop A stage station or relay station, also known as a staging post, a posting station, or a stage stop, is a place where exhausted horses could be replaced by fresh animals, since a long journey was much faster without delays when horses needed rest ...

to accommodate travelers between Madison and

Portage Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...

, which he would operate until 1853.

Political affairs

Low started out as a Whig, and was elected county

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

as a Whig in 1850. He was in later years considered a

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Republican, never having anything good to say about the Democratic Party. In 1859 he was elected Assistant

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of the State Assembly; and in 1863 was appointed by Governor Edward Salomon as a state agent (headquartered in Memphis) to look after the interests of sick and wounded soldiers from Wisconsin. In 1871, Low was elected for the

25th Wisconsin Legislature The Twenty-Fifth Wisconsin Legislature convened from to in regular session. This was the first legislative session after the redistricting of the Senate and Assembly according to an act of the previous session. Senators representing even-num ...

(1872 session), from the new 3rd Columbia County Assembly district (the Towns of Arlington,

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...

, Dekorra, Leeds, Lodi, Lowville, Pacific, West Point and Wyocena) as a Republican, with 586 votes to 567 for Democrat John Staudenmayer. (The new district included parts of three prior districts, all of which had been represented in the prior year by Republicans.) He was assigned to the standing committee on incorporations. He was succeeded by fellow Republican

John L. Porter John Luke Porter (13 September 1813 – 4 December 1893) was a naval constructor for United States Navy and the Confederate States Navy. Early life Porter was born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1813. His mother was Frances Pritchard, daughter of ...

Death and interment

He died of tuberculosis, then called "consumption", on June 24, 1875, at his Lowville home. He and Catherine (1814–1892) are buried in the South Lowville Cemetery."South Lowville Cemetery: Lowville, Columbia County, Wisconsin" ''interment.net'' (published Sept. 29, 2016; accessed Nov. 23, 2021)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Jacob 1809 births 1875 deaths 19th-century American legislators 19th-century sailors American hoteliers American merchants Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly American milliners People from Columbia County, Wisconsin People from Hyde Park, New York Wisconsin Whigs Wisconsin Republicans Wisconsin sheriffs Steamship captains Tuberculosis deaths in Wisconsin 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century American farmers 19th-century American merchants 19th-century Wisconsin politicians