Nathan Low

Shipmaster and farmer of Deer Isle. In his father’s lifetime he was “Nathan Low Jr.” or “Nathan Low Jun.” (deeds, probate); one indexing of his children’s births has “Nathan J. Low,” and the FamilySearch tree calls him “Nathan J Low.” No middle name has been found; “Jun.” is the likely reading.

Life. In March 1832 John Howard’s widow Susan and son Thomas declined to administer his estate and asked “that Nathan Low Jun of said Deer Isle may be appointed”; Hosmer makes Thomas Howard’s mother a daughter of Thomas Thompson, so he was probably Nathan’s first cousin. That September he married Hannah Read Tyler, a schoolteacher from Dixmont who, Mollie says, “was engaged to teach school at Deer Isle”; “some of his wife’s relatives thought him a brusque and crude man … that their Aunt Hannah had married beneath her position and family.” On 2 Aug 1838 “Nathan Low Jun. of Deer Isle … Gent.,” with his wife Hannah R. releasing her dower, sold Hiram Pond of Boston two lots on the Reach road “about fifty rods easterly of James Tylers house.” In 1850 he and Hannah had ten children at home. He had 31 votes for representative in 1854 (Hosmer). On 26 Oct 1859 he was made administrator of his father’s estate, and that year the town voted $50 for “the road from near the house of William E. Knight to Nathan Low’s house.” In 1864 a “Nathan Low” was on the town’s bridge committee. In 1870 Joseph E. and his wife Anna, and Charlotte A. with her husband Frederick Howard, were in his household.

Harriet remembered “the dear little cottage her father and mother had lived in near her grandfather, a canary-colored cottage,” at Thompson’s Cove. Mollie places his later farm on “an elevated place, … up to which one walked through a meadow and past great beech-trees. Here the two brothers William and Nathan lived in a double house.” She describes him as “like his father, … a large man, genial, generous, kind and likable, with the Low joviality … his children adored him.”

The last voyage. About 10 p.m. on Thursday 10 Sept 1874 the steamer Lewiston ran down the Deer Isle schooner Paragon off Seguin Island, at the mouth of the Kennebec. The Portland Daily Press (12 Sept, p. 3) says “The officers of the steamer claim that the schooner had her light on the wrong side,” while “her owner and master, B. F. Law, says that the lights were correctly set.” The bow of the steamer cut off the schooner’s stern and she sank; “The steamer lowered her boats and rescued the captain and his father and brother - the entire crew. The men were injured slightly, but not seriously.” “The schooner was in ballast, and was valued at about $800.” The Ellsworth American (17 Sept, p. 3): “The crew, consisting of an old man and two boys, were rescued by the steamer’s boat.” The Daily Kennebec Journal (19 Sept, p. 3): “Capt. Lowe, master of schooner Paragon … died Thursday morning at his home at Deer Isle, from the effects of exposure in the water. He leaves a wife and three children.” The papers disagree on who was aboard. Hosmer (p. 144): “Nathan Low, Jr., who died a few years ago in consequence of the vessel of which he was then master having been run into by a steamer … Captain Low was thrown into the water, and being then nearly seventy years of age, the exposure caused his death shortly after. He was brought home, but lived only a few days.” His widow’s petition of November 1875 settles that it was he who died, on 17 Sept 1874.

Mollie’s account has him “in the water many hours,” with his son Daniel aboard: “He was brought home but lived only four days. … Why he and the crew were left by the steamer in the water, I do not know.” The papers say the steamer’s boats picked up the whole crew. He left a widow and nine living children (Henry had died in 1861), not three; perhaps three were still at home. No inventory was found among the estate papers read.

Open questions

• Who was the Paragon’s master? The Portland paper’s “B. F. Law,” “owner and master,” with “his father and brother” aboard, reads like a son of Capt. Nathan in command; Hosmer and the Kennebec Journal make Nathan the master. No B. F. Low has been found in the family. Her enrollment (Castine or Belfast), the List of Merchant Vessels for 1868-1874, any inquiry over the collision, and the Ellsworth American’s death notice may settle it.
• His grave and gravestone (probably Forest Hill Cemetery).
• The full Hancock County estate file: inventory, division.
• Was he the “Nathan Low” who was selectman in 1828 and 1829 (Hosmer, not saying which)? Mollie gives the office to him for “1829 and 30.”
• His 1840 census entry (two Nathan Lows are indexed at Deer Isle, FamilySearch 1:1:XHY5-6MP and XHY5-6MK).