I Dow

1st Tier

Jacob Dow

1760 Salisbury MA - 1835 Deerfield NH

Three in 2nd Tier plus others

I Dow

Best Candidate

Jacob Dow b ca. 1760 Salisbury, MA d 1-2-1835 Deerfield, NH

m Charlotte Langley, 5-6-1795, Deerfield

children probably include Mehetible, James, Esther, Polly and Josiah, noting that the early “vital records …. in Salisbury are unusually defective and from Deerfield are worse yet.” (The vital record quote is from The Book of Dow.)

parents Joseph (farmer) and Naomi Carr

1796 deed Deerfield, 140 A, housewright

1835 inventory included: livestock, farm equipment, 2 axes, jointer, fore plane, smoothing plane, 5 small planes, 7 shaves, 1 spoke shave, 3 croses, 1 howell, compasses, 3 augers, 3 chissels, 1 square, handsaw, 1 froe, 1 carpenters adze, broad axe, coopers adze, jointer, 4 planes, 1 joiners plow, lot of board and plank, 700 barrel staves, coopers shop

2nd Tier

Joseph Dow Sr. (1709-1780), from Almsbury, Amesbury and Haverhill, has been documented in deeds from 1735 to 1767. Trades include joiner, housewright, trader, yeoman and shipwright noting that wife Judith was mentioned in many of the deeds. Joseph’s dates are too early for these planes.

Joseph Jr. (1741-1801), also with wife Judith (m in 1768), was listed as a shipwright in a 1765 Haverhill deed, along with his father Joseph Sr., a shipwright. Deeds from1762, 1767, 1771 also list Joseph as being a shipwright in Haverhill, but it is not clear as to whether this is Jr. or Sr. Assuming that John Sleeper originated this style of plane making, a ca. 1762 starting date for Joseph Jr. may also be too early, as John Sleeper was born in 1754.

John Dow, a chairmaker in Rowley from a 1779 deed.

The same individual may be the maker of a ca. 1800 Windsor arm chair marked I Dow, which is mentioned in “American Cabinetmakers” and “American Windsor Chairs”. These two sources did not know if I Dow was an owner or a maker.

3rd Tier

Joshua Dow, Plastow, cooper, 1773, 1783, 1793

Israel Dow, Seabrook, cooper, 1790

John Dow, Seabrook, cooper, 1778

Jacob Dow, Seabrook, cooper, 1799

James Dow, Coos, chaise maker, 1810

Investigation started with creating a list of N.E. individuals from the 1790 US census, including the above candidates:

32 from NH

5 from ME

4 from MA

1 from VT

Starting with names and towns found in the 1790 census, period deeds in MA and NH and town histories, probate records in VT and ME were used to identify any individual associated with a woodworking trade.

Period town records were used for family dates and relationships where possible. Family links / family units were also assessed using “The Book of Dow”.