Enoch Dow bcdgd had a wife Ruth, m before 1770. There was no clue to her identity, but Sally Hull, Enoch's great granddaughter, who had lived with her grandfather, maintained that she had known who Ruth was but had forgotten. As Mrs. Hull was over 90, this was not strange. W S Dow, trying to jog her memory, ran over various names until he came to Norton. A John Norton was a pioneer of 1803 and was the first to be buried in what is now the great Dow Cemetery. The second interment therein was David Dow, killed by a falling tree, while he was clearing the Sullivan Creek hill road. Mrs. Hull brightened. Surely the missing Ruth was Ruth Norton, John's sister, both pioneers from the states. Almost the first act of the settlers was to build a church and lay out the Dow cemetery, which is about a quarter mile below. With few exceptions everyone now buried in this large cemetery was a Dow by birth or marriage and in 1926 it was planned to double its size. Enoch Dow was a Baptist and every descendant was of that denomination with only three exceptions who turned Mormon and went to Utah. Enoch and sons did most of the building of the new church and Enoch Jr was its Lay Minister for years. Enoch was a lumber man both at Majorfield and Canterbury NB. That was the only wealth giving occupation of the region. He d Sept 23 1813. There is a homogeneity of the enormous posterity of Enoch Dow worth noting, the family being the largest by far of any Dow thus far. It is rare that a man should have 14 children, almost all maturing and that one of those children should have 17, almost all producing posterity. There is not a single instant in this posterity of death from tuberculosis or cancer. Average longevity is remarkably great, but a majority suffer from rheumatism in old age.
Humphrey Bean Dow ahgh, either inherited or bought a small farm in Coventry, but depended on his trade of shoe making, tanning and currying his own leather. A shoemaker is apt to be a philosopher and Humphrey surely was. From all accounts he was an amiable, highminded man, occupying through his attainments a higher position in Coventry than depended on the mere possession of money. He saw considerable service in the French and Indian War, a private in several hard battles. Upon discharge he returned home to Coventry. His son Lorenzo in his journal, Sept 25, 1815, notes: "I find that my father is entitled to some crown land,- but probably he will be cheated out of it" The fact that Humphrey could have applied to the provincial government for and received a land allotment, probably 640 acres, but he never did so, and when fifty years later, the matter was brought to his attention, the United States government had been set up and it would have taken a special act of Congress to reward a veteran for British service.
Humphrey m Oct 8, 1767, Tabitha Parker, member of an original Coventry family, a good wife and mother, who loved to see all her six children grow up and marry. Her gravestone, a marble slab, is beside that of her husband in the Nathan Hale cemetery of Coventry, a little difference in wording probably due to the fact that the inscriptions were many years apart: "The ashes of Tabitha Parker, wife of Humphrey B Dow are buried here" & " The dust of Humphrey B Dow is buried here."
The cobbler had an intellect of high order, acquiring unaided an unusual education for the time, especially fond of Latin, which he was qualified to teach through college grades.His surplus income went wholly for books, his library finally being divided among his children. They all received an excellent education; all four daughters taught school before they married. Lorenzo, the best known son, received the least education, but was a diligent reader in his boyhood. His old age may not have been lonely, for, altho his sons were far away, two daughters had homes in Coventry. Peggy Dow, Lorenzo's wife, devoted much time to him while Lorenzo was away on trips for many months at a time and was greatly endeared to him by her gentle care. Happy incidents are mentioned in the journals of both Peggy and Lorenzo. Children of Humphrey & Tabitha:
a. Ulysses b Aug 4 1768, name recalling Humphrey's fondness for the Odyssey.
b. Ethelinda c. Mirza
d. Orelena m Elisha Fish had 4 children m 2nd_______???
e. Lorenzo b Oct 16, 1777, name recalling his father's appreciation of the Florentine patron of literature. Probably more than 20,000 children have been named for him.
f. Tabitha.
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