Background

Abiel Abbot Low was born on February 7, 1811 in Salem, Massachusetts, United States. He was one of a family of twelve children of Seth and Mary (Porter) Low. His ancestors had been natives of Massachusetts.

Education

Low was educated in the public schools.

Career

At an early age Low became a clerk in the house of Joseph Howard & Company, engaged in the South American trade. In 1829 his father removed from Salem to Brooklyn, New York, and established himself as an importer of drugs and India wares, and the son worked in his employ for several years. In 1833, at the invitation of a relative, Low sailed to Canton, China, and became a clerk in the mercantile house of Russell & Company, the largest American firm in China. He soon acquired a thorough knowledge of the intricacies of foreign trade and in 1837 was admitted to the firm.

Three years later, desirous of returning home, he engaged in a joint enterprise with a Chinese merchant which remitted both parties a handsome profit and enabled Low to enter into business in New York on his own account, thus laying the foundations of A. A. Low & Brothers. Celebrated among their fleet of clipper ships were The Houqua, launched in 1844 and named after the Chinese mandarin who had engaged with Low in the joint enterprise, the speedy Samuel Russell, which gained a reputation for outstripping its rivals with ease, and The Contest and Jacob Bell, both destroyed by Confederate privateers, recovery for which was effected before the Joint High Commission at Geneva.

During the Civil War he was president of the Union Defence Committee of New York and of other war financing bodies. As president of the New York Chamber of Commerce from 1863 until his resignation in 1866, he voiced the hostility of New York business men to Great Britain's role in relation to the Confederate commerce destroyers. On his return to New York in 1867 from a voyage around the world he urged a policy of government subsidies for the American merchant marine. Despite the conciliatory attitude which his son Seth demonstrated throughout his life in dealing with the labor problem, he himself was hostile to labor combinations. After the Civil War he gave vigorous expression to the demands of the New York merchants for a resumption of specie payments. One of his last important public services was in rendering a report as commissioner of charities of Kings County on the bearing of the growth of urban population and unsanitary conditions on the increase of pauperism.

Low was an exceptional liberal patron of education and welfare work. In 1858, he became president of the Brooklyn Female Academy, later the Packer Collegiate Institute, and remained on the Packer board until 1893.

Achievements

• Low became the principal founder of A. A. Low & Brothers and gained a prominent position in the trade in China tea and Japanese silk. He actively participated in financing the first Atlantic cable and, together with Collis P. Huntington and others, was associated with the building of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad through West Virginia to the Ohio River and in the founding of Newport News, Virginia, and Huntington, West Virginia.

Works

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  • Proceedings of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, on the Continued Piracies of Vessels Fitted out in Great Britain upon American Commerce. Saturday, February 21, 1863.

    (Wrappers chipped and a bit soiled, leaves clean, two smal...)

  • Address By A. A. Low: President Of The Chamber Of Commerce Of The State Of New York (1866)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Address delivered before the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, January 21st, 1869, in support of a series of resolutions offered by him ... on the subject of resuming specie payments
  • Address, before the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New-York, on the national finances, with citations from English history and resolutions adopted by the Chamber, February 24th, 1876

Religion

Low was a Unitarian in religion.

Personality

Low was an unusually powerful and eloquent speaker and well equipped for public life. He was known for his business astuteness and shrewdness.

Connections

Low was married on March 16, 1841, to Ellen Almira, daughter of Josiah Dow of Brooklyn. Following her death, he married, on February 25, 1851, his brother William Henry's widow, Anne, daughter of Mott Bedell. His son, Seth Low, became an educator and politician.

Father:

Seth Low

Mother:

Mary (Porter) Low

Spouse:

Ellen Almira Dow

Spouse:

Anne Bedell

Brother:

William Henry Low

Son:

Seth Low

References

• The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850–1896
• Low genealogy;: The descendants of Seth Low and Mary Porter
• Some Recollections by Captain Charles P. Low, Commanding the Clipper Ships "Houqua," "Jacob Bell," "Samuel Russell," and "N.B. Palmer," in the China Trade, 1847-1873 1905
• Tribute Of The Chamber Of Commerce Of The State Of New-york To The Memory Of Abiel Abbot Low, President, 1863-1867
• Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898