FRANK EDWARD DOW, M. D. – Dow is one of the oldest family names known in England. It goes back to the beginning of the use of family names. The American family traces its ancestry back to:
(I) John Dow, who died at Tylner, Norfolk County, England, in July, 1581, and mentioned in his will two brothers, William and Thomas, and three children, Thomas, John and Edith.
(II) Thomas Dow was born in Tylner, and lived afterward in Runham, Norfolk. He married Margaret (surname unknown) and had children: Henry, of further mention; Christopher; and two daughters.
(III) Henry Dow, son of Thomas Dow, was born in County Norfolk, England, and lived at Runham. He married Elizabeth and their children were: Thomas, of further mention; Henry, born about 1608, and settled in Hampton, New Hampshire; and Edward; Mary; Francis; and William.
(IV) Thomas Dow (2), son of Henry Dow, was the immigrant ancestor, an early settler of Newbury, Massachusetts, admitted freeman June 22, 1642. He bought a house and land in Newbury in 1648, and removed to Haverhill, where he died May 31, 1654. His nuncupative will was dated May 29, 1654, and proved February 2, 1656. He married Phoebe (surname unknown), and they were the parents of John, of further mention; Thomas; Stephen; Mary; and Martha.
(V) John (2) Dow, son of Thomas (2) Dow, was born about 1640, married October 23, 1665, Mary Page, and had a son, John, ancestor of the Atkinson, New Hampshire family of Dow.
(VI) John (3) Dow, son of John (2) Dow, was born in 1672 and married, May 23, 1696, Sarah Brown; they had a son John (4), of further mention.
(VII) John (4) Dow, son of John (3) Dow, was born at Haverhill, August 19, 1707, settled with others at Atkinson, New Hampshire, formerly a part of Haverhill, Massachusetts. He married Mehitable Haines, June 23, 1728, and their children were Abraham, of further mention: Job; John; Moses; James.
(VIII) Abraham Dow, son of John (4) Dow, was born about 1730, and settled in Salem, New Hampshire, formerly a part of Haverhill. He was released from church taxes in 1774 because he belonged to the Church of England. He was selectman in 1768 and 1797 justice of the peace, 1789-1790. In 1781 he was a witness before a trial conducted by the Committee of Safety. He married Susanna (surname unknown); their children born at Salem were: Thomas (3), of further mention; Susanna, and Mehitable.
(IX) Lieutenant Thomas (3) Dow, son of Abraham Dow, was born at Salem August 19, 1753. He was a soldier in the Revolution; selectman of Salem, 1797-1798. He kept a tavern in the house owned afterward by Seth M. Pattee. He married, December 2, 1773, Elizabeth Jones at Salem. Their children were: 1. Abraham, born March 10,1775. 2. Child, October 17, 1776. 3. Abraham (2), October 23, 1777. 4. Rachel, born February 24, 1780. 5. Evan, born December 5, 1781. 6. Child, August 9, 1783. 7. Betty, born September 9, 1784. & Susanna, born March 12, 1786; married a Miss Hoyt. 9. Amos, born May 7, 1787. 10. Moses, born March 3, 1789. 11. Relief, born March 25, 1791. 12. Jones, born April 27, 1792. 13. Hezekiah, born July 18, 1794. 14. Relief (2), born June 29, 1796. 15. Louisa, born August 18, 1798, died July 24, 1865; married November 29, 1827, Samuel A. Ketchum.
John Dow, grandfather of Frank Edward Dow, was born in Atkinson, New Hampshire. He was an educator, and lived in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His wife’s maiden name was Bartlett, and they had as children: Elizabeth, Helen, John, of further mention; and Job.
John Dow, son of John Dow, was born in Atkinson in 1844 and died in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1912, at the age of sixty-eight. He was well educated; was graduated from Atkinson Academy, and went to West Chester, Pennsylvania, early in life. He was in the grocery business, with meats and provisions as a side line and became an owner of some property. His later years of retirement were passed in Lynn, Massachusetts. He was interested in military affairs; a member of the Wooldridge Cadets; of the 8th Regiment, Company I, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, holding the rank of Sergeant. He was a member of Bay State Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Lynn; and a communicant of the Central Congregational Church. He married Mary Phoebe Little of Hampsted, New Hampshire, and they were the parents of Ethlyn, who married John T. Rogers of Lynn, Massachusetts; John Carlton, Frank Edward, of further mention, and Rena.
Frank Edward Dow, son of John Dow, was born in Lynn, February 5, 1882, where he was educated in the public and high schools and Tufts Medical College, receiving his diploma from the latter in Ipso. and post graduate work in the Dimmer Clinic, Allgemeines Kraukenhaus, Vienna, Austria, 1925. He has specialized in Ophthalmology, and began practice in Boston. He moved to Northampton in 1911, and has been in practice in that city ever since. He was commissioned captain during the World War, and assigned to medical research work, in the Air Service Department at Hazlehurst Field, Mineola, Long Island. He is a member of the American Medical Association; the Massachusetts Medical Society, the New England Ophthalmological Society; The American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto Laryngology; Member American Medical Association of Vienna, Austria; the Medical Veterans of the World War Association, and of the Military Surgeons of the United States. He is president of the Kiwanis Club of Northampton; President of Hampshire County Medical Society 1925-26; chairman of the City Planning Board, 1917 to 1924; chairman of the Medical Advisory Board, 1917-1918. He is a member of Jerusalem Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Perfection Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Masons; of the Alpha Kappa Kappa college fraternity; of the Northampton Club, and others.
Dr. Dow is Ophthalmologist at the Colby-Dickinson Hospital; consulting Ophthalmologist at the Veterans’ Hospital, No. 95, at Northampton. He was director of the Community Symphony Orchestra for eight years and for eight years assistant in the department of music at Smith College.
He married, September 22, 1909, Marion Dole, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, daughter of John Woodman and Harriet H. (Wilde) Dole. Their children are Eleanor, Richard Woodman, Harriet and Barbara Dow.
