Dow, Neal, 1804-1897

Dow was born in Portland, Maine on March 20, 1804, the son of Josiah Dow and his wife, Dorcas Allen Dow. Josiah Dow was a member of the Society of Friends (commonly known as Quakers) and a farmer originally from New Hampshire. Dorcas Allen was also a Quaker, and a member of a prosperous Maine family headed by her prominent grandfather, Hate-Evil Hall. They had three children, of whom Neal was the middle child and only son. After his marriage, Dow's father opened a tannery in Portland, which soon became a successful business. After attending a Friends school in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and further schooling at Edward Payson's Portland Academy, Dow followed his father into the tanning trade in 1826. He embraced technology, becoming one of the first in the city to incorporate steam power in the tanning process.

Dow struggled to conform to the tenets of his parents' Quaker faith; he was hot-tempered and enjoyed brawling from a young age. As he became wealthy later in life, he enjoyed wearing fine clothes, contrary to the Quakers' preference for plain dress. Some of his family's other virtues, such as thrift and abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, he adopted early in life. When he turned eighteen, Dow sought to avoid the required militia musters, more out of distaste for the drunkenness that they often involved than out of Quaker belief in pacifism. Instead, he joined the volunteer fire department, whose members were exempted from the muster. In 1827, Dow lobbied the Maine legislature to reform the fire companies to increase their efficiency. That same year, he argued against his fire company serving alcohol at its anniversary celebration; the members compromised, and served only wine, not hard liquor. At times Dow let his politics interfere with his duties; after being promoted to fire chief, he allowed a liquor store to burn to the ground.

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