Francis A. Hillard was a merchant in Canton and Macau, China, between 1844 and 1847, and afterward lived and worked in Brooklyn and New York City. Oliver G. Hillard lived in New York City before moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the 1840s. John Hillard married Harriett Low, who lived in Macau, China, in the early 1830s, before she returned to New York City. They had at least one daughter, Katharine. Edward Low also lived in Macau, China, in the early 1840s.
Abiel Abbot Low was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on February 7, 1811, the son of Seth Low (1782-1853) and Mary Porter (d. 1872). He was the eldest of eleven siblings, including Mary Ann, Harriet, Seth Haskell, William Henry (1816-1845), Edward Allen, Francis, Josiah Orne, Sarah Elizabeth, Charles Porter, and Ellen Porter.
After leaving school, Abiel Abbot Low worked for Salem merchant firm Joseph Howard & Company before joining his father's business in Brooklyn, New York, in 1828. In 1833, he went to Canton, China, to work for his uncle, William Henry Low, a partner in the firm Russell & Company; Abiel Abbot Low became a partner in 1837. After returning to Brooklyn in 1840, he established a merchant firm involved in the China trade, which later became known as A. A. Low & Brothers. The firm, following its relocation to Manhattan, oversaw the construction of steamships. Low actively supported the Union cause throughout the Civil War. He was a founder of the Brooklyn Public Library and was a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce.
Abiel Abbot Low married Ellen Dow of Brooklyn, New York, in 1841, and they had four children: Harriet, Abbot Augustus, Ellen, and Seth. After Ellen's death in 1850, he married Anne Davison Bedell Low, widow of his brother William. Abiel Abbot Low died on January 7, 1893.
From the guide to the Hillard-Low family papers, 1817-1935, 1829-1897, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
