FRANK LOWE, who
operates the old home farm, in Eden township, was born there August 19,
1866. He is a son of Frederick and Mary (Chaffin) Lowe, the latter
still a resident of Benton county. Frederick Lowe, who died November
28, 1905, at his home in the southern part of Vinton, was born in
Mercer county, Kentucky, March 12, 1834, and was a son of Frederick and
Rebecca (Demott) Lowe, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter
of Kentucky. They came to Benton county, Iowa, in 1857, and resided
there until the death of Mr. Lowe in the latter eighties; his wife
accompanied a son to Clarion, Wright county, Iowa, and died in 1891, in
her ninety-second year, about the same age as her husband. At the time
of her death she was twice great-grandmother, and had one hundred and
fourteen descendants.
Frederick Lowe, Sr., had four sons and two daughters, of whom four are
living, namely: John, of Hancock, Pottawatomie county, Iowa; Mrs. Mary
Adair, who lives in northern Iowa; Richard, of Cimarron, Gray county,
Kansas; and Dorothy, wife of John Lemmons, of Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Samuel, the eldest, also died in Iowa.
Frederick Lowe, Jr., came with his family to Franklin, Johnson county,
Indiana, about 1843, and removed to Iowa soon after 1850. In 1860 he
married, at Portsmouth, Ohio, Mary Chaffin, born in Scioto county,
Ohio, April 26, 1834, daughter of Shedrick and Sarah (Salarda) Chaffin,
who lived during their married life in Scioto county, Ohio; Shedrick
Chaffin died there at the age of eighty-seven years, and his wife died
in 1840. He was twice married, and had fourteen children of whom seven
came to Iowa, and at one time six lived in Benton county. A brother and
a half brother live in California; a half-sister lives in Ohio. Samuel
S. Chaffin lived many years in Eden township, Benton county, and died
in 1909 in Missouri. David Chaffin, formerly a resident of Benton
county, now lives in California, as previously mentioned. Mrs. Lowe was
reared in Ohio, and in 1857 went to Benton county, Iowa; two years
later she returned home and was there married, since which she has
resided on the farm in Eden township. Frederick Lowe and his wife were
parents of six children, all born on the old home in Benton county, and
all living: A. L., Emma, Frank, Charles, Lovina and George. A. L. Lowe,
a farmer and stock raiser, of Chillicothe, Missouri, married Clara
Miller, and they have four children. Emma married Reverend F. P.
Shaffer, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church, of Osage, Iowa, and
they have three children, Yera, Lloyd and Lysle. Charles, a fruit
grower living near San Jose, California, married Minnie Pritchard, of
Tipton, Iowa. Lovina, married G. W. Searles, a farmer of Minnesota, and
they have four children, Waldo, Bessie, Rosemary and Mildred. George
lives in Chicago, where he has for years been employed as a railroad
stenographer. Politically Mr. Lowe was a Republican, and he served in
various local offices. Mrs. Lowe is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church of Eden township.
Frank Lowe was reared in Benton county, and there attended Blairstown
Academy and Walker High School. He has since followed farming most of
the time, although he was temporarily employed in other business. He
resided some ten years in Benton township, and served several years as
justice of the peace. Like his father, he is a Republican, and he has
served in township offices. He is an energetic and successful farmer,
and well known in the community, where the family have been located
since 1861.
Mr. Lowe married Mabel, daughter of John H. Detrick, an old resident of
the county, and they have three children, Bernice, Harold Wayne and
Jessie Lucile.