Early Life and Career
Dow was born in Portland, the son of Quaker parents. Following his father Josiah's line of work, he became a tanner, and eventually became a prominent and wealthy leather manufacturer. He volunteered as a firefighter to gain exemption from militia duty because of the reputation of militia musters to be drunken bashes. He gained local notice when he persuaded his company to forgo the customary liquor at their annual celebration. In 1827 he was a founding member of the Maine Temperance Society. Before 1837 he was a leader of the splitting off of the Maine Temperance Union over the issue of whether wine should still be allowed—the Union was for total abstinence.
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