John T. Low was born June 19, 1851, two miles southwest of Saulsbury, Hardeman Co., Tenn. He is a son of E. E. and Mary A. (Aitken) Low . The father was born in Perry County, Ala., August 24, 1824, and immigrated to Hardeman County, Tenn., January, 1831, and was married September 5, 1847, to Miss Aitken, of Hardeman County, Rev. Samuel Lambeth officiating. To this union four sons were born, three of whom died in childhood. E. E. Low joined the Masonic fraternity in 1848, Berlin Lodge, No. 170, in town of Berlin, Hardeman County, and the Royal Arch Chapter and Council Masons in La Grange, Fayette Co., Tenn. September, 1854, he became a member of the Baptist Church at Rock Springs, Hardeman County, the pastor being Rev. L. Savage. September, 1855, he engaged in commercial business at Saulsbury. He formed a copartnership with John M. and J. J. Chambers; the firm was styled E. E. Low & Co. They met with considerable success and were regarded as men of ability and integrity. J. J. Chambers was a prosperous merchant and farmer, always a true Democrat. In 1861, a company was organized and called the Saulsbury Grays. J. M. Richardson was made captain, H. A. Guynn first lieutenant, E. E. Low, second lieutenant and Jesse Barden, third lieutenant. A company called the Hatchy Hunters, of Bolivar, Tenn., with R. H. Wood of that place as captain, was consolidated at Trenton, Gibson County, into the Twenty-second Tennessee Volunteers, Thomas J. Freeman as colonel of the regiment. After serving about four months Mr. Low resigned his commission as lieutenant and joined the company as a private. In the fall of 1862, the conscript law took effect and he being over thirty-five years of age was released from duty at Tupelo, Miss . He returned home. In November of the same year, while leading a quiet and peaceable life, he and several others were taken by the Federal soldiers and imprisoned at Alton, Ill. His fellow prisoners were M. M. Thurmond, T. B. Bowdon, William Gannon and T. B. Low, his brother. January 1863, without charges or trial he was released and lived as a citizen until the following fall, when he went south with C. W. Phelps, an old comrade of the Twenty-second Regiment and enlisted in the Fourteenth Tennessee Cavalry, Col. J. J. Neely’s regiment, under command of Gen. N. B. Forrest. Mr. Low was commissary of the regiment until the latter portion of December, 1864, after the battle of Franklin, Tenn., or better known as Hood’s raid. He was taken sick near Nashville, Tenn., with pneumonia and left three or four miles north of Franklin with James P. Moore, a citizen. In March, 1865, he went to Memphis by boat, and obtained a situation as clerk for Pearce, Park & Co., at that place. In the fall of that year, he entered into business at Saulsbury in partnership with J. J. Chambers, T. C. Moore and J. D. Ussery, the firm being known as Moore, Ussery & Co. In the fall of 1866, he retired from business, devoting the remainder of his life to his family. In 1873, Saulsbury Grange was organized with E. E. Low as Master. He died July 4, 1886. He was one of a family of twenty-two brothers and sisters. His father, Thomas Low (grandfather John T.) was born in Randolph County, N.C., January 22, 1768. He immigrated to Georgia when quite young, then to Alabama, and January, 1831, came to Hardeman County, Tenn. The next year he formed a M. D. society in that county. His death occurred March 9, 1846, and the community lost a useful and esteemed resident. His father (great-grandfather of subject) was John Low; he married Charity, a sister of the distinguished Gen. John Butler and a niece of Gen. William O. Butler, a noted and gallant officer with Gen. Zachary Taylor in the Mexican war . The mother of John T. Low was born January 29, 1826, in Russellville, Ala. Her father, John Hall Aitken, was a native of Edinburg, Scotland. He immigrated to America in 1817. In 1821 he married Miss Mary F. Rutherford, of Russellville. His death occurred April, 1827. March, 1828, Mrs. Aitken, with her two children, William and Mary, and her father, Samuel Rutherford, immigrated to Hardeman County, Tenn., and settled where the town of Grand Junction now lies, or about two and a half miles south of the railroad crossing. Samuel Rutherford was born in Gochland County, Va., in 1763 and located in Russellville, Franklin Co., Ala., in 1818. John T. Low, the subject of this sketch, was raised on a farm and received such educational advantages as the average country boy and schools of that day gave, until about his nineteenth year or the close of the war. He then entered the Union University at Murfreesboro where he remained two years, returning home in 1872. He became interested in agriculture and has devoted his time to that pursuit in which he has met with prosperity. In connection with his chief pursuit he has done a portion of the surveying for Hardeman County since 1875. He is a man of the best social standing, influence and indisputable integrity. He is prominently connected with the Masonic order, being a Royal Arch Mason. His membership is at Saulsbury Lodge, No. 48. He is a stanch, true Democrat. He is an enterprising farmer, and extensive dealer in fine blooded stock and cattle. He is liberal and always ready to assist all charitable institutions or worthy and beneficial enterprises. He was married in Texas, December 23, 1874, to Josie Guy, the only daughter of Dr. J. H. and Raine (Carlton) Guy. Mrs. Low was born December 5, 1856, in Haywood County, Tenn. To this union four children have been sent: Willie Carlton, born November 14, 1876; Ranie Mary, born October 10, 1877; Johnnie T., born June 14, 1881, and departed this life January 5, 1885; Josie Irene, born October 14, 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Low are devoted and exemplary members of the Missionary Baptist Church. Mr. Low joined in 1868.
Source: “The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1886”