OLD PHOTOS FOUND: LOW, Elizabeth (New Berlin NY)

ELIZABETH LOW

UPDATE - This photo of Elizabeth Low has been claimed by a relative and is being sent home.

IDENTIFICATION ON PHOTO: "Elizabeth Low"

PHOTO TAKEN: Talbot's Studio, New Berlin, NY, circa 1905

PURCHASED: 2018 August, Madison-Bouckville Antiques Week

This image is of a young woman around 14 or 15 years old. It appears to have been taken a bit before the New Berlin High School photos of 1909, so I place it about 1905. That means the young woman was born around 1890.

Checking in at Ancestry.com, a likely suspect comes up immediately. I believe this is Elizabeth Lowe (or Low), born 16 Jan 1890, died 1939, at the age of 49.

Her parents were Mark Lafayette Low (1858-1917), a farmer, and Ella Agnes Barber (1858-1920).

On the 1910 Census, I find that Mark Low's farm was directly adjacent to that owned by Fred & Charity Matteson (previously posted here) and looking back at that post, I see that Charity Matteson had a maiden name of Lowe (or Low). She was a daughter of Thomas Lowe (1820-1891) and Elizabeth Ann Phillips (1826-1892), as is Mark Low, so they are siblings. This also further verifies that I have the correct Elizabeth Low, as the photos were acquired at the same time, and at the same antiques booth.

Also, Elizabeth's mother Ellen Barber is a sister of William Barber (previously posted) and of Charlotte Barber who married Howard Kneeland (previously posted).

Elizabeth married Ray Leslie Chapin in 1911, who operated a dairy farm in nearby Pittsfield, Otsego County, NY (about 7 miles away from New Berlin. Ray is a brother of Lester Chapin (Previously posted).

Elizabeth and Ray had two sons; Robert (1917) and Donald (1924).

It has become evident to me that the person who collected all these "New Berlin" photos that I had previously posted and bought all together (and seemed to be related in some way) is Elizabeth Lowe (1891-1939). She would have been a classmate of those pictured in the Class of 1909 photos . Her father was Marquis Lafayette "Mark" Lowe (a brother of Charity Lowe) which makes her a niece of Uncle Fred and Aunt "Chat" Matteson, and may have written the inscription on the back of that one. I have already sent hone Fred & Charity, and I did not keep a digital image of the inscription. Elizabeth married Ray L Chapin (a surname on other photos found in this same batch).

The most convincing piece of evidence is the handwriting of Elizabeth which is beautiful and distinctively leans backward. Here is the back of the photo of Edith Pope , one of Elizabeth's high school pals.