The Holmes County Farmer-Hub, Jan. 23, 1969

Paint Township Farmer's Death Unsolved For 43 Years

By W.E. Farver

Paint Township, Holmes County history is replete with pioneer incidents, 
and historical records of Winesburg.  None are lacking in pioneers' interest,
and of more than ordinary interest is the story of Henry Lowe, one of Paint 
Township's earliest pioneers.

During 1864, when Mr. Lowe was well up in years, still able to attend 
to business matters, although incapacitated by a leg injury, he set out 
on a journey to Marion County, Ohio, where he planned to pay taxes 
on his land-holdings in that couinty.

He never returned.  For 43 years no one back home in Paint Township learned 
why he did not return or what became of him.  When he left home he was carrying
a considerable sum of money with which he expected to pay the taxes on a 400-acre
tract of land which he owned some distance southwest of the city of Marion.

He left his home northwest of Winesburg on horseback, going to Apple Creek, 
14 miles distant, where he tied up the stirrups of the saddle to prevent their
swinging, wrote a note to his family, telling of his safe arrival at Apple Creek,
and asked strangers to permit his horse to proceed homeward unmolested.  Fastening
the note securely to the saddle, he headed the horse homeward, and boarded the 
train for Marion.

A day or so later, the horse arrived back at the Lowe residence with the message -
the last word the family ever had from him.  All efforts to locate him failed.  
The family did learn that he never appeared at the Marion County Treasurer's 
office in Marion, to pay his taxes, nor had he reached the home of the family 
who occupied his farm.

Life went on for more than four decades. There were family adjustments in the 
Paint Township Lowe family.  The aged wife of Henry Lowe died.  UNEXPECTEDLY, 
43 years after Lowe's disappearance, the mystery was solved - long after 
the family had given up all hope of ever learning the answer.  

It remained for the columns of a newspaper, the Lima, Ohio Republican 
to bring the final solution to light, in 1907, when the story was published 
and the family informed of pioneer Henry Loew's fate.

As reported by the Lima newspaper, a well-known and respected citizen of Lima,
Ohio, becoming deathly ill, apparently feeling his end was near, called for his
pastor, the Rev. J.A. Sutton, who earlier had been a chaplain at the Ohio State
Penitentiary.

To the pastor he confessed that he and his brother, who later died, had seen 
Henry Lowe arrive at the Marion County Courthouse.  Finding it already closed,
he evidently decided to walk to his farm in southwestern Marion County.  
The two men seemed to know what Mr. Lowe's business was at the courthouse, 
and that he owned land in the county, and when he started walking out of the 
city towards his farm they concocted the plan to waylay him and secure his money.

Some distance out of the city, a large stream flowed near the road, presumably
the Scioto River.  Here the two brothers lay in wait till the unsuspecting pioneer
came walking by, when they seized him, killed and robbed him throwing his body 
into the stream.  There is no record of the body ever being found.  According 
to the man's confession, the crime netted the two men approximatelyh $200.00.

After making what was thought to have been a deathbed confession, the man took 
a turn for the better during the night, and recovered, living a considerable 
number of years, as a respected and successful citizen of the community.  
The news item did not state when the confession was made, but it was thought 
that it may have been made considerably earlier than the date of publication.

The confessor's family, highly respected in the community, also never learned 
of their father's crime, since the name of the assailant was withheld by the 
minister to whom the confession was made.  Henry Lowe's family never learned 
his name.

Some time ago, the writer visited Cornelius (Neely) Lowe, now in his upper eighties,
and a grandson of Henry Lowe.  His home is about two miles northwest of Winesburg,
on County Road 222.  His father, Cornelius Lowe Sr., moved on this tract, the 
northeast quarter of section three, in 1865, about a year after the disappearance 
of Henry Lowe.  This farm has been in the Lowe family for over a century.

About 30 feet southeast of the house stands a huge Scotch pine tree, approximately 
75 or so feet tall.  When Cornelius Lowe Sr. took over the farm in 1865, this tree
already had reached a considerable growth as a young tree.  It is now well over 
a hundred years old.  Although showing signs of age, it also shows promise 
of many more years of life, barring damage by storms.

"Neely" Lowe's grandfather, Henry Lowe, migrated to Paint Township with his brother,
Adam Lowe, in 1816, locating in the next tier of sections north, Henry on the 
northwest quarter of section 34, and Adam on the northeast quarter of section 33.

Before they came to Paint Township, they came into Coshocton County with a group
of migrating pioneers, including the Conrads who entered a large acreage in Mill
Creek Township, and Mechanic Township in Holmes County.  Henry and Adam Lowe 
continued across Holmes County to Paint Township, while their brother, Conrad Lowe,
who also migrated here with the group from Westmoreland County, Pa., chose his 
future home just south of Doughty Creek, on the southeast quarter of section 18,
next east of the Conrads - John Jacob Conrad, his brother-in-law.

Of more than passing interest to the writer, is the fact that my wife 
was a great-granddaughter of Conrad Lowe.

When Adam and Henry Lowe came to Paint Tonwship the area still was quite primitive.
Wild animals still roamed through the forest, and occasional Indian parties still
came by on hunting trips.  Henry Lowe brought two hogs from Westmoreland County.
A bear killed one and had a feast of Pennsylvania pork.