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Portrait of Governor Frederick Low

Frederick Low

9th Governor, Unionist
(1863-1867)

- Short Biography
- Administration
- Personal information
- This Time in California

 

Biography*
Frederick Low, born in Maine in 1828, worked in a mercantile house and educated himself by attending lectures at the Lowell Institute and Fanueil Hall in Boston. Gold lured him to California, where in a few short months (later described as the best time of his life) he unearthed $1,500 in gold enough to set up a business in San Francisco. He prospered there as well, eventually co-owning the California Steam Navigation Company (a large river navigation company). A Unionist republican, he served in Congress and as Collector for the Port of San Francisco. As Governor, he encouraged a state university, and some consider him the founder of the University of California. Looking back on his term of office, Low once said, "There's not much chance to display one's ability in the governor's office of this state, even if you be brilliant."

Administration under Governor Frederick Low

- Inaugural Address - December 10, 1863

The Life of Governor Frederick Low

Born
January 30, 1828
Frankfort, Maine

Died
July 21, 1894
San Francisco, California

Family
First Lady: Mollie Creed

This Time in California, The Nation, The World
1863 1864 1865 1866 1867
  State parks system created

First U.S. salmon cannery opened at Washington, California

 

Southern Pacific Railroad company established

 

   
Construction begun on first transcontinental railroad

 

       
      Alfred Nobel invents dynamite.

 

 


* All Biographies excerpted fromThe Governors of California and their Portraits (see credits)
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