Ever wonder who Lorenzo Dow was?
How many times have you seen this name used with the surnames of your
ancestors?
Hope to tell you briefly about the original LORENZO DOW

Ever wonder who invented the "Camp Meetings" that were so popular
across the Southern States (Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama,
Georgia, Mississippi and Arkansas) in the 1800s??

Many, many times I ran across the name LORENZO DOW
as the first and second given names of so many men.
(Lorenzo Dow Hefley, Lorenzo Dow JONES,Lorenzo Dow Dunlap, and so on.
Had to find out who this man was so did a little research on his life.

He was the "inventor" of the Camp Meetings.
LORENZO DOW was born in 1777 in Coventry, Connecticut, fifth of sixth
children of Humphrey Dean and Tabitha Parker Dow.
His parents were natives of Coventry and brought their children up
strictly, educating them in religion and common learning.

In 1794 Lorenzo Dow began preaching, riding everywhere on horseback
and in 1796 he was accepted into the Methodist ministry, only to be
suspended after three months.

He began preaching independently, very poor and generally ill,
traveling as much as 150 miles in one week.
In 1798 he was readmitted to Methodist status.
He set out to carry his gospel to Ireland.
After 18 months there he returned to New York.
Almost immediately he left for Georgia by sea.
He returned to New York and in 1802 turned southward, this time
traveling overland, preaching threats of hell and paradise.
People flocked to hear him preach.
Churches could not hold the crowds. So open-air brush arbors and
tents were set up.
He preached from the top of knolls to people spread out in camps
below.
Camp meetin's became a popular place for people to gather for several
days and even a week. People came from miles around.
Women brought food. Children played games.
People heard the tale of "hell and damnation".

Lorenzo visited the Indians and delivered the first Protestant sermon
in Alabama.
While preaching in Charleston, South Carolina he was convicted of
libel.
Turning northward he preached in the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia.

This is where a great many women named their sons after this man....
there were said to be thousands named for him.

In 1804 he married Peggy Holcomb in Westernville, New York.
They entered into the agreement that she would not hinder him in his
roaming.
He left the day after the wedding and went southward into Mississippi,
preaching constantly, keeping a diary of dreams and of actual happenings.
He went to the Carolinas taking his wife with him.
They then went to England and there his wife Peggy had a baby girl
Letitia who died young.

They returned to America and toured the country.
He was long haired, wearing a leather jacket and called himself a
"Cosmopolite."
He was rich in both money and in the gift of prophecy.

He went again to England in 1818.
He returned to America and in 1820 his wife died.

He married a second time to Lucy Dolbeare.
From then on he wrote more and preached less. He issued pamphlets and
constantly revised his journals.

Living on his farm in Connecticut, he collected affidavits about his
own good character, mixed medicines and ranted and raved against
Whigs, Catholics anti-Masons and finally against Methodist teachings.

He died in 1834 in Georgetown, Maryland, the "INVENTOR OF THE CAMP
MEETING."

So the next time you are doing genealogy research and run across the
name LORENZO DOW tacked onto a surname,
you will know where the name came from.