[2] Stow was born at Hadleigh, Suffolk, England, and began preaching at 17 years of age; he later studied for the Congregational ministry at the missionary college, Gosport under David Bogue.
[3] She was a daughter of William Eppes of Bristol and his wife Elizabeth, née Randolph, descendant of an old Virginia family.
[2] Stow began holding services in a marquee but shortly afterwards, partly with his own hands, built the first church in South Australia.
[4] In February 1862, hoping that a change of climate might be good for him, Stow went to Sydney to supply the pulpit in the Pitt Street Congregational church, and in March became so ill that he could not be taken back to Adelaide.
He was married in England and brought his wife Elizabeth Randolph Stow, née Eppes, (c. 1797 in Newfoundland – 8 July 1867), who survived him, and four sons with him: