Biographical Note

Nathan Loomis Look (born March 19, 1819 near Utica, New York), was the son of Samuel and Mary "Polly" Loomis Look. Also descended from an early Massachusetts family, Look had moved to Prince William County, Virginia, in 1847. He married Sarah A. B. Lincoln in 1848. Following their marriage, the Looks lived in Virginia's Loudoun (1848-1850), Botetourt (1850-1853), and Montgomery (1854-1855) counties, before finally settling in Rich Valley, Smyth County in 1856.

In Smyth County, Nathan Look, together with his brother-in-law Charles F. Lincoln, initially engaged in agriculture; in 1859, they moved to Marion, where they established the firm of Look & Lincoln and engaged in the manufacture of plows. After the Civil War, the firm added a plow handle factory, and in 1880, Look & Lincoln expanded to the manufacture of wagons and buggies.

Sarah A. B. Lincoln Look died September 16, 1857. The Looks had only child, Sarah Isabel Look (who would marry Smelt Winston Dickinson), who had survived to adulthood. Following her mother's death, Sarah and her sister Laura lived in Wyoming, New York with their paternal grandparents. They remained their through the Civil War. During this time, their father married a second time, to Columbia Thomas.

Nathan Look died on May 2, 1907.After his death, the heirs of Charles F. Lincoln, who had died in 1891, acquired ownership of Look & Lincoln. The company continued to operate successfully for several decades and eventually expanded into the lumber business and the manufacturing of furniture.

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