Bigelow, Abraham (6) = abe655c3.htm

1555C.31t (Louisa Angeline?), Amelia Louisa, b ca 1832 NY; d 06 Jan 1864; m Joseph Edwin de Haven. 3 daughters. (see below)

1555C.32 George Abraham, b ca 1837 France; d 28 Mar 1872 Chicago, Cook co, IL; unmarried. He built the luxury hotel Bigelow House in Chicago, which was totaly burned in the great fire on 1871 on the eve of its opening, and which site was later the location of the Chicago Post Office. George's estate was inherited by his mother and three nieces, but his mother died the year following George, and the estate was unsettled for many years.

Sources:
Bigelow Society,The Bigelow Family Genealogy, Vol I, pg 255;
Howe, Bigelow Family of America;
National Archives, U.S. Navy Records;
1850 census Chicago;
cemetery records Chicago;
probate records George Bigelow estate;
article, The Hotel That Never Was, unidentified magazine article dated 1964.

New Note:
Subject: Louisa de Haven
Date: 09 Sept 2004
From: Jim Conway < Conway@ci.monterey.ca.us >
Mr. Bigelow,

In 1941 when Louisa de Haven died she willed to the City of Monterey her art collection. After 18 years of legal wrangling, which you are
familiar with, the City acquired the art through a third party. Over the years the collection has become an important collection because of the
California Artist she had collected. While researching more about Louisa I found your web site which is most interesting. What an important
family in American History.
Although I have read the will, and much of the probate, along with the 1920 Readmission hearing before the House's Committee on Immigration
there is much I don't know. It makes me more interested in how she came to Monterey. It has the makingsof a great study and journal article.

Hello Rod,
My name is Atlee BIGELOW CALDWELL. I was looking at your information about Commodore Abraham (6) BIGELOW (my g-g-g-grandfather) and wanted to comment and also give you some information from my files. Also, I'd be interested to review the information behind the links to Abraham (4), Thomas (3), Samuel (2), and John (1) and Louisa Angeline, but the links didn't work.

--> Under 1555C.31t, you show "Louisa Angeline" as a child of Abraham and Louisa GALLAGHER BIGELOW (b. St. Malo, Brittany, France 1800) and the wife of Joseph Edwin de HAVEN (my g-g-grandfather). My records indicate that Abraham and Louisa had 2 children: George Abraham and Amelia Louisa. And Joseph Edwin's wife was definitely Amelia Louisa Bigelow. Was Louisa Angeline a third child of Abraham and Hepsibeth? Or maybe "Angeline"

Abraham BIGELOW was appointed Midshipman in the U.S. Navy on December 1, 1812 and was posted to the Frigate PRESIDENT on February 5, 1813. Thereafter his various duty stations and commands were:
1815 - Brig SPARK
1818-1820 - On furlough
1821-1824 - Sloop of War ONTARIO
1825 - Rendezvous, New York (a term commonly used to designate the port or place where the several ships of a

fleet are appointed to join company)
1826 - Leave of Absence
1827-1828 - MACEDONIAN
1829-1832 - Leave of Absence
1833 - Frigate CONSTELLATION
1834-1837 - Leave of Absence
1838-1839 - Waiting Orders
1840-1842 - Commanding Schooner SHARK
1843 - Commanding Sloop FAIRFIELD
1844 - Leave of Absence
1845-1846 - Waiting Orders
1847 - Commanding Receiving Ship, New York
1848 - Commanding Steamer SCORPION *
1849-1851 - Waiting Orders
1852-1853 - Commanding Steamer MICHIGAN

* During the Mexican War (1846-48) the SCORPION was one of a flotilla under the command of Captain Matthew PERRY. While in temporary command of the flotilla during Capt. PERRY's absence, Capt. BIGELOW succeeded in subduing the native insurgents of the state of Tabasco.

Abraham BIGELOW was a Commodore in the U.S. Navy and the Commandant of the Brooklyn Naval Yard. He is buried at Rose Hill, Chicago (Evanston?), Illinois.
***********************************************************************************r
In 1833, Abraham BIGELOW married Louisa GALLAGHER, daughter of Andre GALLAGHER and Aimee AUTIER of St. Malo, Brittany. According to one authority, Aimee was born January 20, 1767 (Plebouille 22, Brittany). She was the daughter of Jean AUTIER and Toussainte REUXEL. Aimee AUTIER and Andre GALLAGHER were married in Philadelphia on November 13, 1795. Another source states that they were married in St. Malo on November 3, 1794. Andre Gallagher was the son of Andrew (Andre) GALLAGHER, a Philadelphia merchant, and Aimee DOEL.

Abraham and Louisa Bigelow had two children, George Abraham and Amelia Louisa. George entered the Navy after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1854. He died at a relatively young age from natural causes. Amelia Louisa married Joseph Edwin de HAVEN, also of the Navy, and died shortly after (January 6, 1864) the birth of their third child. The three children of this marriage were:

Abraham Bigelow died March 4, 1861. The three granddaughters were raised by their grandmother, Louisa GALLAGHER BIGELOW, when their father, Captain Joseph de HAVEN, remarried and settled in Geneva, Switzerland. They received their early education at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City. Josephine Amelia later attended the Conservatoire de Musique in Geneva. In 1874, at age 17, and the year after the death of Louisa Gallagher Bigelow, Josephine married Towson CALDWELL of Virginia at The Little Church Around the Corner in New York City. Augusta Louisa married Baron Eberhard von ALTEN of Hannover, Germany, and Sarah Elisabeth married Baron Hans von CAMPE also of Hannover. Upon the death of their grandmother, the three granddaughters became heirs to a sizeable estate, the capital and principal source of income deriving from the western property acquired by Abraham BIGELOW during the pioneer years of the State of Illinois.

I shall attempt to summarize the history of a family during a period spanning over one hundred fifty years, commencing shortly after the founding of the Republic. It begins with one of the early settlers, a patriot with an urge to pioneer, and like many others of his time, with little or no backing. Such a man was Abraham BIGELOW Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts of colonial stock in 1794, he was the eldest of four children born to Abraham and Hepsibah JONES. Abraham, the father, was educated at Harvard and followed the legal profession in Cambridge. I know nothing of young Abraham's early years or education until he was appointed Midshipman in 1812 and posted to the frigate PRESIDENT. His subsequent naval service was spent mostly at sea and, in due course, in command of ships of the line. He saw service in the Mexican War (1846-48) under Captain Mathew Perry and eventually attained the rank of Commodore (the highest in the service at that time) prior to his retirement in 1857 as Commandant, U.S. Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York.

While serving on the U.S.S. CONSTELLATION with the Mediterranean Fleet in 1832, he met and married Louisa GALLAGHER of St. Malo, Brittany, France. Prior to the introduction of the Code Napoleon in the early nineteenth century, the Province of Brittany remained separate in language and customs from the French nation. Through common language and geographical proximity, commerce with Ireland had long been active with resulting intermarriages. Thus, Louisa's Irish surname. She was the issue of Andre GALLAGHERand Aimee AUTIER of St. Malo and was born in 1800.

During the early years of our Navy, officers were frequently put on half pay and granted leave of absence pending availability of billets for reassignment. It was during one of these in 1833, with a wife and coming family to support, that Lieutenant BIGELOW decided to prospect for land in the newly-opened Illinois Territory, from which Indians had been expelled and the Territory opened for white settlement. A general Land Office was established as a Bureau of the Treasury Department to facilitate development of western land. Through Acts of Congress, liberal policies were promulgated to attract speculators and investors.

Afforded this opportunity, BIGELOW set forth on the boat from New York to Albany, where he transferred to a barge on the Erie Canal, arriving some days later in Buffalo. While awaiting arrival of the laker "Walk-in-the-Water", he put up at the Iroquois Hotel, where the furniture was removed from his room, enabling him to pace the quarterdeck. Eventually, he arrived at Fort Dearborn and what would soon become the settlement of Chicago, at this time, a sordid outpost, thick with dust in summer and a mud hole in winter when not deep in snow. In "The Oregon Trail", Francis PARKMAN states that it harbored "some of the vilest outcasts in the country".

During the course of this and subsequent visits, BIGELOW acquired substantial land holdings or parts of sections (one section equaling 640 acres) in an area that would someday become "The Loop" as well as in outlying areas of present day suburban Chicago. Even at the then minimal going rates, he was obliged to borrow from Eastern banks and exchange brokers.

In the meantime, his wife, Louisa, was settled in a house at 31 West 45th Street, New York, which was, as far as I know, their only permanent home aside from the temporary dwelling of the Commandant at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. There were two children of this marriage, George [Abraham] and Amelia [Louisa]. Through the offices of the Honorable Stephen A. DOUGLAS, a friend of BIGELOW's, George was appointed to the newly-founded Naval Academy and graduated with the class of 1852. Amelia married Joseph Edwin de HAVEN, a junior naval officer under the command of Captain Bigelow.

Joseph deHaven was descended from Evert in den HOEVEN of Mulheim-on-the- Rhine and a third generation descendent of Peter de HAVEN of Germantown, Pennsylvania, who equipped Washington's army with footgear during the harsh winter of Valley Forge. He was born in 1828 and died in 1879.

The de Havens had three daughters, Josephine Amelia in 1857, Augusta Louisa (hereinafter referred to as "Gussie") in 1861, and Sarah Elizabeth (hereinafter referred to as "Nina") in 1863. Amelia deHaven died in childbirth with Nina, and the three children were placed in the care of the grandmother, Louisa BIGELOW.

Louisa BIGELOW seems not to have readily adjusted to her adopted country, and though of a warm disposition, made few friends, among whom were the SHATTUCKs and SALTONSTALLs of Boston (connections of her husband), a Mrs. WHARTON of Philadelphia, and Major and Mrs. CALDWELLof Virginia. At his death in 1861, Commodore BIGELOW left in its entirety a sizeable estate to his widow, upon whom this unaccustomed responsibility plus the care of her three young granddaughters, weighed heavily.

The Chicago properties were apparently ably administered by trusted agents of the Commodore's, who saw to building construction, leasing, and collection of rental fees. For a time, Mrs. BIGELOW set up housekeeping arrangements with her son-in-law, [Capt. de HAVEN by now resigned from the Navy, and who would soon remarry [Augusta Wilhelmine BORCK] and settle in Geneva, Switzerland. Louisa BIGELOW was Catholic, and when of age, the de HAVEN girls were enrolled at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New York City.

Josephine, the eldest, showed musical talent in her younger years and played the organ during mass at the Sacred Heart. In time, Louisa took her granddaughters to Geneva to visit their father, placing Josephine in the Conservatoire de Musique and the two younger girls in school to finish their education. Josephine excelled at the piano and, upon completing her studies, received first prize, a piano with her name in mother-of-pearl above the keyboard. It was during (or shortly after) their schooling in Geneva that Gussie and Nina met their future husbands.

Josephine was the first to be married, to her childhood friend, Towson CALDWELL, in 1874 at the Little Church Around the Corner in New York City. Gussie and Nina married into the German nobility, Gussie to Eberhard, Baron von ALTEN in 1882, and Nina in 1884 to Hans,Baron von CAMPE.

Louisa BIGELOW died in Geneva in 1873 leaving a will which was probated in the Court of Cook County, Illinois (Chicago), and which, while curious and perhaps clear enough to the layman, nonetheless contained ambiguities and loopholes to attorneys, courts and future generations. Not only did the wording and provisions of the will result in over ninety years of litigation and lasting family enmity, but it also caused the recurring, nagging, and bothersome question as to "what were the intentions of Mrs. BIGELOW?" It seems clear enough that her overriding concern was for the welfare of her granddaughters. Her considerable estate, both real and personal, was left in trust to the granddaughters, and the income therefrom for life until the death of all three, after which the principal to be divided among their heirs. It would appear that she harbored a distrust of men in general when in the will she states that "her property, real and personal, shall remain intact, free from the husbands or husband of any or either of my said grandchildren". Perhaps therein Louisa was insightful for, in the future, the deHavens were to be easy prey to fortune hunters and adventurers.

The will empowers the Trustee to dispose of any real estate which it deems advisable "for the support or maintenance of my said grandchildren". Gussie and Nina consistently opposed the selling of property, a very European outlook which Josephine did not share, causing conflict between the sisters and embarassment to the Trustee. This resulted in at least three petitions to the Chancery Court to interpret the will. An unfortunate provision stated that her sizeable bequest of jewelry and silver "be used" by Josephine for a period of ten years, then to Gussie for a like period, and finally to Nina for life, an unhappy arrangement which poisoned the relationship between the sisters.

There is little or no record of Towson CALDWELL other than that he was the son of Major William Mackey (Mackay) and Frances TOWSON CALDWELL of Virginia. He followed no known occupation, and during their short marriage, they spent their winters in Washington, DC and summers in Portsmouth, Rhode Island at Redwood Farm. The marriage lasted some twelve years, after which, having run through Josephine's dowery and fathered six children, he vanished, leaving no trace.

Josephine moved to England with her children, where she made her home for the next fourteen years or so, finally at Maes-y-Neuadd in Merionethshire, North Wales. Here she married Arthur BYRDE, tutor to her children, neither a popular nor sympathetic person. At his urging, they all returned to the U.S. in 1897 and settled for a time in Grosse Point Farms near Detroit to be near the automotive industry, which was thought might provide gainful employment for BYRDE. After twenty unhappy years with BYRDE and facing bankruptcy, Josephine fled to Germany in 1913 to be with her sister, Nina, and to escape further depredations.

Josephine's adult life was an odyssey of continuously moving from place to place in search of peace and security. She had long since ceased to observe the Catholic faith and before her death had become interested in the Hindu religion and was planning a pilgrimage to India when her death intervened. She died at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City on the day that the harbor naval batteries were saluting the death of Theodore ROOSEVELT. In her delirium, she thought her death was being saluted as she had been at birth as the firstborn grandchild of the Commandant, Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Gussie's marriage to Baron Eberhard von ALTEN fared no better, though he was the injured party in this case. Gussie was overbearingly self-willed, determined at all costs to have her own way. The von Altens were a prestigious and proud family, and Eberhard was a faithful, adoring husband and devoted father. Born in 1859 in Wohlan-Schlesien, he was descended from Count Charles von ALTEN, an infantry general and a hero of Waterloo. Eberhard was a career army officer, becoming Rittmeister in the Kaiser's exclusive Kurassier Regiment.

Early in their marriage, Eberhard was posted to the Court of Saxe Weimar as Aide-de-Campe to the Grand Duke Charles. On Gussie's income, they live conspicuously well, if not ostentatiously, in the small provincial court. She carried on an affair with the Grand Duke Charles, and in time the scandal became such that Eberhard was recalled and billeted to remote Silesia. Refusing to share his fall from grace, Gussie did not accompany him and finally divorced him on trumped up grounds of his misconduct. She became hostile to their children when they, not surprisingly, sided with their father. The proceedings had to be dropped as no legal action against officers in the Kaiser's service was permitted. Thereupon, Josephine renounced all marital and maternal ties and became a familiar figure in the fashionable continental spas and resorts of the period immediately preceding World War I.

The von Hardenberg family had been prominent in the cultural and political life of Prussia since the eighteenth century. The most eminent of them was Karl August, who was instrumental in maintaining Prussian neutrality during the Napoleonic Wars and represented Prussia at the Congress of Vienna. In recognition of his services, the Austrian Emperor granted him land holdings in Hungary, which were handed down to his heirs. Through Gussie's marriage to Eberhard, she was well acquainted with the von Hardenberg family. Her daughter, Adelheit {"Ada"} Augusta Nina Edwina von HARDENBERG, married Count Rudolf Hermann Franz von HARDENBERG , and her niece, Alice Klara Hedwig Marie von CAMPE (Nina's daughter) married a brother of Count Rudolf, Count Hans von HARDENBERG. Gussie now formed an attachment to a cousin of Count Rudolf's cousin, Karl August, whom she joined on his estates in Hungary prior to the outbreak of the 1914 War.

Gussie remained there with von Hardenberg until 1919, when she was caught in Budapest during the riots and revolution surrounding Bela KUHN. Following a harrowing escape (see New York Times 2/9/1921), she reached the United States to plead for return of her citizenship before the House Committee of Congress in Immigration and Naturalization. Her plea was granted. She then succeeded in divorcing Eberhard. But when she insisted that her children "forswear paternal allegiance and become good Americans", they refused, remaining loyal to their father, and she therefore repudiated them.

Nina's marriage, while outwardly settled and conventional, was nonetheless unhappy and strained. Their estrangement arose in part over the upbringing of the children. Compared to her sisters, she was practical, down-to-earth, and matriarchal with a tall commanding presence. At the turn of the century (1900), she built a large schloss at Wilkenburg near Hannover, which, together with her children, became the center of her life. Her husband, Hans, was a doctor, specializing in pulmonary ailments, and was the attending physician to the Kaiser. He also headed a sanatarium in Cairo, where he and Nina often spent their winters. In 1912, possibly foreseeing the coming war, she came to the U.S. and waited out the necessary time to regain her citizenship status. [NB: Prior to 1922 and passage of the Cable Act, American women marrying foreign nationals automatically forfeited their U.S. citizenship.]

Upon her return to the U.S., Gussie settled in Monterey, California and never returned to Germany, insisting that she had no children. In California she became interested in Unity, a popular religious cult at that time, and through which she met a mysterious and predatory Dr. Eugene ORME (see below). He was presumably younger, and she eventually adopted him as her son. She then made a will leaving him her entire one-third share in the Bigelow Trust.

After Gussie's death in 1941, Dr. ORME filed his claim with the Trustee, The Northern Trust Company of Chicago. This was set aside because the Trust was still in effect until the death of the last of the three sisters, which did not occur until 1951. Therefore, Gussie had nothing to will in 1941. Following the death of the last sister, Dr. ORME renewed his claim, which was to be contested by Gussie's heirs for the next nine years. This litigation rested on "The Rule in SHELLEY's Case". This rule, handed down in a celebrated English case in the nineteenth century, states in brief that when a person transfers property to another whom we shall call "X", either by contract or will for life, and thereafter to "X's" heirs, the effect of the law is to give an entire interest in the property to "X" so that if s/he transfers it to another during his/her lifetime, the heirs have no claim, thereby superseding the declared intent of the original holder of the property. Counsel for the Trustee argued that the rule did not apply and was contrary to Louisa BIGELOW's intentions.

Though the CALDWELL/von CAMPE heirs were neither party to nor concerned with the ORME suit, the Trustee would make no distribution of the BIGELOW estate principal pending the outcome of the ORME suit, reasoning that any distribution would be subject to attendant costs of the litigation. The Office of Alien Property Custodians of the Department of Justice would not release frozen war assets pending the settlement of reparations. With this deadlock, all regular income from the Trust ceased. With Gussie's heirs in post-World War II Germany bombed out and nearing destitution, and some of the CALDWELL/von CAMPE heirs now past middle age and infirm, this deprivation was real. The non-interested parties to the Orme suit were obliged to retain counsel to press the Trustee to make partial distribution on humanitarian grounds, which succeeded in some measure.

In or about 1960, the ORME suit, having gone through two courts to the Illinois Supreme Court, was decided in favor of the Trustee, and the principal (or what remained of it) was distributed to the CALDWELL/von CAMPE heirs, and not the von ALTENs.

Being curious and concerned over this decision, I wrote to Mr. Roland TOWLE, attorney representing the von ALTEN interests. I quote his reply of 3-18-70: "The United States Supreme Court several years ago determined that the heirs of Louisa de HAVEN von ALTEN have no interest in the BIGELOW Trust."

What I have attempted to describe above I have only touched upon and is a mere tip of the iceberg, omitting any mention of litigation occurring between 1873 and 1941. I do not possess this information in any detail, though it exists in the records of the Court of Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) and the Department of Justice, Washington, DC. The heirs of Baroness von ALTEN and Baroness von CAMPE survive today in Germany and Austria and have considerable pertinent documentation.

With final distribution of principal to the CALDWELL beneficiaries in 1960, I received a letter from Mr. Arthur DIXON, attorney for the CALDWELL interests, from which I quote in part: "In closing, I believe someone with literary ability should write a historyof this estate, which has taken ninety years and several lawsuits to close only two thirds, with one third still in litigation." Lacking that literary ability myself, I leave this challenge to someone else.

a.) Last Will and Testament of Louisa G[allagher] Bigelow
b.) Bills and petitions of and to The Northern Trust Company, Chicago, Illinois
c.) Letters from Josephine deHaven Caldwell to Edwin deHaven Caldwell
d.) Personal paper of Abraham Bigelow
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Atlee Caldwell

New Note 2007:

Subject:	Dr. Eugene Orme
Date:	Tue, 06 June 2006 13:25:05 -0700 (PDT)
From:	Regan McCoy <rmmccoy@sbcglobal.net>

Hello Rod,

I am doing some research and unfortunately I seem to have run up against a bit of a "brick wall" in regards to a Dr. Eugene Orme. The only information I can find on the Internet regarding this Dr. is on your website.

The Dr. Eugene Orme I am looking for information on would have lived circa: 1886-1968...rough estimate. He was a Dr. in Monterey, CA and was friends with the artist Julian Greenwell.

Any information you can provide me with would be much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Regan McCoy Sorry, no further info available................................ROD

Commodore Abraham 6 BIGELOW

Commodore Abraham ⁶ BIGELOW