Meritt Harmon 8 Bigelow page 2
From Forge: The Bigelow Society
Quarterly Vol. 16, No. 4; January 1988 Page 70 Part I.
Meritt Harmon 8 Bigelow, Teacher
A two-part article on Epaphroditus'
grandson, by his daughters Dorothy and Marion
Our father, Merritt
Harmon 8 Bigelow was born 17 Dec 1864 at No.
6, Rush (Monroe or Livingston county), NY. His father
was Harvey Bigelow and his mother Maria Van Buskirk
of Henrietta, NY. Harvey was a wheelwright, superintendent
of the Sunday School, and a deacon of the First presbyterian
church in East Avon, NY. Dad was the youngest in the
family, having two sisters, Lydia Jane
and Sarah Ingham, and a brother Charles
H. Bigelow. He was interested
in books and did well in school, but his father did not approve of
his desire to become a school teacher, so he had to earn
the money to go to Geneseo Normal School himself.
He often told of weeding beans for neighboring farmers, at the rate
of five cents an hour.
Dad left a complete record of
his teaching career. 1886 to 1888 he taught in rural schools,
in 1889 he sold books, then the following year taught the school at No,.
6, Rush, his home area. From 1890 to 1892 he
lived with his Uncle Revilo and went to
Geneseo Normal School to earn a teaching certificate.
His next job was in Austin, PA, and in June 1894 he
and our mother Mary Gertrude Bristol (born 24 Apr 1867, died 30
Nov 1944) were married. They lived a
year in Austin, then in the fall of 1895 they moved to Ontario, NY, where
Dad was Principal of the school and also did some teaching.
Five years later they
moved to Malone, NY where he headed the commercial Department
in the Franklin Academy. Their first daughter, Dorothy
Bristol, was born here 8 Sept 1901. The winters in Malone
were very severe and Dad was anxious to get into a larger town and high
school. In the fall of 1903 he received a contract
to head the commercial department in the Utica Free
Academy in Utica, NY. They spent five happy years in Utica. Another
daughter, Marion Emily, was born 15 Dec 1904. Dorothy started kindergarten
here.
In the fall of 1908 the family moved
to Atlantic City, NJ--a delightful beach resort in those days, where our
father headed the commercial department until his death 16 May
1927. In 1910 when they received an invitation to
attend the centennial celebration of the First Presbyterian
Church of Avon, NY, Dad sent a letter regretting they could not
attend, but reminiscing about some of the things that happened
in the past.
We quote: "...I
remember my father Harvey Bigelow telling me how his father Epaphroditus
and mother used to ride both on the one horse to church at
Lakeville taking a small [soap?]stone along to keep
their feet warm, while the boys came along afoot, and
all attended an hour at least at both services and listened to the preacher
expound the truth for both the forenoon and afternoon services.
A sermon was not considered worth much unless at least
an hour in length. An organ in the church at
this time would have quite shocked the morals of the congregation.
The observance of the Sabbath was very strict in those days
and most of those who organized the old brick church
were brought up under this rigid discipline. 'The
influence of this strict training was strongly manifest in the character
of those first associated with the church. I
recall when young being corrected for whistling on
the Sabbath, even a church hymn. On one day I found some beautiful cards
with hearts and diamonds on them, the first I had ever seen, and with
much happiness I rushed home with my treasure to receive
a moral lesson on the "evil which would result in
associating with these manufactures of the devil". The
devil and myself soon came to grief, for the flames soon extinguished the
gambling qualities of those pieces of pasteboard.
In Sunday School there
were four of us about the same age, Arthur Tainter, Orrie
West, Louis Bristol, and myself. Had we ever caught all the fish
we planned to catch during that hour there would be
no occasion for the present high price of meat.
So disgusted did our teacher become with us that he left us
for two or three Sundays that we might reflect and be ashamed of our inattention.
The lesson was a good one, and our attitude for the reception of the
truth was better in the future. The
first singing school I attended at the church was under the direction of
Miss Parmelle. I preferred to stay at home, but after
much moral suasion, I was induced to go. At
the first meeting I was about the only lean, lank, awkward, bashful boy
among a bunch of girls. I question whether Kansas could produce
a crowd that could run around the church quicker, jump a fence cleaner,
or climb a tree easier than that...aggregation of Tainters,
Beckwiths, and Bristols. I preferred to stay
at home and go hunting chipmunks with my bow and arrow,
but Father preferred me to sing. So I sang.
When I was quite small
I sat in the gallery that my father, brother, or sister might
take care of me. Then it was worth peeking a little to see Mr. Newman
come in, silk hat, kid gloves, cane, clothes of the best
in the latest style, a model in neatness for any congregation.
A little while later I used to help furnish wind for the
organ. Arthur Tainter did the pumping while
I watched the lead to see how much steam was on. After finishing
[the opening hymns] we were too exhausted to listen to the sermon and
often retired to the rear of the organ to rest.
A great occasion in
the life of the church was the Sunday School picnic at Jerry Bolles'.
The East Avon Band went to the first such picnic I attended and what
a wonder it was--nothing could surpass it! The red
coats and gold trimmings, blue trousers with a white
stripe down the sides Mr. ____ played the big bass drum,
Leonard Bryan the cymbals, Mr. Wilburn a big horn, and Mr. Wiard the E
flat horn. There were fourteen band members
in all. What an occasion for a lad of seven or nine years from No.
6 Rush!
An amusing incident
happened when Mr. Arner and my father came to Avon to attend a
preparatory lecture. The horses had been so accustomed to turning
down to the store that if they were allowed to go
they would make haste for the store and not be guided
to West village. On this occasion, as both were going to the
church, the horses were not allowed to turn to the store,
but as Mr. Arner and my father both drove with a slack
rein, the horses took the bit and both headed for
the store each trying to get there first. Several of their good Republican
friends were out in front of the store and were amused by
the spectacle. Mr. Henry Wiard said, "You beat
him by half a length, Bigelow." Mr. Palmer walked out
slowly and said, "Well, well, the Deacons out horse racing." Much was the
merriment of the Saturday afternoon group."
* * * * *
Written by Mrs. Thaddeus E. (Dorothy
Bigelow) Baer, and Miss Marion Ba Bigelow, of Fresno, CA, who also
supplied the photos.
from Forge; The Bigelow Society Quarterly;
Vol 16, No 4; pg 70; October 1987 Part I;
continued Forge; The Bigelow Society Quarterly;
Vol 17, No 1; pg 5; January 1988 Part
II, conclusion
Rod Bigelow
8 Prospect Circle
Massena, N.Y. 13662
bigelow@slic.com
Rod Bigelow at SLIC 
Bigelow
Society
BACK
TO BIGELOW HOME PAGE
