Timothy C. Bigelow	Timothy L. Bigelow

The day of  the Percheron work-horse is long past, the John Deere tractor having superseded the quadrupled except in those advertisements featuring Clydesdales and Percherons pulling the brewery wagons. Yet it's been only fifty or sixty years since the county agricultural fair always had popular pulling contests in which the big draft horses competed.

Much of the popularity of the Percheron horse in midwest America was due to Timothy C. Bigelow of Plain City and Camp Chase, Ohio.
15923.7B   Timothy ⁷  BIGELOW, son of Israel ⁶ ( Isaac ⁵, Isaac ⁴, Isaac ³,  Samuel ², John¹) Bigelow and Hannah (KATHAN) BIGELOW, was born 1 Mar 1819 in Lancaster county, PA. The family moved to Plain City, Madison county, OH about 1828. Timothy was one of fifteen children, and struck out on his own when quite young. He married, on 22 Mar 1838, Hannah Marshall of adjoining Clark county. She was born in Clark co, OH on 07 Mar 1819. They settled at Camp Chase, and Timothy became known as a farmer/rancher and horse breeder. Some years later he became interested in the Percheron type workhorse, and formed a business with Dr. Marcus Brown of Circleville. They bought and sold horses under tie name of Brown, Bigelow, & Co. Timothy died at Camp Chase 10 June 1876.

In 1851 Brown purchased in France a two year old named Normandie, and renamed him Pleasant Valley Bill. The popularity of the breed soon spread through Ohio, and in 1867 there were three Ohio firms all engaged in the business of importing Percherons. Bigelow was known as the leading team owner and one of the foremost horsemen of his time.

In 1866, at the World's Fair in Rouen, France, Napoleon #325 was awarded the first premium of his breed. He was a dapple-gray, weighing 1,640 pounds, and achieved his rank in competition with some 500 other stallions. The owner considered the beast as already sold to the imperial stable (as was the custom) and would put no price on him. Brown & Bigelow, however, through the influence of a court member --- most likely American minister John Bigelow --- secured a personal audience with Emperor Napoleon III. From the latter Bigelow obtained an order for the sale of the horse, paying an undisclosed high price.

Along with Napoleon #325, Brown and Bigelow obtained two other Percheron stallions, Black Robert and Duke of France. The three horses formed the nucleus of Bigelow's breeding stock, and the stallions were in constant demand. A history of the breed comments that it is ironic that one of the three (which one is not specified) later attacked Timothy C. Bigelow, and caused fatal injuries. Timothy died at Camp Chase 10 June 1876. His picture is shown at the upper left of the Forge cover.

Timothy and Hannah (Marshall) Bigelow had a large family, though several children died young:

Sources:
Bigelow Society Genealogy Vol. II Page 141 / 420.
Bigelow Society historian/genealogist records.
Page 24 April 1986 FORGE: The Bigelow society Quarterly Vol. 15, No. 2
Don's article from Forge: http://bigelow.simplenet.com/TBHorses.html
Don Bigelow scanned page and note below to Don:
 I enjoyed, particularly, your histories of Col. Timothy ⁴ Bigelow and Timothy C.⁷ Bigelow, for separate reasons.
 (1) Col. Bigelow, serving with Benedict Arnold's army in Maine, may have been stationed at the home of relatives on my
 maternal (Emery) side, Jonathan (4) Emery, Fairfield, Maine, who lived on the west side of the Kennebec River. In 1775,
 when Arnold was making his famous expedition into Canada, he made his headquarters at J. Emery's home while his boats
 and baggage were being transported over the carrying place to avoid the rapids of the Kennebec River. Jonathan's son,
 David (5) Emery, enlisted with Arnold's Army to Dead River, but later went on to become a bodyguard for Gen. George
 Washington. As for Timothy C. Bigelow, a portion of his history may fit in with my research on the paternal side of my family
 (Martin). Our history (which is severely lacking on the English side of the ocean), states that Philip and his son, Philip R.,
 Martin, were responsible for bringing the Percheron "Louis Napoleon" to America in 1851 (we'd been told 1859, but have
 since read differently). Am curious if your "Napoleon #325" is our "Louis Napoleon," as ours arrived the same time as
 another Percheron, "Normandy(ie)." (Sp. from http://www.percheronhorse.org/history.htm) If this is a definite match, your
 information will prove invaluable to me in writing up our family history. After all, "Louis Napoleon" has become almost like a
 member of the family after all these years! Thank you for your in-depth family history. It was great reading!
 Janis Martin Hansen  email   frogtown@fm-net.com

bigelow@slic.com Rod Bigelow at SLIC