(james879.jpg) photo taken not long after return from Civil War
Children of James and Sarah (Cummins) Bigelow:
15923.7791 John Cummins, b __1868; d ___ ; m 18 Sep 1894; Annie Irvin; 9? children.
15923.7792 Ada Zillah, b 18 June 1870; d 22 Aug 1945 Jackson twp.,Huntingdon Co., PA, McAlevy's Fort; m 13 Oct 1892 Thomas Milton McCall. (Source Ada, the Douglass's, Euclid, OH. (Loring Bigelow addendum 18 July1997).
15923.7793 James, b ca 1869; not on 1900 census.
15923.7794 Eliphaz Edgar, b 18 Sept 1871; d 13 Mar 1941; m aft 1900 Sara Araminta Eckley. 1 child known (see below)
15923.7795 Mary R., b Jan 1872.
15923.779? Claudia, b __ 1873; d __ 1940; m 6 Apr 1897 Clarence A. Jackson.
15923.7796 William H., b Aug 1873.
15923.779? Charles William, b ____ ; d __ ; m __ Virginia Tweet.
15923.7797 James T., b Nov 1874.
15923.7798 Frank Milton, b 28 Mar 1879; d 5 Feb 1951 Long Island, NY; m 24 Jan 1904 Lucy Alice Clark.
Sources:
Bigelow Society,The Bigelow Family Genealogy Vol II, pg 417;
Howe, Bigelow Family of America;
headstone;
Photo at top from Bobbi Moist jeem@acsworld.com (and notes)
Loring Bigelow addendum 18 July1997;
1880, 1890 and 1900 censuses;
Biographical Encyclopedia of Juniata Valley, PA
Including counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry,
pub. by J. M. Runk, 1897.;
Shared material from descendants of Eliphaz (15923.77) and other family
members;
"The Valley and the Fort", booklet by Stone Valley Civic Group, 1978;
correspondence with descendants.
Descendant note:
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 01:30:44 EDT
From: TRISHAYWRD@aol.com
My grandmother, who is 90, is the only daughter of Frank Milton Speer Bigelow
who was the son of Dr. James Harvey Bigelow who was interred in Andersonville
Prison Camp during the Civil War. My Uncle recently did an interesting
paper about his civil war service and internment. Amazingly enough
he did survive. I had no idea there was a Bigelow family organization.
I'm tickled to find out there is and can't wait to tell my Grandmother.
Tricia Hayward
7303 Whernside Court
Lorton, VA 22079-1540.
In early manhood he became a blacksmith.
James was a Doctor. He enlisted at Belleville,
in Company C, Forty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers. Cols. Walsh and Curtin,
and Capt. Bigelow at Stormstown, Center County. James Bigelow was in the
battles of Fredericksburg, VA; Blue Spring, TN; Tennessee Station, The siege
ofknoxvill and the battle ofthe Wilderness. In the last engagement, he was
captured and taken to Andersonville, May 6, 1864. For seven months he was
in prison; treated cruelly, and suffering much; he lost more than 60 pounds
of weight during his imprisonment. He was discharged December 7, 1864, but
was on parole up to the time of Lee's surrender, after which he joined his
regiment in camp, but was in no more engagements. He was in the grand review
at Washington, and was discharged July l5, 1865.
Burial: Brick Pres Mc/deWs Fort
Sarah Bigelow Obituary
Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Tricia Hayward (mctrommer@aol.com)
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____________________________________________________________
Mrs. Sarah Bigelow
Mrs. Sarah Cummins Bigelow, wife of the late Dr. James H. Bigelow, a well
known physician of McAlevys Fort, Pa., died at the home of her daughter,
Mrs.
Thomas McCall, at that place, Saturday morning, August 23rd, 1919.
Mrs.
Bigelow had enjoyed reasonably good health during her declining years,
since
the death of her husband which occurred fifteen years ago, until one year
ago
last winter while staying with her son Eliphaz on the Beatty farm on East
Branch, when she had a very severe fall, from which she did not recover
for
several months. During the last several years Mrs. Bigelow had spent
considerable time visiting her children in various eastern cities, where
they
have been located. Her first visit from home was to visit her son
Charles,
while he was living in Baltimore in 1913, and from there to visit her
son,
Frank, in New York.
While at the home of her son Frank in New York, last January, she was
taken
with a stroke of paralysis which effected [sic] the use of her left arm
and
speech for a short time, and later losing the entire use of her limbs.
Since
that time she has been unable to walk and has been under the constant
care of
her daughter Claudia. Thinking that a change of climate might be
helpful to
their mother in her weakened condition her children decided to bring her
home. She made the trip, accompanied by her son, Frank, and her
daughter,
Claudia, on July 11. Mrs. Bigelow spent the first four weeks after
her
arrival at the old home, but the last two weeks before her death were
spent
with her daughter, Mrs. McCall.
Mrs. Bigelow was a daughter of the late John and Mary Smith Cummins.
Her
father was a prosperous farmer of Jackson township, who died August 25th,
1879. She was a niece of the late Colonel Davis Cummins, a Civil
War
veteran, and her grandfather, Charles Cummins, was one of the first settlers
in the valley, he being a native of the north of Ireland. Her grandmother
Smith’s name was McAlevy, who was a descendant of old General McAlevy,
the
founder of Stone Creek valley and McAlevys Fort, who made the trip
unaccompanied up the Juniata river in a small skiff from the eastern part
of
the state. Upon his arrival at the Junction of Stone Creek where
it empties
into the Juniata river near where the town of Huntingdon is now located,
he
decided to explore the small stream which was alter called Stone Creek.
He
continued his voyage in his skiff until he finally arrived at the point
where
he settled and later established a fortification as a defense to meet
the
attack from the Indians, from which the village derived its name.
This
occurred early in the sixteenth [sic] century and at that time he was
the
only civilized resident in this locality.
Mrs. Bigelow was a sister of the late Charles T. Cummins, Miss Ruth M.
Cummins and Mrs. Nancy Carey, all of whom preceded her to the spirit world.
She was also a sister of William Cummins, of Reedsville; Mrs. Maggie Bigelow,
of Belleville, and Mrs. J. C. Smith of McAlevys Fort. Mrs. Bigelow
was born
October 11th, 1844, in the little log house now used as a stable for the
tenant house across the road from the farm house on what is known as the
Long
Robert Cummin’s farm, on East Branch. Her father and mother later
moved to
the old homestead on the farm now owned by William Barr.
Mrs. Bigelow lived with her father on the farm until her marriage at the
age
of twenty-three. Her mother died when she was about twelve years
and her
father had three wives and raised a large family. Mrs. Bigelow was
united in
marriage to Dr. Bigelow at the old homestead on Oct. 24, 1867, by her
uncle
and pastor of the United Presbyterian church, the Rev. John M. Adair,
whose
wife, Ruth Cummins Adair, was a sister of Mrs. Bigelow’s father.
Dr. Bigelow
was born at Belleville, Mifflin county, September 28, 1844. He was
a son of
Dr. Eliphaz and Elizabeth Fife Bigelow. Dr. Israel Bigelow, his
grandfather,
was a native of Vermont. He settled in Blain [sic] City, Ohio, where
he
practiced medicine for the remainder of his life.
Dr. Jim, as he was known in the community, was at the time of his marriage
to
Mrs. Bigelow, studying medicine under his father, and Mrs. Bigelow spent
the
winter following their marriage with him in Philadelphia, while at College,
where he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in the spring of
1868.
After returning home they went to housekeeping and occupied part
of the log
house with his brother, Lewis, who was a blacksmith at the little furnace
near the old Samuel Mitchell farm. Dr. Bigelow assisted his father
until his
death the following October, when he moved into one end of the house on
the
old homestead and took up his father’s practice. He purchased the
home in
McAlevys Fort in the spring of 1869 where he and Mrs. Bigelow lived for
the
remainder of his life which covered a period of thirty-five years.
Mrs.
Bigelow kept the home after the Doctor’s death and had lived there for
fifty
years. To this union were born four sons and two daughters, as follows:
John Cummins Bigelow, who owns and resides with his wife, Mrs. Annie Irvin
Bigelow, and their family on the Penn Tenn farm in Spruce Creek valley;
Zillah Bigelow McCall, wife of Thomas M. McCall, who owns and resides
with
their family on the old McBomey farm just north of McAlevys Fort; Eliphaz
Edgar Bigelow, who owns and resides with his wife, Minite [sic] Eckley
Bigelow, and their family, on the old McBurney farm, just east of McAlevys
Fort; Claudia Bigelow Jackson, wife of Clarence E. Jackson, of Pittsburgh
(Mr. Jackson is an equipment foreman of the Western Union Telegraph Company);
Charles Walter Bigelow, who married Virginia Sndnor [sic] Thweatt, of
Baltimor
e, Md., resides in New York City, and has one son, Charles William Bigelow
(he is connected with the Western Union Telegraph Co. in the valuation
bureau
as supervising computer in charge of summarizing and pricing the equipment
inventory now being made by the Interstate Commerce Commission); Frank
Milton
Bigelow, who married Lucy Alice Clar, [sic] of Providence, R.I., has two
children, Irene Parsons Bigelow and Claude Illingworth Bigelow (he is
Division Equipment foreman for the Western Union Telegraph Co. in the
eastern
division with headquarters at New York City. She also had 29 grandchildren
and 1 great-grandchild.
All of her children were with her when she passed away except her son,
Frank,
who was on a business trip to Heartcontent, Newfoundland. He was
notified by
cablegram and left there Saturday morning, August 23, arriving in Huntingdon
on Thursday morning. The trip enroute covered a distance of eighteen
hundred
miles.
The funeral was held from her late home in McAlevys Fort on Thursday afternoon
August 28th, at 2:30, with interment in the United Presbyterian
cemetery.
Mrs. Bigelow united with the Stone Valley Presbyterian Church when nineteen
years old, under the pastorate of her uncle, the Rev. John M. Adair, and
lived the life of faith until her death. The abiding nature of her
faith was
paid a flowing tribute by the Rev. David E. Magill, of Homer City, who
grew
up with her in our midst, and testified to her patient endurance under
the
many severe trials that are the legacy of distinction.
The exceeding great worth of these mothers in Israel was emphasized by
her
pastor, Rev. James Potter. What an inspiration they are to us and
the
binding obligation of seeing the Master in the daily life of faith and
confidence led by them. Living epistles know and lead by all men.
He
emphasized the leading of these epistles because the written word is largely
neglected. The greatest monument to her memory was to initiate her
life of
faith and trust, and failure to follow her example was undue disrespect
to
her memory, which was the thought her pastor endeavored to fix definitely
in
the minds and hears of her loved ones left. In many parts of our
land we
have men and women doing the Master’s work, thanking the great head of
the
church daily for these Godly mothers in our mountain homes, who lead the
life
of faith and trust in Him. Truly one of these great ones has gone
to her
reward.
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/huntingdon/obits/bigelow-sarah.txt
< rodbigelow@netzero.net > 
