William Henry ⁸ BIGELOW

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15591.313 William Henry ⁸ BIGELOW, son of Josiah ⁷ ( Isaac ⁶ ( William ⁵, Josiah ⁴, Thomas ³, Samuel ², John ¹) and Elizabeth (BURTT) BIGELOW, was born 10 August 1840 at No 4 Lower Place, Waltham, MA. He became a sailor and married Margaret Keilar Fraser (see below) on 10 December 1867 at St. Martins Chapel, Liverpool, England. (see below)

Children:

15591.3131 Rosalie Catherine, b 23 May 1869 Liverpool; d ___ ;

15591.3132 Eugene, b and d 15 Feb 1871;

15591.3133 William Eugene, b 18 Feb 1872 Liverpool; d ___ ; m ; "left for America"; (see below)

15591.3134 John, b ca 1874 (age 7 in 1881); d _____ ;

15591.3135 George, b ca 1877 (age 4 in 1881); d _____ ; (see below)

15591.3136 Henry, b ca 1881 (one month old in 1881); d _____ ;

15591.3137 Charles, b ca 1884 (age 17 in 1901 census); d _____ ;

Sources:
Bigelow Society,The Bigelow Family Genealogy, Vol II, pg 116-117;
Howe, Bigelow Family of America;
Addendum 2003; Loring Bigelow
records of Bigelow Society genealogist.

<>2011 Note:
My lineage: <>
George (as above highlighted red) / William / William Ewart / Mark (myself). <>
I have put the red lines through a mistake on the web page. Is it still Rod who looks after the web-site? I need to advise someone of the errors. <>
Margaret Keilar Fraser was William Henry⁸15591.313’s wife! Not the wife of his 3^rd child as indicated above!! Also I have just spotted it says his wife was “Margaret Kellar Grace” this is incorrect. Margaret Keilar Fraser was her name. I have the family record here to confirm this if necessary. <>
Best regards <>Mark Bigelow < mark.bigelow@btinternet.com >

2010 Note:
From:: "Heather O'Callaghan" < kleler@kibris.net >
Hi. My name is Heather O'Callaghan, nee Bigelow. My great great grand-father was William Bigelow, a school teacher who lived in a small town outside Boston. He had a wife, a daughter and two sons who were both seamen. The wife and daughter died of TB, and, when William discovered he had the disease, he paid all his debts and shot himself. One of his sons, also Willam (middle name either Ewart or Eugene) settled in Liverpool and married Margaret Fraser. I have seen the newspaper article containing my great grandfather's obituary but this, and his notebook showing the list of debts he repaid, have disappeared. I contacted the Dept. Of Genealogy in Boston and was given a very brief resume, which showed a Col. Chester Bigelow and Harriet Beecher Stowe as two of our ancestors. I am trying to research the English descendants, but, as I live in Cyprus, this is proving rather difficult. Can you confirm/refute the details I have managed to find? I am very proud of my ancestry which from what my paternal grandmother told me, originated from a French aristocrat, Sir Rolf de Beaugleau, who moved to England, didn't like the weather so emigrated to the US.
Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks. Heather O'Callaghan.

Note:
Name: Mark Bigelow mark.bigelow@upm-kymmne.com
From: Wirral, England
Time: 2002-03-01 00:29:29
I have a great many facinating letters written mid to late 1800s from my ancestors, William Henry and Josiah Bigelow of South Natick, U.S.A., plus a family history record and early " Dagurreotype " photographs
At last I have typed and scanned the first of the remaining many
letters in my collection.
I hope that I have the location names correct, but can not be certain as my maps of South America are not very detailed, and I have not investigated in detail.
The letters states that he William Henry ⁸ BIGELOW, son of Josiah ⁷ is a sailor on the ship "Louisiana", I imagine that there must be records kept somewhere of the crew, and of the journeys undertaken by that ship. Can anyone advise me where I might find such information ?
letters follow....................................ROD

J Shumway

Off Payta Aug 14 1859

Dear friend,
I thought I would write a few lines to let you know how I am getting along. I wrote to father six months ago but I have not received any word yet, I think it must have been miscarried.
But I thought I would write to you this time. I have not much time and expect to be called on deck every minute. I have been well and am fat, ragged, saucy whaling is not what it is cracked up to be. This lowering of boats in a gale of wind comes rather hard sometimes.
The first time that I was in a boat was in the Azores Islands, it was blowing fully hard when we raised some sperm whales. We gave chase, and the mate's boat, being the first to lower fastened to one of them, but the fish did not like it so he hit the boat a light tap with his flukes, and not being satisfied, he turned the boat keel up. You can imagine what kind of a situation I was in, all this happened in less time than you can say jacket, but I waited until I saw the mate leave the boat and then I thought it was about time to go too, he said that he expected the whale would turn and smash the boat all to pieces, but he did not, but went off with about 15'0 fathoms of line, and we all swam back to the boat. There was six of us, we all got upon the bottom of the boat. We had to stay there about an hour, waiting for some of them to come and take us to the ship, we had hard work to stay on there, as the sea was so high at the time that it came very close to pitching us in the drink again, but the less I say about this business the better, the captain has taken me out of the mates boat, and put me into his.
But I will not write any more about whaling, I have seen all I want to of South America, have been to St Carlos on the Chiloe island , Payta Peru, and now I am going to Tombuy in the same place to get water and provisions.

Give my respects to Uncle Abe, and Aunt Mary and to Sarah and Mary and all the folks and tell cousin Abe that he must write to me, as I have no time to write to him. Tell him to give my best respects to George Bonney as I have not had time to write to him yet.

Tell Father if he has not received my letter to send some papers, and give my love to him. I should have written to him this time, but I am not certain that he is in the same place as he was when I left,
I shall not be in port again until about the first of January, so that you need not be in a hurry about answering my letter. Let me know all the passing events that have transpired since I left home.
Tell little Abe' to give my best respects to all the pretty girls, he will know who, and see that he has one waiting for me.
I have no more time left me, so I must draw to a close, you must excuse the writing as I am in a hurry and the ship rolls very badly, be sure and write, and tell the folks they must do the same, all that have time, that is, remember the first of January I shall be in port again, and shall expect a whole pile of letters. Good bye.

Yours with respect
William Henry B.

Direct William Henry Bigelow
In care of G Hillman Esq.
Ship, Louisiana,
Payta, Peru
South America.

If Abe' has any letters sent to Medfield for me, please forward them and I will pay you for your trouble when I get home but that will be some time yet.

Liverpool July 17th 1864

Dear Father,
It is a long time since I wrote you a letter, I have been around the world since I wrote you last. Your letter was forwarded to me at Callao, I have been away from L'pool 15 months. I sailed from here to Sidney, from there to Callao and from there to the Chincha ? Islands and took in a cargo of guano.
From there to a place called Dunkerque in France, in which place I took my discharge. I did not stop long in France but I took passage across the North Sea to Hull and then I took the cars ? and passed through the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire and arrived safe among my friends here who began to think that I was lost I was so long on my passage from the last port. I was over five months on the passage which is about two months longer than the average, in fact I began to feel rather dubious myself as the ship began to leak badly so that we had to stand by the pumps all the time in bad weather, the captain was a highland scotch man who never had charge of a vessel of the same size before. he had always been in small ones bound up the North sea and the Mediterranean
so that he did not know how to conduct himself on board a ship. I was at the wheel ( helm ) one night off the horn when he came to me and asked if I thought it was going to blow he said his weather glass was way low and had been for several days he looked very sober about it I tell you but I told him no I do not think it will blow and at the same time I gave him my reasons for thinking so.
I told him he could not trust his glass in those latitudes and it came out true all that I told him so that he made me his weather wise, he was always very frightened when it was blowing and for that reason he was not fit to have charge of a ship, he knew that I had been of the coast of Patagonia and for that reason he used to come to me when he wished to know anything about it, he used often to ask me about my adventures in the whale fishing and then I used to spin him a long twister about it.
bye the way I will tell you about a little sport I had the other evening.
I went to a clairvoyant and had my fortune told you will laugh I know when this comes to your eye but it is all for the sake of seeing what sort of yarn she would make up. She pretended to go into a mesmeric sleep and I had to ask her whatever she wished to know. I asked her if I was ever in love, she told me very little of that ever troubled me. I then asked her if I was corresponding with any young lady at the present time, she said I was I then asked her the lady's complexion she said it was dark whereas it is very light, so she made a mistake in that point. She then told me that I would not marry this lady, but there was another dark haired lady which I had not seen that would become my wife. She told me that I would make a great many journeys by water but she could not see it plain.
She told me that I should make two more journeys and then I would see the dark complexioned lady
and I should have a deal of trouble in consequence of her. She said there was another light complexioned man after her but she did not care for him but she would have a companion older than herself that would be continually troubling me and she would try to get the dark complexioned lady to marry the other man and get me herself, but she would not succeed. She told me that after I had returned afrom ? one of my journeys that some person would come and tell me a lot of stories about the one I am to marry and that I would get into a terrible passion and go and have a quarrel with her but she would not be to blame, I then asked her if I should ever be rich, she told me that I should make money enough myself to become independent but that I had a distant relative very rich
which I would not grieve much after would die and leave all the property to me in the year sixty six but I would not come into possession until sixty seven, and she told me that I never would settle in this country but that I would settle down in a country across some water where there is war raging and all sorts of trouble at present, and she told me where I was making five shillings now, I would
make ten pounds there, it is a jolly good one if it comes out right. Since I arrived here I   have made a passage on the Great Eastern, the largest vessel in the world. I went in her to the mouth of the River Thames to a place called Sheerness where she is to stay all the next winter to be in readiness to lay the telegraphic cable across the Atlantic in the spring. I got three pounds five shillings for the run around there, but I am getting restless and must draw to a close for myself, but I am going to call at Mr. Fraser's this evening and I expect he will have a few lines to add. I do not know where I shall go the next trip but I do not think it will be a long trip give my love to all the folks and to John in particular and tell him I will write to him one of these days.
From your son Will,    Address to No 13 Cardoe Sqr.
      Off Latimer Street
      Liverpool
      Eng.

The following letter continues on the same page as the above.

Mr. Bigelow
Sir, I received your letter in reply to mine dated 30th Oct, and am happy to here that you are getting on so well with your Gunnery and Navy. You say that with respect to the Greek ?
fire it was not liquid but solid, If it is mine they have in use it must be the same only this difference that they have done it up in paper or tin canisters. Had they done it up in thin lead, such as tea lead or a shade thicker it would have done its work either in the field or the city. What I am worry for is that they have not acknowledged any letters that I have sent. Of course there were 4 letters that were sent to the President that had no direction ? but it strikes me that some one has got some of my letters and have taken the name of another themselves, this is what I wish to know and if such be the case they may look out for my displeasure__ if it were possible that you could find someone who is going to Washington, and that a few lines could be wrote to the President naming the particulars
that I want to know and should you receive an answer you could easily send me the result the first opportunity by doing so you will oblige your most obed' servant.

John C Fraser

Bellisley feb 12th AD 1902

Dear Cousin Bill and family,
Yours at hand and duly noted. I must confess that I have not answered your last (before this) letter, but I have not done any writing, only what I have to do in my business. I have not written to Sarah, or Mary for nine months, and have not had a chance to go and see them. My ride of 24 miles every ------- with my rheumatism is about all I can do. I was glad to get your pictures, and I think by your looks, you stand the rocky road of life well_ and I hope you will all enjoy good health. We are going down the ladder of life very fast, months are not more than days used to be, time flies so fast, that it seems to me when the first of a month comes, that it is only a few hours 'till it is gone_ I often wish I could be young again and enjoy another life, but we have got to give away to others who, perhaps, will fill our places better than we have.
I would like to see you all but I shall not unless you come this way. I don't think I would cross the big pond if I had millions. Terra Firma is good enough for me. I am afraid of water and have no use for a boat, unless we have another Noah flood. Did I ever tell you about the squirrel your father shot and was going to take it over to So' Natick and give to his Uncle Abe_ it was a large grey. He hung it up in the shop (Dover) and while he was having his afternoon nap, I took the skin off the squirrel
and stuffed the skin with sand and leather --------- , sew him up nice and put him in the shop. Your father came out about 3 pm, got the squirrel and started out of the yard, just as he was going out he said, "Chet's this is the heaviest squirrel I believe I ever took hold of." and said "I will get a drink out of Uncle Abe for this.", and went along holding up the squirrel every little way, and looking at him,
and could imagine his mouth watering for the toddy. He arrived at So. N. with both arms aching went straight to Uncle Abe. Uncle Abe took the squirrel and said "What a heavy one he is, well we will go up to Baily's and get a drink and then we will come back and skin him." They went and returned to skin the grey – sharpened up a knife and went for Mr grey, put the point of the knife in hind leg, and the secret of the heavy squirrel was out, stitches, sand and leather -------- was out too. Your father said "That little damn Chet" – and Uncle Abe laughed, for your father had told them all how his arms ached, a lugging that squirrel over. Your father was always playing jokes on me, but I don't think he ever got the lead of me. I often have to laugh when I think of things that happened in those good old days. Well I shall have to draw this scrawl to a close, and hope to here from you all soon. We are all as well as usual.

From your cousin
Chester Bigelow.

Rod Bigelow (Roger Jon¹² BIGELOW)

Box 13 Chazy Lake
Dannemora, N.Y. 12929

< rodbigelow@netzero.net >

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