Leon Levi ⁹ BIGELOW

Children of Leon L. and Marjory (Girton) Bigelow:

12169.41311t    James Lee, b 24 Oct 1912 Gray's Harbor co, WA; d ____ ; m thrice; 2 children; note2 ;

12169.41312t    John Clarkson "Jack", b 29 Oct 1916 in Aberdeen, Gray's Harbor co, WA; d 25 Oct 1999 Kenmore, WA; m 04 April 1946 Shirley Plummer, (born 08 July 1920; d ___ 1986 Seattle age 66 see obit); 2 children  note2 and  note 

Sources:
Bigelow Family Genealogy Volume. II page ;
Howe, Bigelow Family of America;
note2: family group sheet from Patricia Bigelow;
U.S. Census 1840-1850-1860-1870
1.1.3.1.2 John Clarkson Bigelow was born 29 Oct 1916  in Aberdeen, Gray’s Harbor Co., WA and died 25 Oct 1999 when his residence was Kenmore, King Co., WA. He married 4 Apr 1946 Shirley Plummer (b. 8 Jul 1920). He was a railway signal operator when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps 28 Dec 1941. (U.S. Census 1920, 1930; Washington Births, 1907-1919 [John Clarkson Bigelow]; U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 [John C. Bigelow]; Social Security Death Index [John C. Bigelow]; family group sheet from Patricia Bigelow)

note: Forge "The Bigelow Society Quarterly, 17 (2): 27, 30; 1988);
letter dated 20 April 2004 from Richard Hale Zimmerman 

New Note 08/14/06:
From: Pamela Klein  < carpediem@manabeads.com >   and
Richard H. Zimmerman  <  rhz1415@starpower.net  >

Samuel ( ), Bigelow, son of _____________ Bigelow and Mary (Lyman) Bigelow, was born
     In a letter from Richard Hale Zimmerman, 507 Leighton Ave., Silver Spring, Maryland 20901-4825, dated 20 Apr 2004:
"Samuel Bigelow was born in Connecticut, possibly Hartford, at some point  between 1775 and 1800.  He is mentioned in G. B. Howe's work, "Genealogy of the Bigelow Family of America" in which the information was supplied by his grandson, George  
In this account, Samuel was supposed to have been born in 1776, his father died soon after and his mother, Mary Lyman Bigelow, then married a man named Conn.  Dick Zimmerman was unable to confirm any of this in his 13 March 2004 letter.  U. S. Census records for 1810 through 1840 recorded only a range of years for those enumerated and from these one can deduce a birth date for Samuel anytime between 1775 and 1800.  Census records for 1850 (age 65) and 1860 (age 75) indicate a birth date in the latter half of 1784 or the first half of 1785.  His tombstone seen in July 2003 indicates that he died 23 December 1863 at age 81, indicating a birth date in 1782.
   "...Census records show that he lived in Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut in 1810, 1820, 1830 after which he is recorded in Streetsboro Township, Portage County, Ohio.  Pat Bigelow indicated that he moved to Streetsboro in 1833 ("Forge:  The Bigelow Society Quarterly" 17(2):27,30;1988)  In Salisbury, he married Phebe Minard (born 20 October 1793 in Salisbury) about 1809 "Forge, same ref".  All eight of their children were born there and the seventh, Hiram L., died when about a year old and is buried at Town Hill Cemetery, Salisbury.
   "...Portage County in northeastern Ohio is part of the Western Reserve of Connecticut, also called New Connecticut, and this entire region had many early settlers from Connecticut ("Harlan Hatcher, The Western Reserve; The Story of New Connecticut in Ohio, Bobbs-Merrill 1949).  The first settlers arrived in Streetsboro in 1822, although the Township itself did not become independent of the adjoining townships until 1827.
   "Phebe Minard Bigelow died 18 July 1849 at the age of 56 years, 6 months (source: tombstone, Streetsboro Cemetery, Streetsboro Twp., Portage Co., Ohio).  In 1850, Samuel was recorded on the U.S. Census with the family of his daughter and son-in-law, Mary and Robert Smith.  He married 4 November 1850 Elizabeth R. Bow (born about 1798), who apparently survived him.  He died 23 December 1863 and was buried in Streetsboro (source: U.S. Census 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860; Early Marriage Bonds of Ohio - Portage Co.; Forge: The Bigelow Society Quarterly, 17(2):27,30;1988; family group sheet from Patricia Bigelow; tombstone, Streetsboro Cemetery, Streetsboro Twp., Portage Co., Ohio)."

My name is Denise Bigelow, legally adopted 1953 by John
Clarkson Bigelow and Shirley Romaine Plummer, of Aberdeen, Washington, USA.

My dad, John (aka Jack) C. Bigelow had someone do research on
our family about 15- 20 years ago, and told my brother (Todd Davis
Bigelow, also legally adopted by John C. and Shirley R. (nee Plummer)
Bigelow, that we were very distant offsprings of a Crusader family that
settled in England after being known in France as Bizalou (or a similar
spelling). He also said that our branch recently crossed from the midwest to the west
coast.

John C. Bigelow's father was Lee Bigelow (who married Dorothy
Girton to beget John and James Bigelow), who started a Ford, then
Bigelow Chevrolet, a car dealership/repair shop and gas station (in Aberdeen, WA),
supposedly the first which combined such services west of the Missisippi at
that time. As a sideline, I should mention that my maternal grandmother,
Heppie Plummer, had a direct lineage from Alfred Plummer, one of the founders of
Port Townsend and Masonic Lodge grand master of the State of Washington in 1892.

I believe that John (Jack) C. Bigelow registered my brother,
Todd Davis Bigelow, and myself with the Bigelow family decades ago. I do
not know whether he registered my twin sons, Sean and Zacharay
Bigelow. I did not take their father's (Jonathan Kellogg Rogers) name, but kept
the surname Bigelow, and so Sean and Zach remain Bigelows. They were born
in Seattle, Washington on December 2, 1990 and have become very
interested in hearaldry, knights and the like.

There is a heraldry web site that offers to sell family crests and maintains
that Bigelow family crest is the same as that which you cite
(possibly we are pretenders to that crest because we cannot prove) and the
site mentions our family being "seated from ancient times, long before the
Norman Conquest in 1066." Do you have any insight or research which would
lend credance to that site's claim?

We would like to know more about family reuinions in our area, how to
register my little family group, and how to add our information, bios or
photos to the family web site. This looks like fun!

My father, John Clarkson Bigelow (deceased 10/2000) John C.
Bigelow's father was Lee Bigelow (who married Dorothy Girton to beget John and
James Bigelow),

My boys are of an age where identity and family history has become
important, yet most of our local Bigelow family are deceased,
and nobody remembers where the records are, or if there are any
remaining. My father's brother, Jim (James Bigelow) died in a house fire (Central
Park, near Aberdeen, WA) a year ago last May, and many family
photographs and records were consumed in the fire.

I hope that posting this connects us to folks with
information or suggestions which may uncover more family connections.
Thanks,

A correction--I don't have the marriage date, but Jim
Bigelow (my uncle) married Dorothy (I don't remember
her maiden name but her son's name from the previous
marriage is Hugh McGavick). So James Bigelow,
Deceased, born in Grays Harbor County, WA was wed 3
times. 

His daughters, Gretchen Lee (Bigelow) LaBreck and
Kristi (Bigelow) Maupin, have children. 

Gretchen Lee (Bigelow) LaBreck died on February, 27,
2006, leaving her husband, Joe LaBreck, of Aberdeen,
WA. Her obituary is at
www.whitesidefamilymortuaries.com 

Thanks, Denise

   Gretchen Lee (Bigelow) LaBreck

Memorial for Gretchen:
  The family and friends of Gretchen LaBreck mourn her untimely death.  Gretchen
touched the lives of many in the community as an inclusive center of family
life, as an organizer of activities with friends, as a teacher at Aberdeen
High School, and as a contributor to community improvement.

She loved water, from the pond at her home to any pool where she could swim.
 Gretchen participated in water shows at the Natatorium, and taught swimming
there for the YMCA and at the Hoquiam pool in her early years.  She swam
for exercise and with her children and grandchildren.  She vacationed at
Campbell’s at Lake Chelan forty years.  She got involved in water aerobics
about twenty years ago and received great joy from the workouts and the camaraderie
of her classmates.

She graduated from Aberdeen High School in 1958,
Grays Harbor College in 1960, and the University of Washington in 1963. 
At GHC she was student body treasurer and received the Grays Harbor Alumni
award as a sophomore.  She earned a degree in English education from the
U of W, and taught one year at Evergreen High School in Burien while her
husband Joe, completed his degree.  Then she came back to Aberdeen High School
where she taught English thirty-three years.

In her early years Gretchen
played the cello, and enjoyed music throughout her life.  She sat near the
high school band at games and appreciated the connection between band music
and the many groups of cheerleaders she coached.  She encouraged her children
to play instruments, and took piano lessons herself.  Her family went to
musicals at the Fifth Avenue and Paramount theaters in Seattle many years.
 She bought a Bose machine for her kitchen after she retired and played classical,
show, and Christmas music while she worked.

She loved to cook and,
of course, family activities centered around the kitchen.  She organized
potlucks and hosted after-game parties.  Many of her recipes were in her
head and didn’t involve exact measuring.  She found a niche in family activities
for Christmas Eve dinner at her home and made it a tradition.  This tradition
was faithfully kept in 2005 even though she could only sit on the couch and
beam.

She served in many roles while teach at Aberdeen High School.
 At various times she was English department chairman, worked on curriculum
development, sponsored activities such as American Field Service, leadership,
and pep club.  She spent eighteen years coaching cheerleaders, and twenty-five
years taking van loads of rooters to out of town games.  Her cheerleaders
had a style that involved cheer and dance routines.  Some routines to band
numbers like Basin, Horse or Land of a Thousand Dances were used for ten
or twenty years and she could tell exactly who made up the routine and when.
 She was proud that many of her cheerleaders have leadership positions in
the community and other places in America.

She served some position
in the Aberdeen Education Association every one of her teaching years; doing
newsletters, welcoming new teachers to Aberdeen, handling grievances, acting
as secretary and treasurer, being a picket captain in two strikes, and organizing
teas for retiring teachers.

Gretchen owned and rode horses until a
bad hip made it too painful.  She had pet Old English Sheepdogs for twenty
years.  She and her husband found and restored a 1953 Corvette which they
enjoyed driving on warm evenings.  She was one of the original Crisis Line
volunteers, and gave eight years service answering the phone two nights and
one weekend each month.  She ran the Little League and Babe Ruth concession
stands in partnership with several women for several years while her son
was involved in baseball.

She was involved in Aberdeen-Hoquiam foodball
from its beginning.  After retirement she took over the organizer position
of being the one who got foodball going each year, making sure all the things
the high school kids don’t do would get done; like advertising, money counting,
getting hauling trucks and contacting people.

She tried to maintain
a set of fair rules for the competition, and would work to mediate disputes.
 From her interest in foodball she became a member of the board of the Grays
Harbor and Pacific Counties Food Bank Distribution Center.  She worked on
fund raising and organized an auction for five years.  She helped to get
the new Distribution Center building in Hoquiam.

At home she gardened,
trying to continue what her grandparents had started.  She enjoyed the greenhouse
the shrubs and the trees, as well as the wildlife that came into the family’s
five acres.  The house she lived in had been in her family since the early
1900’s.

She read fiction and had an extensive paperback library. 
She wrote diaries for grandchildren, which are now a family treasure.  She
got together frequently with her
L-cubed group, which was composed of
several women with whom she taught.  She had traveled mostly in the U.S.
with her family.  She especially enjoyed Disneyland, Victoria, and Salt Spring
Island.

Gretchen Lee was born to Jim and Olyve Bigelow June 13, 1940.
 Her mother died when she was 10.  Her stepmother and friend, Dorothy Bigelow,
lives in Aberdeen.  Her sister, Kristie Maupin, lives in Cosmopolis.  August
23, 1963 she married Joe LaBreck, who will continue to reside at the family
home.  They were married 42 years.  On July 1, 1969 their son James Eugene
LaBreck was born.  Jim resides in Redmond and works for Microsoft.  His wife
is Kim (King).  They have a daughter Jamie Lynn who is 2.  On July 3, 1971
Jennifer Lee Labreck was born.  She resides in Aberdeen in a recently constructed
home built on property that was formerly part of her parents place.  Jennifer
is a hair stylist in Hoquiam.  Her husband is Alvin Christensen.  They have
two sons Jordan Quinn who is 13 and Trace Alan who is 7.

Gretchen
especially loved her family, pouring her love and attention onto her children
and then her grandchildren.  In the past few years more of her time became
focused on her children and grandchildren, and she was reluctant to travel
very far, or be gone very long.  She most of all expressed regret for all
the future things that would happen in their lives that she would miss. 
She knew how much all of her family loved her.

Remembrances can be
set to the YMCA of Grays Harbor for the water aerobics program, or to the
Grays Harbor-Pacific Counties Food Bank Distribution Center for food.

 A Celebration of Gretchen’s Life will be held Friday, March 3, 2006 at 1:30
p.m. at Rotary Log Pavilion in Aberdeen.  Arrangements are by Whiteside Family
Mortuary of Aberdeen.     

  rodbigelow@netzero.net