SILAS BIGELOW
Barna and Abigail Bigelow had three sons: Silas, Abner and Charles. They all
came to Virginia.
Report from Dartmouth College:
Silas Bigelow graduated from Dartmouth College in 1814 with an ABB degree. He
was born June 21, 1795, in Brookfield, Vermont, the son of Barna and Nabby Pride
Bigelow. After graduation he read law in a law school in Litchfield, Connecti-
cut, and began the practice of law in Lovingston, Virginia. He subsequently
taught in the family of Robert Rives of Virginia, and later engaged in the mer-
cantile business at Farmville, Virginia, and at the same time published a news-
paper. He was later engaged in various enterprises in Prince Edward County,
Virginia. He married Judith, daughter of Captain Jacob Woodson, of that County,
in March 1821. He died at Pamplin City, Virginia, October 20, 1878.
It is interesting to note that the Rives home at Lovingston, Virginia, is only
a few miles from the beautiful homes of Uncle John Morton and his daughter, Perkins
Flippin, who owns Pharsalia, the historic Massie home. Oak Ridge, the Rives' home,
was bought by Thomas Fortune Ryan. His grandson, a relative of my daughter's hus-
band, is the present owner of this estate. My sisters and I are descended from the
Rives of Virginia through my father's family, the Martins.
M.M. Either when I was in college or teaching I found one summer at home, in
the bottom of an old chest, the Dartmouth diploma of Grandpa and those of papa
from Hampden-Sidney, 1851, and from the University of Virginia, 1854. They were
given to me. Probably during or after the Civil War some female in the family,
badly wanting ribbon, had stripped the ribbons and the attached seals from all
three. I shipped them back to the different institutions and they restored
ribbons and seals. The Dartmouth diploma was beautifully done by hand on sheep-
skin with, down in the corner, a name I have forgotten as "Scripter". I had
those framed in Columbus, Georgia, but when we moved to Palm Beach, Florida,
they were rolled up with my two diplomas AB and BS from Hampden-Sidney. When
we came back to Columbus in 1927, we left our Florida home furnished and for
over a year rented a house before building a new home and having our furniture
shipped. In some way the great misfortune happened that they were all lost.
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M.M.D. Silas came to Virginia for his health. He had consumption. The treat-
ment in those days was outdoor exercise and a warmer climate. He bought a
trotting horse and rode it while selling life insurance. (This part is from
Aunti Fannie's talks. No mention is made of it in the report from Dartmouth.
Since that report from Dartmouth was probably sent to the college after his
death, his ruddy health and long life had probably erased that sickness from the
memory of the reporter.) Charles has a book given papa when, as a little boy,
he and his mother went to visit grandpa at the home of Mrs. Devereau in North
Carolina where he was teaching. I also have a ball of silk thread made by his
firm when they were experimenting with silkworms. Dr. Eggleston writes that
there are large mulberry trees in his yard at Hampden-Sidney and they are all
over that section. The tradition holds that Silas initiated their planting.
The birds enjoy the feast. Mrs. Eggleston calls them the Hotel Mulberry. How
I wish I could find his account books showing the transactions in silkworms,
mulberries, silk, etc. It would be interesting to study such books and write
an account of the enterprise, though it failed. He evidently had wide business
connections. I have no recollection of Granpa Bigelow, but Aunt Fannie gave me
a good picture of him.
M.M. Silas Bigelow seems to have been a highly educated man, and also endowed
with broad business ability. At different periods of his life he practiced law,
taught school, ran a mercantile business, published a newpaper, started a silk-
worm business, and finally, for about thirty years, operated the plantation on
Appomatix River known as Happy Valley, owned by his mother-in-law, Elizabeth
Morton Woodson, and later by his wife, Judith Woodson. Silas Bigelow and Judith
had two daughters and one son: Frances Ann (Aunt Fannie), Elizabeth Abigail
(Aunt Betty), and Charles Silas, our father. Aunt Fannie was born in 1822,
Aunt Betty a year or two after, and papa in 1832.
The first mention of Silas Biglow in Prince Edward County, Virginia, records is
in 1830.
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Deed Book 20, p. 338:
On August 11, 1830, Peter Fore, Jr., and Sally, his wife, sell to James C. Fore,
Wm. S. Morton, Silas Biglow, and Josiah Boseley, all of Prince Edward County,
for $3198.75 4271/2 acres of land near Walker's Church. (M.M. This must have
been adjacent to or near Happy Valley.)
Deed Book 20, 551, April 20,1832:
Jared Todd and wife sell to Silas Biglow for $162.00 18 acres of land, adjoining
James Bondurant, Wells, Morgan and others, beginning on the road leading from
the college to LeGrande bridge. (Hampden-Sidney College)
Deed Book 23, 309:
On July 16, 1840, Silas Biglow and wife, Judith, late of Prince Edward County,
now of Brunswick Co. Va., sell to Theo B. Phillips the above 18 acres.
M.M. I have never heard of our grandparents living in Brunswick County and it
must have been for a very short period. About the time of the above deeds they
had a home close to Hampden-Sidney College. About a mile from the village is a
deserted village, Worsham, which was the County seat in early days. When I was
in college, 1892-1894, the sandstone walls of the old jail were still standing.
Aunt Fannie often spoke to me of being sent to a girls' school there, and as she
was ten years old at the time of the above purchase, and eighteen when it was
sold, the home may have been built on this tract. Her favorite story of those
school days was that the girls were not allowed to have boy callers, so some
bright students one day blacked their faces, and otherwise disguised themselves
as negro slaves and drove up with a wagon load of watermelons for sale. The use
worked, to the delight of all, probably equally over seeing the girls and
pulling a fast one on the faculty. The family was living at the Jacob Woodson
place, Happy Valley, at the time papa went to Hampden-Sydney. His brag story
of his youthful endurance was that he walked all the way home from college one
day, some twenty-five miles, and then joined a group on a possum hunt that
night.
Deed Book 22, 440, Feb. 6, 1840:
Silas Biglow, for debt, deeds to James Woodson and others all the interest which
he has in the estate of Jacob Woodson under the will of the same; also all his
interest in a mulberry contract with Isaac Moseley; lands, 11 slaves, crop of
mulberry on hand. (Note: The mulberry silkworm business he started evidently
failed and lost money.)
Deed Book Feb. 20, 1840:
Silas Biglow, of the firm of Biglow and Binford, who formerly did business in
the town of Farmville, Virginia, and also in the town of Somerville, Alabama,
makes over the properties to several parties for debt.
Deed Book 24, 160, Aug. 17, 1842:
James D. Wood hold in hand $350.00, proceeds of a military land warrant conveyed
to him by Elizabeth Woodson, in trust for Mrs. Judith Biglow, and her children:
Elizabeth, Frances Ann, and Charles Silas. James C. Woodson, Trustee.
Deed Book 21, 41, Jan. 20, 1833:
Reuben Perry mortgages to Silas Biglow for debt 240 acres of land and slaves.
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Bradshaw's History of Farmville:
Theodorick B. McRobert moved the Scotsville, Virginia, Chronicle to Farmville
in 1832. It then became the Farmville Chronicle. He was succeeded by A. P. and
Silas Biglow. In 1848 Archibald M. Cowan took over the paper.
Estate of A. P. Bigloe, in account with A. Vaughn, administrator. May 1852 to
1854. No inventory. (VMB Thus Abner Bigelow, brother of Silas, must have died
in April or May 1852. Uncle Marshall said that Abner died at Big Lick, early
name of Roanoke, Virginia, and that Charles died at Happy Valley.)
Bradshaw's History of Prince Edward County:
Pg. 268 - A. Biglow, Farmville, 1835. Bible depository for Prince Edward County.
(VMB This meant he was treasurer of the Bible Societies.)
Pg. 320 - A. P. Biglow listed as Farmville merchant 1852, dry goods, books,
pianos.
M.M. Happy Valley was left to Grandmother Judith when her mother, Elizabeth
Morton Woodson, died. They must have moved there about 1840. We always called
Happy Valley "The Bigelow Home".
Shortly before or after the time I was born, 1874, when Papa's father became
too old to look after his farm, Papa took him, Grandmother, and his two sisters
to Pamplin to live with his family. They all lived there the balance of their
lives. My only recollection of Grandpa Bigelow was of being carried into the
room and being shown him lying on the bed. I was told that he was dead. I was
then four and a half years. old.
Silas Bigelow died at Pamplin, Appomattox Co., Virginia, October 30, 1878.
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