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CARPET WEAVERS
OF KIDDERMINSTER


THE EARLY FAMILY
OF JOHN ALLEN


ELIZABETH WOOD
AND RICHARD ALLEN


EDWARD BIGGS AND ANN TAYLOR
  SAWYER INTERVIEWS
  PETER MEREDITH TRIAL


The Allens and Biggs
At Home in America


JOHN BIGGS & SUSAN PERRINS

EDWARD BIGGS & HANNAH WALLAHAN

EMMA BIGGS AND
RICHARD ALLEN


WILLIAM L. ALLEN AND
NANCY B. TAYLOR



RootsWeb Trees

THE ALLEN FAMILIES
OF KIDDERMINSTER


THE BIGGS FAMILIES
FROM KIDDERMINSTER


THE DRAPER FAMILIES
OF VIRGINIA

 

Edward and Ann Biggs Continued

5. William Biggs (I) was christened in Kidderminster on 22 May 1820, but died in December of 1822.  William (I) was buried at St. Mary’s in Kidderminster on 10 December 1822.

6. Caroline Biggs was christened in Kidderminster on 17 July 1822, and her family remained in England.  Caroline married James Haycock on 10 December 1842 in St. Mary’s, and raised eight children.  Caroline died in 1888 and James in 1909, both in Kidderminster.

7. William Biggs (II) was christened at St. Mary’s in Kidderminster on 5 November 1823, and married Mary Guest on 14 April 1850 in Old Swinford.  They raised four children.  William never came to America, and died in Kidderminster in 1877.  Instead of working as a sawyer like his brothers, at one point he worked as a pump maker.

8. Ann Biggs was christened at St. Mary’s in Kidderminster on 12 June 1826.  And on 8 June 1851 she married Eli Hitchon and raised one daughter in Kidderminster.  She witnessed the wedding of her sister, Emma, on 21 April 1855.  Ann died in Kidderminster in 1890.

9. Jane Biggs is a mystery.  The only record that mentions Jane is the 1841 Kidderminster census.  It is believed that Jane was born around 1828.  No other records are located to suggest Jane’s existence, and it was suggested that she may have been Joseph’s wife - not Edward’s daughter.  This is unlikely.

10. Joseph Biggs was christened at St. Mary’s on 22 August 1829 and he is mentioned in the 1841 Kidderminster census as being around 10 years old.  According to his christening date he was 12 in 1841.  There are no later records of Joseph, except according to Richard Allen, husband of his sister Emma, Joseph came to America and settled in the Pittsburgh area.  There is no confirmed record identified to suggest Joseph came to or lived in America, but the Allen stories in this case would be hard to confuse.

11. Emma Biggs was christened at St. Mary’s on 17 January 1831, and married Richard Joseph Allen in Kidderminster on 21 April 1855.  The following year they immigrated to West Columbia, [West] Virginia, where her brother Edward operated a store.  Richard became a merchant there, and they raised seven children.  Emma died on 4  December 1901 in Hartford City, West Virginia.  Richard died in Hartford City on 17 January 1914.

12. Charles Biggs was christened on 2 March 1833, three months after his father Edward was murdered in Kidderminster.  Charles died 18 months later and was buried at St. Mary’s on 16 September 1834.

“All four sons immigrated to America early,” Richard Allen wrote.  But that was wrong.  There were five living brothers, but one never left Kidderminster.  There is no clear evidence as yet that Joseph or Richard Biggs ended up in America.  The Allen family assumed that the William listed earlier was actually a confusion simplified by combining Edward William Biggs, but this is not the case.  William Biggs died in Kidderminster in 1877. 

How did Emma Biggs’ family make such a mistake about the number of brothers?  It was said that “all four” sons of Edward Biggs were sawyers just like their father, so William did not fit.  Did they forget about him since he died decades earlier than when the stories were told.  It seems as though the merchant families of Emma Biggs Allen, John Biggs and Edward Biggs remained in touch with each other for several generation.  But the families of Richard and Joseph Biggs are never mentioned in the documents passed down.

In the United States John became a confectioner and his sons became jewelers.  Edward became a grocer, then hotel operator, and later he worked as a bank executive.  Richard may have become a miner in West Virginia, but there is no potential occupation identified for Joseph.
 

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Emma-Biggs

Emma Biggs, born in 1831, was the youngest daughter of Edward and Ann Biggs.  She was an infant when Edward was murdered.


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UPDATED: January 9, 2016