&tc…

Bits & pieces and stories that don’t fit nicely into categories are often the most interesting. As I research the main people in my lineage, I come across information that I simply can’t ignore but that, like spice in a casserole, brings extra flavor to the dish.

Here are a few of those stories …

A hotel kept by the “Miss Bighams”

---

A hotel kept by the “Miss Bighams”

In the 1880 book, “History and Directory of the Boroughs of Gettysburg, Oxford, Littlestown, York Springs, Berwick, and East Berlin” (Pennsylvania), the chapter on York Springs contains an intriguing reference to members of the Bigham family.

The book mentions that York Springs was included in the “Marsh Creek Settlements” established by the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in 1740. Before the first Presbyterian church was built in 1830, the book explains, parishioners “met for worship in barns during the summer time, and during winter in a bar-room of a hotel kept by the Miss Bighams.”

In addition, among the “early members” of the church listed in the book were Mary and Agnes Bigham. No male Bighams are listed, and there’s no indication when this all took place except it would have been between 1740 and 1830.

The truly interesting thing is that Andrew Bigham had two daughters, Mary and Agnes.

Nothing appears to be known of these women and the only mention I could find of them was in Andrew’s will. He left Agnes a cow and calf but, according to family historian Bill Bigham, author of “The Bigham Families of Steele Creek, Mecklenburg County, N.C.,” she would inherit only “if she would come home.”

In the will, daughter Agnes (spelled Agness) is referred to as Agness Patton and it’s usually assumed from this that she married a man named Patton. But if that were the case, why would her father ask her to come home? Few good Presbyterian fathers of that day would have encouraged a daughter to leave her husband under any circumstance.

But what if “Patton” was her middle name? After all, many women bore their mothers maiden name as their middle name, as did many sons. Or the name may have simply been taken from a different relative. Perhaps she wasn’t married and remained a “Miss.”

This leads to a possibility which, although pure and unadulterated speculation, is nonetheless fascinating. Could Mary and Agnes have stayed in Pennsylvania after the rest of the family left for North Carolina? Could they, perhaps infused with the sense of freedom generated by their new homeland, broken with tradition and lived as the “Miss Bighams,” opening a hotel in York Springs and becoming prominent members of the church there, sans husbands?

I’m the first to admit this is an unlikely scenario, but what if ….. ?