His life in brief
Born: Nov. 1859, in Mississippi (note: his father, Leonidas Bigham, was a soldier in the Confederate Army who died in 1863 at the battle of Chickamauga, leaving his wife Annie Wallis and two sons, Franklin M. and William R.).
Married: Alma Gober of Mississippi on Nov. 3, 1886, in Mississippi.
Children:
Percy Eldon Bigham (1890 – 1967)
Myrtle Lillian Bigham (1892 – 1975)
Roy Starks Bigham (1894 – 1983)
Hughey Bigham (1896 – 1953)
Millie Bigham (1899 –?)
By 1890, he was living in Ellis County, Texas.
He died 1906, three years after the death of his wife Alma. They were the first two burials in the Mahoney Cemetery in Mahoney, Texas.
================
Sadly, I know less about Frank Bigham than I do of any other males in my direct family ancestry line in America. I was able to determine who his parents were on the one end, and who his children were on the other. But of him, I know next to nothing. I’m not even sure of his middle name. I’ve seen a few references to him as “Franklin Monroe” Bigham, and for a while I assumed that was correct. Yet, I’ve never seen any documents to verify that fact, so I’ve removed the “Monroe” and use only the middle initial, since I’m sure of that.
His parents – Leonidas Bigham and Annie Wallis – were married on Dec. 23, 1857, according to the Pontotoc County, Miss., marriage records from 1849-67. The page on Leonidas has more information about this time period.
1870 cenus - Click for larger image
Leonidas had died by the time of the 1870 census, where Annie Bigham is listed as living with her parents (Jessie and Nancy Wallis) with her two sons, Franklin (age 10) and William (age 9).
I was unable to locate Franklin in any 1880 census and most of the 1890 census records were destroyed in a fire in 1921.
The next piece of information I have on Franklin is his marriage to Alma Gober in 1886, as recorded in the Mississippi Marriages, 1776-1935 database.
1900 census - click for larger image
By the 1900 census, he was living in Ellis County, Texas with Alma and five children, all of whom were (the census notes) born in Texas. That same census also notes that Alma had 7 children, but only 5 of them survived. Franklin is listed as a farm laborer who could read and write.
Alma died in 1903, and Franklin followed her three years later. They were the first two people buried in the Mahoney Cemetery in Mahoney, Texas.
Headstone of Frank and Alma (Gober) Bigham
Their headstone gives only the names and dates of death. I have been unable to find any death certificates or other documentation for either of them.
Their deaths left their children orphaned at an early age, from Percy, the eldest, 16; to the youngest daughter, Millie, who was just 6 (if she was still alive … I can find no other mention of her past the 1900 census).
My first cousins, who knew “grandpa” Roy Starks, told me he never spoke of his father, since he had died when Roy was 12.
Sometimes, I look at the photograph of their headstone and silently ask, “Who were you? What were you like?”
I’m not sure I’ll ever find the answers to those questions. Still, I’ll go on looking.
