This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Higgs, Payne, Seaman, Wilkins
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Hi.2ADI/1778
Message Board Post:
Biographical Record and Portrait Album of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, pg. 604
Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1888
WILLIAM H. HIGGS, one of the successful farmers of Wabash Township, residing on section
16, was born in Allen County, Ohio, April 10, 1828, a son of JAMES and CYNTHIA (SEAMAN)
HIGGS. They were natives of Maryland and Virginia, respectively, and both were reared on
the banks of the Potomac River. They were married in Maryland, and soon after immigrated
to Allen County, Ohio, locating there when the Indians were more numerous than the white
settlers. The father entered land in Allen County, where he resided until 1839, and in
the fall of that year he came to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, making the journey by wagon,
over almost impassable roads. On this journey they were a whole day in going a distance
of four miles on account of the condition of the roads. The father made a settlement in
Wea Township, where he continued to reside until his death in 1844, his widow surviving
him until 1847. They were the parents of four children of whom WILLIAM H., the subject of
this sket!
ch, is the only one living. He was a lad of eleven years when brought by his parents to
this county, and here he was reared amid the scenes and incidents of pioneer life. After
the death of his parents he was left among strangers, and was knocked around from place to
place until his marriage, which occurred in 1858, to MISS MARIA PAYNE. Her parents,
PHILIP and HESTER (WILKINS) PAYNE, were both natives of Ohio, and were among the early
settlers of this county, coming here about the year 1829. Two of the three children born
to MR. and MRS. HIGGS are living, their names being EVERETT and LAURA J. A daughter,
named MARIA, is deceased. MR. HIGGS spent two years in Wea Township after his marriage,
and in the fall of 1861, he removed to Wabash Township, and purchased 126 acres of land
where he has since made his home. He has made many improvements on his land which is now
very productive and under good cultivation, and his residence and farm buildings are built
in the modern!
style. In politics MR. HIGGS is a Republican, having affiliated with that political
party since its organization.