The second "burning questions" area is still within the parameters of the BIGELOW grouping. SAMUEL BIGELOW was born 4 Sept 1773 in Weston MA to ABRAHAM BIGELOW and ANNA FISKE. (ANNA is a DAR patriot!) Samuel's father d just one year six months and ten days later at the age of 48 and Anna was left with 7 ch. Anna was a very strong and wealthy woman, the daughter (b 8 Dec 1731 in Weston MA) of NATHAN FISKE and ANN WARREN. Thus, Samuel was well-educated and became an attorney in spite of the loss of a father. However, Samuel just drops out of my sight during the time he married Mara HOWE or SMITH and had his first three children: 1) Horatio H (my line) b ca 1796 somewhere and m a "Phoebe/Polly-who" somewhere, 2) Laura Strong (yes, two given names) b ca 1798 who d by the age of 28, and 3) Samuel Smith (yes, two names again!) b ca 1800. Samuel and Mara HOWE/SMITH subsequently had four more ch all b in Ticonderoga NY: 4) Stephen Van Rensselear 16 Feb 1803, m Caroline HAY, 5) Andrew Craig 2 Jul 1805 m Eliza HYDE, 6) Anna Havens 22 Oct 1807 m Palmer M BAKER, 7) Letitia 6 Jan 1810 m Melancthin WILSON. It is interesting to note here that part of my problem may be due to the fact that both Abraham and his son Samuel d at relatively early ages to the lives of their sons in my line: Abraham @ 62 yrs but before Samuel was 2 yrs and Samuel @ 48 when Horatio was perhaps 22 yrs. (In the following generation also, it can be noted what the loss of Benjamin BASSETT meant to his ch.) Through the efforts of the excellent genealogist Patricia Bigelow, Editor of the BIGELOW GENEALOGY-1986, since sadly deceased, I have the correct info on the last four ch, and of course, I had the info on my Horatio. So I was able to put pieces together. But, there is still another gnawing gap: that of my Horatio's whereabouts and doings from the time of his birth in an unknown location to his marriage at an unknown location and to an unknown "Polly or Phoebe-who". So here we have a father Samuel who m a "Mara Howe or Smith or whatever"--- whenever and wherever. And we have the same cycle repeating itself with the son, Horatio. Samuel BIGELOW d 14 Oct 1818 and is bur in Ticonderoga NY where he was practicing law. His "unknown" wife is buried there also under the name of "Mara". I have not found a record of her birth said to have been in Deerfield MA May 1774. I am very sad not to have found all the pieces but hope someone may have them for me.
Mary Elizabeth BASSETT was born to BENJAMIN BASSETT and ELNORA BIGELOW 2 Mar 1856 in Deerfield MA. She was the second oldest of five children born to them in the space of eight years. Benjamin, her father, dropped off the face of the earth before the birth 2 November 1862 of the last son, Charles,and this boy's birth date was given as the death date of Benjamin. I have found no record to substantiate this. Thus, Elnora was left with 5 ch and no means of support as their Grandfather HORATIO BIGELOW, died before the birth of this last child, CHARLES BASSETT. (I do recall my Grandmother ELLA BIGELOW BASSETT was quoted as telling my Dad that those years on the farm were the happiest of her life but just what those years were, I do not know.) Mary Elizabeth m JACOB HECK in Rogersville TN on 28 Sept 1873. I have all the information on her children and husband, but the years between her birth and her marriage are undocumented. Her family was told she was b 10 May 1857 a full year and 2 months after her actual birth date. This would have made her seventeen years and six months of age when she m Jacob. (This age makes much more sense to me and it is proven by the birth certificate.) The family story is that Mary Elizabeth was adopted by MELVIN MELINDA and his wife "from Boston". They bought a "riverbottom farm" on the Holston River and raised racehorses. They also owned and operated the Melinda's Ferry which was later replaced by Melinda Ferry Bridge. Hopefully, someone knows this MELINDA family and can add the missing pieces. I also have little information on her sister, Sarah and her brother Charles, both said to have resided in Northampton and Springfield MA.