My Genealogy Hound

ROBERT B. BIGHAM, farmer and trader, was born in Rutherford County, Tenn., July 4, 1828, son of Elihu H. and Mary (Lisenby) Bigham, and of Irish descent. The father of our subject was born in North Carolina in 1799, and his mother in Anson County, N. C., in 1805. They were married in Rutherford County, Tenn., about 1823, and became the parents of five children, of whom our subject is the third. The Bigham family were among the early settlers of Tennessee, having come to the State when the father of our subject was a small boy and settled in Rutherford County, Tenn. Elihu H. Bigham died on the old homestead in 1873, and the mother, who is eighty-one years old, is still living and enjoying good health and an unusual amount of activity for a person of her age. Our subject received a fair education in the common schools and remained with his parents until he reached his majority. Since then he has followed the business of farming. During the civil war he enlisted in the Confederate Army and was assigned a position in the commissary department under Maj. Gen. James F. Cummings, where he served throughout the war. Our subject has been married twice, the first time, January 21, 1851, to Miss Mary J. Hoover, who was born October 6, 1833, and who is the daughter of William Hoover. To this union were born five children: William L., Granville H., Samuel B., Robert L. and Sallie A. Mr. Bigham was married the last time, February 15, 1883, to Miss Sue F. Burks, of Bedford County, Tenn., born April 13, 1853. To this union was born one son, Roy B. Mr. Bigham is a Democrat, a Mason, and he and his wife are members of the Christian Church. The grandfather of our subject, Samuel Bigham, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He participated in the battle of Camden, under command of Gen. Gates, where the American forces were totally defeated. There is a $2 bill of the old Continental issue still in possession of the family and in a good state of preservation, which he received from the government in payment for services in that war.