Tolbert Higgins (abt. 1812 - abt. 1840)

Born about Aug 1812 in Kentucky

Ancestors

Husband of Matilda Mounteford (Jones) Burns — married 4 Dec 1832 in Rush County, Indiana, United States

Descendants

Died about Feb 1840 at about age 27 in Coffey, Daviess County, Missouri, United States

Biography

Tolbert Higgins was born in ~1812 in Kentucky. His parents are believed to be Thomas Higgins (1785 - 1829) and Rebecca (Ford) Higgins (1789 - >1875).

Tolbert married Matilda Mounteford Jones (1809 - ~1902) in 1833 in Rush County, Indiana.^[1]

Their children were...

1. Thomas J. Higgins (1834 - 1929)
2. Louisa Jane (Higgins) Thomas (1836 - 1863)
3. Aaron D. Higgins (~1838 - 1921)
4. Tolbert Higgins (1840 - 1928).

Tolbert died in February 1840 in Davies County, Missouri aged ~32. There are two accounts of Tolbert's death. In one, Tolbert was killed while trying to cut a raccoon from a hollow tree. The other is that a tree fell on him. He was the first burial in Coffey Cemetery, Coffey, Missouri. ^[2]

Research Notes

The St. Joseph Herald ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI. Tuesday, June 23, 1891, Page 5: "First Daviess County Baby" Tolbert Higgins, a genial farmer hailing from Clyde, Cloud county, Kansas has been visiting friends and relatives in Daviess county. He was born on Cypress creek, near where Philo Lasher now lives, on the 31st of May, 1840. His father died the February preceding the birth and was the first person interred in the Salem cemetery. Mr. Higgins is married the second time and has a family consisting of four children. The reside on a farm near Clyde.

Tolbert Higgins

Birth: abt 1807, Kentucky

Alternate Birth: abt 1807, Daviess County, Missouri

Death: 5 Feb 1840, Daviess County, Missouri, United States^[3]

From: History of Harrison County, Missouri, by Geo. W. Wanamaker, Illustrated, Historical Publishing Company Topeka? Indianapolis, 1921.

Thomas J. Higgins, a well known farmer and stockman of Adams Township, was born in Rush County, Indiana, May 31, 1834, the son of Talbert and Matilda (Jones) Higgins.Mr. and Mrs. Talbert Higgins came to Missouri in 1839 and settled in Daviess County, near Coffey, before the land was surveyed. Mr. Higgins was killed by a falling tree in February,1840, and he was the first one buried in the cemetery at Coffey, Missouri. His widow died in Adams Township in January, 1901, and is buried at Coffey, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Talbert Higgins were the parents of the following children: Thomas J., of this sketch; Mrs. Louisa Thomas, deceased;A. D., a veteran of the Civil War, died October 14, 1921, and is buried at Coffey, Missouri; and Talbert, who also served in the Civil War. By a second marriage of Mrs. Talbert Higgins to John Bums she had a son and a daughter: Henry Clay Burns and Mrs. Margaret Beckeit, both of whom are deceased.

Thomas J. Higgins came to Harrison County when six years of age, and has lived on his present farm since 1860. Mr. Higgins was in the Civil War, enlisting in 1863 with the Missouri State Militia, Company F. Third Regiment, and was in this company for ninety days, during which time he was stationed in Platte County,near Old Weston.

Thomas J. Higgins was married August 16, 1855, to Christina Myers, a daughter of Abraham and Mary (Bryant) Myers, both deceased. Mrs. Higgins died May 23, 1915,and is buried at Coffey, Missouri.

Mr. and Mrs. Higgins are the parents of the following children: Emma and Eobert Y.,both deceased; Elizabeth, the wife of William P. Hutcherson, of Coffey,Missouri ; Lillian, the wife of Columbia Hiatt, and who is deceased ; Louisa Jane, the wife of John Galbreath, of Bethany, Missouri; Abraham, of Gilnian,Missouri, who married Cora Gillilan ; and Joseph T., of Adams Township.

Joseph T. Higgins owns eighty acres of land four and one-half miles northwest of Oilman. December 26, 1897, he married Lura H. Young, a daughter of W. B. and Elizabeth Williams Young , of Blue Ridge, Missouri. Mrs. Young was a daughter of David N. Williams, an early settler of Adams Township, who located here in 1869. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph T. Higgins have two sons: Hugh and Thomas B. Hugh Higgins was married June 1, 1921, to Gertrude Hayes, of Amnston, Alabama.

Joseph T. Higgins is a member of the Masonic Lodge at Oilman, and of the Scottish Rite at St. Joseph. Missouri. He has served as collector for fourteen years and constable for ten years, and is well and favorably known throughout the county.

When Thomas J. Higgins came to this county there were no mills nearer than Richmond,Ray County, more than 100 miles away. The neighbors would assemble their grist and one wagon would take the lot and get it ground. At that time oxen and horses were used for mode of travel and in the field. The country was open prairie from Cypress to Sugar Creek, and the flies were so bad that teams could hardly be driven across the prairie in the summer. Mr. Higgins broke a great deal of prairie land with a yoke of oxen. When he was a boy he used to supply the harvest hands with whiskey and water, the men in the fields having their choice.He often went to Bethany with a jug, and purchased whiskey for twenty-five cents per gallon.

Hugh Higgins, a son of Joseph T. Higgins, enlisted October 9, 1919, with the Nineteenth Company in the General Service Infantry, detached service, under command of the adjutant general at Washington and served until October, 1920. George T.Higgins, a son of Abraham Higgins, enlisted in the Twelfth Engineer Corps, and went overseas with the Rainbow Division, and served all during the war, but was murdered March, 1919, in France, for his money. He was a dispatch bearer,attached to the General Staff, and was found eight miles from camp with his motorcycle and guns gone, and he had been shot in the back of his head. His body has been returned and is buried at Gilman City, Missouri.

William Galbraith, a nephew of Joseph Higgins, enlisted at Camp Taylor, Kentucky, and went overseas with the First Division.

More....

BIOGRAPHY: Tolbert & Matilda Higgins & family arrived in Daviess County, Missouri about 1839. In 1840 Tolbert was chopping wood, when a tree fell on him, killing him instantly.

More About TOLBERT HIGGINS:

Burial: Old Coffey Cemetery, Daviess County, Missouri

You mentioned the falling tree that killed Talbert ? one of the pictures I sent shows a page from "History of Daviess County" of that event. It says 'sometime around 1845',

Correspondence:

Hi Mike,

I believe the date of death for Talbert is 1840. The "History of Daviess County" states "In about the year 1845". So it didn't give an exact year. His grave stone reads, "Tolbert Higgins, born Aug. 1812, Died Feb. 5, 1840". Matilda's, his wife, stone reads, MOTHER, wife of Talbert Higgins, born Oct. 28, 1811, died Jan. 6, 1902. Erected by Her Boy A. D. Higgins." Their daughter, Louisa Jane Higgins, who married Isaac Newton Thomas, is buried beside them. Louisa Jane is my line. I will send all of that info later. Matilda married again after Talbert's death. I have Matilda's obituary which I will send. Also, in this obituary it states that her husband Talbert died in 1840.

My line is:

Talbert & Matilda (Jones) Higgins - my great, great, great grandparents

Louisa Jane Higgins & Isaac Newton Thomas - my great, great grandparents

Minerva Jane Thomas & Samuel Jasper Goodvin - my great grandparents

Nathan Elmer Goodvin & Lucy Everly Haines - my grandparents

Joanna Roberta Goodvin & Lewis Milton Clark - my parents

I grew up in Daviess County, MO and now live in Kansas City, MO.

It may be a few days before I get all of the info ready to mail to you as we have been gone and I have a lot of catching up to do.

Sources

1. ↑ "Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XXFC-PXT : 10 December 2017), Tolbert Higgins and Matilda Jones, 04 Dec 1832; citing Rush, Indiana, United States, Marriage Registration, Indiana Commission on Public Records, Indianapolis; FHL microfilm 004129317.
2. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 16 March 2021), memorial page for Tolbert Higgins (Aug 1812–Feb 1840), Find A Grave: Memorial #23835838, citing Coffey Cemetery, Coffey, Daviess County, Missouri, USA ; Maintained by Caryn Hood (contributor 46777279) .
3. ↑ Note: Tolbert Higgins, buried in Coffee Cemetery, Daviess County, Missouri

Ancestral File Number: 11T4-093

Acknowledgments

• WikiTree profile Higgins-657 created through the import of Mike Gedcom as of Jul 2011.ged on Jul 9, 2011 by Michael Higgins.
• This person was created through the import of forwikitree.ged on 08 March 2011.