Daniel Bigelow

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Daniel Bigelow (21 March 1824-15 September 1905) was a pioneer lawyer and politician in Olympia, Washington.

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[edit] Biography

Daniel Richardson Bigelow was born March 21, 1824 in Belleville, New York. He joined a wagon-train and headed west on the Oregon Trail to Portland, then sailed up the coast in the schooner Exact to Puget Sound in Nov. 1851. Bigelow established a law office in Smithfield (now called Olympia), Oregon Territory.

On June 18, 1854, Bigelow married Ann Elizabeth White, the first school teacher in the area. Ann was born Nov. 3, 1836 in Illinois and arrived in Olympia with her family in late 1851. Daniel became Treasurer of Thurston County, a member of the first legislature of Washington Territory, Superintendent of the Olympia School, and President of the Board of Trustees of Puget Sound Wesleyan Institute, the forerunner of the University of Puget Sound.

Bigelow was a gifted orator whose July 4, 1852 speech to the Oregon Territory Legislature is credited with igniting a movement to grant Washington statehood.[1] He was one of three commissioners who completely rewrote the laws of Oregon Territory at Salem during the summer of 1853. Their recommendations were accepted by the Legislative Assembly and enacted into law, creating the new Territory of Washington.

Daniel Bigelow died September 15, 1905 at Olympia. Ann Elizabeth Bigelow died February 8, 1926. The Bigelows had 9 children.[2]

[edit] Bigelow family mementos

A digitized version of the unpublished, handwritten diary of Daniel R. Bigelow, plus a transcription of the diary and articles found in the diary, historical photographs including many portraits, and a charcoal portrait of Ann Elizabeth Bigelow[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Weber, D. (2003) "The Creation of Washington Territory: Securing Democracy North of the Columbia", The Columbia. 17(3). Retrieved 7/17/07.
  2. ^ (nd) Bigelow House Museum History. Retrieved 7/17/07.
  3. ^ Bigelow, Daniel R. (2006) Bigelow Family Mementos available from the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection. Retrieved 7/17/07.