HIGGINS-A.N. - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

A. N. Higgins, teacher, Veedersburg. The ancestors of the subject of this sketch came originally from England, Scotland, and Wales. The Higgins family came from Scotland and settled in Virginia. The earliest known incidents of the Higginses seem to date from about the year 1770. At that time there was living in Virginia a family of several boys, all of whom emigrated to Kentucky about 1775. One of them, James Higgins, held an office of some kind in the land office of Kentucky, and Moses Higgins, the father of A. N., has now in his possession the certificates of entry to the other brothers as made out by James. James was afterward captured and burned at the stake by the Indians. William, the direct ancestor, enlisted in the war of the revolution. He served as a captain under Washington throughout the war, was present at the battles of Long Island, Princeton, Germantown, and crossed the Delaware amid the floating ice December 24, 1776, and fought the Hessians at the battle of Trenton. He witnessed the execution of Major Andre, was challenged by a superior officer, with whom he fought a duel. William was untouched. The officer's beard was clipped by the ball from William's pistol. Of the next generation nothing is known, only that they lived a quiet life in Kentucky, the majority owning slaves. In the third generation was one William, who came to Indiana at an early day and settled in Rush county. He had married, while in Kentucky, Elizzabeth Wills, from whom was born a large family of children. At the death of his father, William questioned the moral right of slavery, and refused to inherit any property in slaves, which seems to have prompted his emigration to Indiana. Moses, his eldest son, born 1818, married Mahala B. Womack, born 1816, who likewise came from Kentucky, and was related in some way, not known to the writer, to the Bryans, into whose family Daniel Boone married. By her he had nine children, the first four being girls and the next five boys. Elmazie, the second daughter, married Elias Lee, by whom she had two children. The eldest, 0. P. Lee, has finished the classic course of study, and now holds a professorship in the normal school at Fort Scott, Kansas. A. N. Higgins, the eighth child, was born in Shelby county, Indiana, in 1852. He attended school in the following places: Kokomo, Indiana; Lebanon, Ohio; Southern State Normal, Carbondale, Illinois; and Ladoga, Indiana. In 1877 he went to Illinois, where he engaged in teaching for three years. During his stay there he married, in the spring of 1880, Lucy Watson, of German parentage, born in 1861. In the fall of 1880 he returned to Indiana to accept the principalship of the Van Buren township graded school at Veedersburg, which position he now holds.