Sarah Biggs

Other Events:

• Beneficiary: 24 Feb 1760; in the will of her father, as daughter Sarah and her heirs

Notes:

Mentioned in the will of John Biggs as daughter Sarah and her heirs.

Family/Spouse: Joseph Hedges. Joseph and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Jan Biks
• Will: 24 Feb 1760, Frederick County, Maryland, British Colonial America
• Probate: 10 Mar 1761, Frederick County, Maryland, British Colonial America

Notes:

...John Biggs (1787-1761) was the first leaseholder on "Monocacy Manor." He was of English descent, born in Ulster County in New York Colony. There he married Eva Lambertse Brink, and at Kingston eight of his ten children were baptized. About 1726 the family moved to New Jersey, settling in Somerset County in the Raritan River area. Also in this locale were William Dern, his future next door neighbor on "Dulany's Lot," as well as Cornelius Low, Susanna Beatty, the Middaghs and others with whom he would later associate in Maryland. A ninth child was born in New Jersey, and there his wife Eva died. Then, no doubt encouraged by Susanna Beatty, he moved to Maryland sometime after June 1737, when we have the last record of him in New Jersey. In Maryland he married the widow Mary Stilley and on August 23, 1741 leased Lot No. 2 on "Monocacy Manor." His lot, which he called "Biggs Delight," was leased for the natural lives of his sons Benjamin and William Biggs. It was situated near the southwestern corner of the whole tract, just north of the mouth of Glade Creek, two miles west of today's Walkersville. his land fronted along the Monocacy River opposite "Hedge Hog" on the west bank. Between these parcels the River could be crossed by a ford which today has been replaced by Biggs Ford Bridge.
...In addition to his leased land, John Biggs purchased 50 acres on "Dulany's Lot" which in 1758 he sold to Stephen Ramsburg. Ramsburg combined these acres with the former Farquahar parcel on "Dulany's................continued, pages missing. There is a note: pp. 109, 114, 309: John Bigg's second wife Mary Stilly or Stell was not the widow of Jacob Stilley, who died after John Biggs. (Source: Historical Society of Carroll County (Maryland), "Pioneers of Old Monocacy: the early settlement of Frederick County, Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing County, Inc., 1987, pg. 309)

...In 1726, John and Eva moved to New Jersey and lived near the Rariton river in Somerset County. On December 30, 1728, John Biggs witnessed the will of Thomas Hall's wife "Gheerty". A ninth child, Catherine, was born in New Jersey. Eva (Brink) Biggs died there in about 1735. Sometime after June 1737, John Biggs moved his family to Maryland, where he married Mary Stille and had another daughter: Sarah, born 1750, married Joseph Hedges. In 1845, Lyman Draper interviewed Joseph Hedges, then 78 years old, in Ohio Co., Virginia (now West Virginia)
...In 1741, John Biggs II and his family were living on an estate called Monocacy Manor, located on the Monocacy River near today's city of Frederick, Maryland. He also owned some town lots in Frederick.
...As early as the 1660's, Cecilius Calvert, Second Lord Baltimore and the first Proprietor of Maryland, began setting aside for himself and his heirs prime land intended for leasing but not for patenting (private Ownership). These lands were called "manors". In 1741, most land was owned by the English crown or favored friends of the crown. Monocacy Manor was owned by the fifth or sixth Lord Baltimore. Actual leasing was carried out by his agent, one Daniel Dulany, an English lawyer who made the mistake of remaining loyal to the crown during the Revolution. Rent was set at 10 shillings per 100 acres. A typical lease of the day could require, for example, that the leaseholder build "one good substantial dwelling house, thirty feet long and twenty feet wide, with a brick chimney thereto. The leaseholder might also be required to plant 100 apple trees within five years. Leases often prohibited excessive cutting of timber, which was considered an asset owned by the proprietor. When the lease expired, the land and all improvements reverted back to the Lord Proprietar.
...John Biggs II was the first tenant on Monocacy Manor. Parcels of land were usually leased for a period equal to the natural lifetimes of three individuals selected by the leaseholder. These frequently were for his own life and the lives of two sons, with the hope that one of them would live a long time. John Biggs' lot, which he called B"Biggs Delight", was leased for the natural lives of himself and two of his sons, Benjamin and William. His land fronted the Monocacy River on the east bank directly across from "Hedge Hogg". The river could be crossed between these two parcels of land by Biggs Ford which was later replaced by Biggs Ford Bridge.
...Twice after 1743, leaseholders in Monocacy, despite the fact that their leases had not expired, and not taking
into account die work they had put into developing their parcels of land, were threatened with wholesale eviction. Before the Revolution, the Sixth lord Baltimore decided to sell all "his" manor lands. Lucky for the tenants, the sales were not a success in Monocacy Manor. While some manors were sold in their entirety or nearly so, not a single lot in Monocacy Manor was sold. This was due to the high asking price and the scarcity of money and die fact that sales could not eliminate the unexpired leases of existing tenants.
..."Monocacy" is an American pronunciation of the Shawnee name "Monnockkesey". The land of Monocacy Manor is located along the Monocacy River in the shadow of the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland. The river and mountains stretch southward until they meet the Potomac River. The Monocacy lands end there.
...After the Revolution, in 1781, the new United States government confiscated this manor and sold it in small parcels. A thorough survey of eight Maryland manors, including Monocacy, made after confiscation shows that Monocacy had excellent soil, "none of it as yet exhausted through excessive cultivation." Most all of the lots were heavily wooded and over two-thirds of them had water.
...By the end of the American Revolution, the leases on most manor lots had expired. The lots were sold at auction to the highest bidder rather than by an established asking price. In the case of Monocacy Manor, payment could even be made by soldiers' pay certificates which were accepted at full face value. A traffic in these pay certificates by army officers and person of wealth had resulted in most land ending up in their hands. The poor tenants, who had invested what little capital they had in improving the land, could not successfully bid against these indibiduals and, therefore, lost their land, improvements and all.
...John Biggs II and his sons eventually owned large areas of farm land in Maryland some of it in Monocacy. In addition to his Monocacy land, which he managed to hold on to, he purchased 50 acres on "Dulany's Lot", which he sold in 1758. He also purchased "Good Luck" in 1751, 100 acres on Fishing Creek. It was Biggs only land survey. Some of this land remained in the Biggs family until 1883, when the house built by John Biggs II in Monocacy manor and the cemetery in which he was buried were destroyed and another family took possession of the land. A large stone barn which he built was still standing about 1840. Bernice F. Hathaway in her book Biggs-McGrew and Allied Lines, states: "This land remained in the Biggs family until 1883, at which time the family graveyard stones were buried and the cemetery plowed over and made into a field. John Biggs lies there."
...John Biggs II still had ties to his former home, New Jersey, as evidenced on July 30, 1754, when he received a chattel mortgage from George Sexton for underwriting Sexton's loan of £7/5/0 to Malachi Bonham, a Baptist pastor at Kingwood, New Jersey. Also in 1754, he held a chattel mortgage with Charles Hedges from Robert McPherson to guarantee McPherson's appearance in court the following March. In 1754, he witnessed Susanna Beatty's will (his neighbor in both New Jersey and Maryland).
...In 1760, John Biggs II wrote his own Will, naming two sons and five daughters and appointing his friend and neighbor, Stephen Ramsburg, as executor. In 1761, John Biggs II died on "Biggs Delight" in Monocacy Manor. After his death, neighbor Caspar Devilbiss tenanted his Monocacy parcel. Sons Benjamin and William had earlier moved to the area of present day Carroll County, Maryland. The Will, probated in Frederick County, Maryland, February 21, 1761, is quite long. I include part of it:

"...I give and bequeath to my sons, Benjamin Biggs, William Biggs and to my daughters Elizabeth Pitinger, Hendricka Barton, Mary Doddridge and Catherine Julian the tract of land and plantation whereon I now live being a part of Monocacy Manor, allowing my wife the house and plantation one year after my decease.
"...I give and bequeath to my sons Benjamin Biggs and William Biggs all my wearing apparel and my three guns and three pistols and three swords.
"...I give and bequeath to my wife, Mary Biggs, two lots lying in Frederick town and one tract of land called Good Luck until my daughter Sarah Biggs arive at sixteen years of age, and then only half of the foresaid lots and tract of land during her life.
"...I give and bequeath unto my daughter Sarah and her heirs and assigns forever when she shall arrive at sixteen years of age the aforesaid lots in Fredericktown and the aforesaid tract of land, allowing my wife Mary one half during her life but if my daughter should die before she arrives at sixteen years of age or leaves lawful issue, that then the aforesaid two lots and the aforesaid tract land after my wife's decease be sold and the arising thereon be equally divided among my children, namely, Benjamin Biggs, William Biggs, Elizabeth Pitinger, Hendricka Barton, Mary Doddridge and Catharine Julian.
"...I give and bequeath to my wife Mary, one peuter tankard, and large peuter dish and three small ditto. One peuter basin, seven peuter plates, two horses, three mares, three milch cows, and all other cow kind excepting one, and also all the winter grain threshed and unthreshed and also all the grain in the ground and also all the Indian corn and oats and also one of my pots and two iron pots, one potrack, one plow, all my swine young and old and all my sheep and also one feather and two chaff beds, bedclothes belonging to beds, bedsteads and also flax both dressed, and also part of the hemp, and one side saddle and bridle and six year old cask and one cider mill in consideration of my wife's paying all the debts I have, that have been contracted within nine years past as also my burial charges and paying my daughter when she arrives at the age of sixteen years the sum of 20 pounds current money.
"...I give to James Stille, my wife's son before I married her, one bay mare, three years old this summer.
"...I give all the remainder of my personal estate to be equally divided among my children namely, Benjamin Biggs, Williams Biggs, Elizabeth Pitinger, Hendricka Barton, Mary Doddridge and Catherine Julian, and lastly do I constitute and appoint my well beloved wife Mary Biggs and my truly friend Stephen Ramsburg to be my executors of this my last will and testament revoking all other and former wills by me before this time made, ratifying this and no other to be my last will and testament." (Source: "The Biggs Family", Janet M. Flynn, p2-6 - The American Connection; PDF, Family History Books (http://books.familysearch.org/))

John married Mary Stille. Mary died after 24 Feb 1760. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Beneficiary: 24 Feb 1760; in the will of her husband, John Biggs
• Executor: 24 Feb 1760; Mary Biggs and Stephen Ramsburgh were named executors in the will of her husband, John Biggs

Notes:

Mentioned in the will of John Biggs as wife Mary and also as executor Mary Biggs.

Other Events:

• Name: Jan Bigges

Notes:

...Ensign John Biggs of Worcestershire, England, immigrated to America in 1664. He was a soldier in the military expedition of Colonel Richard Nicolls who defeated the Dutch and established English rule in New York (then New Amsterdam) and Delaware. On May 25, 1664, Co., Richard Nicolls departed from Portsmouth, England, on four ships with 300 soldiers and 450 men. on August 29, 1664, when the Nicholls' expedition arrived at New Amsterham, Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrendered to them. Not a shot had been fired. Sir Robert Carr, commissioned by Col. Nicolls, pressed on and captured Delaware on September 30, 1664 and Fort Amstel on October 13, 1664. Fort Amstel's name was changed to Newcastle and the British now controlled New York and Delaware.
...John Biggs, John Ogle, Thomas Wollaston, James Crawford and Lieutenant George Hall served together as military comrades in the Nicolls expedition. Ogle, Wollaston and Crawford settled in Delaware as neighbors. John Biggs and George Hall stayed in New York. Members of these families would pioneer, marry and settle together for generations, moving through Delaware and New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. Some of them ultimately settled in Illinois.
...After his service to the crown, John Biggs settled in New York near the Hudson River at Kingston, about halfway between New York and Albany. No record can be found of his first marriage, but he was a widower on September 28, 1686, when he married Mary Hall, the daughter of George Hall, lieutenant in the Nicolls expedition. The record of their marriage was recorded by a Dutchman. The entry reads:
"Jan Biggs of O. Engeland (Old England) in Oostershire (Worcestershire), widower, resid. In Morbelton (Marbletown) and Mary Hal, J. D., born in Kingstowned (Kingston, NY) and resid. as above."

...In 1666, John Biggs set what was to become a Biggs family tradition and fought the Indians in New York. in april of 1669, the commissioners appointed by Governor Lovelace (Nicolls' successor) formally organized the militia of Hurley and Marbletown under the following commissioned officers: "henry Pawling, Captain; Christopher Beresford, Lieut; John Biggs, Ensign." Most, if not all, of these men were professional soldiers, George Hall, was a soldier in the Marbletown company. In August 1685, the company for Hurley and Marbletown was co-officered by the now Lieutenant John Biggs. In his book "The Skillmans of American", by William J. Skillman, Skillman describes a special contingent of twenty five men sent by the Governor of New York to "chastise the Indians who three years previously had perpetrated the cruel Wiltwyck Massacre." among these were joohn Biggs and George Hall. The twenty five men were promised "a land bounty of ten acres each at Esopus." (Esopus is the old Indian name for present day Kingston, New York.) Mr. Skillman goes on to state that "some of them, the savages having been punished, settled down and made their homes in that region so recently harried." In 1674, George Hall was made "Schout" (Dutch for "Sherriff") of Esopus.

...The Calendar of New York Land Papers 1643-1803 contains the following entries on John Biggs and George Hall:

"p. 6 - 1675 March 1. Minute of a grant from the Court at Marbleton, to Jan Bigg of a small piece of land. V I , p. 58.

March 9. Minute of a grant from the court at Kingston to George Hall of a small piece of land. VI, p. 59.

p. 7 - 1676 March 7. Conveyance from Madam Johanna DeLast, wife of Jeronimus Ebbing to George Hall, for a tract of land lying at the Great Bridge, at Kingston. V. 1, p. 68

p. 14 - 1676 Nov. 13. Description of survey of 20 acres of land being part of a tract known as the Butterfield, lying to ye southwest of Marbletown, laid out for George Hall (with draught). Vol. 1, p. 97.

p. 15 - 1677 May 8. Minute of a grant from the court at Kingston to Lieut. George Hall, of 6 acres of land over the Mill Kill. Vol. 1, p. 112"3
(Source: "The Biggs Family", Janet M. Flynn, p1-2 - Ensign John Biggs; PDF, Family History Books (http://books.familysearch.org/)

John married Mary Hall on 28 Sep 1686 in Kingston, New York Colony, British Colonial America. Mary (daughter of George Haal and Elizabeth Bickerstaff) was born in 1666 in Kingston, New York Colony, British Colonial America; died in 1712 in Marbletown, Ulster County, New York Colony, British Colonial America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Mary Haal
• Name: Mary Hal

Notes:

After John's death, Mary (Hall) Biggs remarried Pieter Mouritz and nothing is known about her thereafter.

Matthew married Mary _____. Mary was born in 1634 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England; died in in Kingston, New York Colony, British Colonial America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Mary Biggs

George married Elizabeth Bickerstaff in 1660. Elizabeth was born about 1640 in England, United Kingdom; died after 1675 in Ulster County, New York, British Colonial America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]