The Higgins family is a large one. 

Use this link to go directly to the Higgins Outline Descendant Tree on the Family Tree Maker site. Use the back button on your browser to return to this page.  Read on for more information concerning the origin of this family.

There are some researchers who believe that William Higgins and Polly Linville of Lancaster County, PA are the parents of Linville, Thomas, John and Jennie Higgins.  I disagree.  I believe that John Higgins and Fannie Bauguess were their parents.   The history and descendants of Linville Higgins and his brothers are well documented and largely agreed upon, which is one of the reasons I discount the theory that William and Polly are their parents.  William and Polly had several children, including a John Higgins and Thomas Higgins.  But the families and descendants of these two men do not match the families and descendants of the John and Thomas Higgins who are known to be the brothers of our Linville Higgins. It's my humble opinion that someone found the family of William Higgins and Polly Linville and mistakingly assigned them as the parents of our Linville.  Who knows, they could have had a Linville of their own, which is entirely believable considering that "Linville" is Polly's maiden name, but I just do not believe he is our Linville, the one who married Juda Kirby.

Bishop George Higgins wrote a book in 1989 about the Higgins clan.  He cited a family history written by William Rufus Cooley, born July 13, 1856, son of Nancy Caroline Higgins and grandson of Thomas Higgins, our Linville's brother.  In that history, William Cooley, a minister in the Church of Christ and a school teacher, wrote "John Higgins and Fannie Bauguess, his wife, lived in Ashe County, N.C.  They had three sons, Linville, Thomas and John."

The following paragraphs come from George Higgins book, "The Higgins Family of North Carolina and Virginia Featuring the Descendants of John Higgins and Fannie Bauguess and Their Three Sons Linville Higgins,Thomas Higgins, John Higgins" Fourth Edition October 15, 1989.

Another document is an entry in "The Heritage of Wilkes County" entitled "The Bauguess Family" (Section No. 340, page 95). This account relates how the family of Richard Bauguess and Nancy McCarty left Loudoun County, Virginia, about 1785 and moved to Wilkes County, N.C. They settled near what is now Traphill.

Theirs was a large family.  In all there were reportedly twent-two children.   Richard was married twice.  His second wife was Keziah Rose, who was apparently the mother of part of the children.  This is indicated by his will written by 1809 in which he left "all and every of my real or personal estate that it shall please God to bless me with at my death" to his wife.  None of the children are mentioned by name in the will but are referred to in such general ways as those "not of age at my death" or those who will "comeof age furing her (his wife's) natural life."  The will was probated in 1822.

Two deeds are on record among the early records of Wilkes County in which Richard Baugess sold tracts of land to two of his sons, Robert and Vincen.  Both of the deeds indicate that Richard could not read and write which probably was why his name is often misspelled.

In the deed to Vincen dated 1814 the name is spelled Baugust throughout, while in the deed to Robert dated 1800, it is spelled Bauguess.  The census record of 1800 also spells the name Baugust.  One of the witnesses to the 1800 deed was John Higgins who was probably his son-in-law who married his daughter, Fannie.

Discovering just who the John Higgins was who married Fannie Bauguess and was the father of the three brothers, Linville, Thomas and John, has been difficult and has not resulted in any absolute conclusions.  One of the problems encountered in our research is the fact that in the years around 1790 there are a number of men mentioned in the historical documents named John Higgins.

In 1810 there is a John Higgins in Wilkes County, N.C. with a family of five males and four females.  One of the striking features of this is the similarity of the John Higgins family in Wilkes County in the census record of 1810 with what we know of the John Higgins - Fannie Bauguess Higgins family of Ashe County of the same date.  These similarities indicate that the two families might very well be one and the same.

From the census record all that we know abouth the wife of John Higgins is that she was between 26 and 45 years of age.  Her husband was listed os over 45 years ols.   She might, or might not have been the mother of the other seven members of the family.  Census records prior to 1850 listed only the name of the head of the household.

Of Fannie Bauguess, the daughter of Richard Bauuress and the wife of John Higgins, little is also known.  One solid known fact is that her son Linville was born in 1796.  He could have been her oldest child; certainly he was her oldest son.

Assuming that she was approximatley 18 years old when Linville was born, she was born about 1773 in Loudoun County, VA.  It is known that the Richard Bauguess family moved to Wilkes County in 1785.  Fannie was therefore around the age of 12 when the family moved from Virginia.  This would indicate that she grew up in Wilkes County and was married there.

A comparison of the two families gives a clear indication that the John Higgins family listed in the 1810 census and the John Higgins - Fannie Bauguess family are one and the same.

John Higgins & Fannie Bauguess Family..............................John Higgins Family in 1810 Census John Higgins, age 3.............................................................2 males under 10                        Thomas Higgins age 7.........................................................  "    "        "          "                         Linville Higgins, age 14........................................................1 male between 10 and 15         Fannie, approximately 37 years old .....................................Mother between 26 and 45

Another tie-in between the two families, is the fact that John Higgins in 1800 witnessed a deen in which Richard Bauguess sold a tract of land to Robart Baugess.

One piece of the puzzle that does not match is the fact that the census famil of 1810 includes a male member between the age of 16 and 26.  No such person is known to have been a member of the John Higgins Fannie Bauguess family.

The John Higgins famil of Wilkes County that apppears in the 1810 census is not found in the 1820 census records.  This would indicate that after 1810 the family left Wilkes County.  Another fact pointg to this is a deed in the Wilkes County Register of Deeds office which shows that John Higgins in 1811 sold a tract of 170 acres to Michael Ryan.  The price was $150. The family apparently left Wilkes for good.  The land is described as "on the waters of Hig Bugaboo."

The land transaction on record in Ashe County in the name of John Higgins are not very helpful.  Because of their late date there is no way to tell which was father and which was the son.  In fact all four of these were registed after 1835.

In 1835 William Passmore sold John Higgins 50 acres for $50. The exact location of the property is not given.  The lnly clue is a reference to the "Henry Johnson Line." A companion deed is more helpful.  The deed also dated 1835 is from John Passmore to Thomas Higgins for 255 acres.  It identifies the land as "lying on the Brushy Fork of Little River" and refers to Johnson's line and to " a bent in Brushy Fork."

All of these deeds were probably for John Higgins, Jr.  His father we know was over 45 in 1810.  In 1835 when the first grant from the State was recorded, John Higgins, Sr. would have been over 70.  In 1835 John Higgins, Jr. would have been 28.   It is therefore most likely that all the deeds were for John Higgins, Jr., the brother of Linville and Thomas.

Conclusion      

Based on the information we now have it is reasonable to assume that Fannie Bauguess grew up a young woman in Wilkes County, near Traphill; that she married John Higgins of Wilkes County and that probably all of her children were born in Wilkes.

Shortly after 1810 she and her husband and children probably moved to Ashe County.  This move must have occurred before 1820. It is a well known fact that many families in the period after 1790 left Wilkes County to settle in Ashe County which up to 1859 included what is now Alleghany.

The three sons of John and Fannie bought or acquired through State grants sizeable tracts of land in the area in and around Ennice, North Carolina and near Galax in Virginia.

Just where John and Fannie lived is unknown as is the place where they were buried.

    Here begins the family history of John Higgins and Fannie Bauguess

Linville Higgins was born on April 8, 1796 in Wilkes County, North Carolina.  In 1799, Wilkes County became Ashe County,  In 1859, Alleghany County was formed from Ashe County.  The name of the place where Linville lived may have changed, but Linville lived in the area all of his life. He died on June 6, 1881.   Juda died on April 25, 1878.  Thery were buried near the post office in Ennice, North Carolina. These are the children of Linville Higgins and Juda Kirby: 

Goldman Higgins,  Linville Higgins II,  Bryant Hagins,  John Higgins, Kirby Higgins, Thomas Higgins, Frances Higgins,  Palmyra Higgins (who choked to death on a bean), William Higgins, David Higgins who was born on August 16, 1832 and never married, Calvin Higgins who was born on March 16, 1835 and never married, and Sarah Higgins, who was born on June 14, 1837 and died of Typhoid fever.

Thomas Higgins was born in 1803 and died in 1877 in Virginia.  He is buried on the Old Higgins Farm in the Cold Creek Community, near Galax Virgina.  He married Mary Edwards, daughter of Young Edwards and Catherine Cox.  They had 13 children:

Nancy Caroline Higgins (born April 11, 1833), Jane, Frances, Houston E., Hardin Preston, Martha, Mary Katherine, Rosa, Amelia, Phebe, Phibias, Pelian, and Fidella.

John Higgins was born December 25, 1807 and died October 16, 1877.  He married Susan Edwards in 1826.  They had 13 children:

Delilah Higgins born October 14, 1828                             Calvin Higginsborn October 3, 1830 Beulah Higgins born October 9, 1832                                Mary Jane Higgins born May 15, 1835 Linville Higgins born September 14, 1838                          Granville Higgins born Nov. 19, 1840 Frances Higgins born March 12, 1842                                Martha Higgins born Sept. 29, 1845 Catherine Higgins born July 7, 1848                                    Daniel Higgins born March 18, 1851 Susannah Higgins born about 1854                                     Thomas C. Higgins born June 5 1857 Emeline Higgins born about 1861