Contra Costa County Biography

HARCOURT GALTON BIGGS

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, December, 2006.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


                 Harcourt Galton Biggs is the son of the Rev. G. Hesketh Biggs, 
who was justice of the peace of Worceshire County, England. His death occurred 
at Stratford-on-Avon in 1903. Mr. Biggs is an active and enterprising 
representative of the business interests of Contra Costa County. He is 
superintendent of the manufacturing department of Blake Brothers Company. His 
birth occurred in England in 1863, and he acquired his education in the same 
town where Shakespeare lived, Stratford-on-Avon. In 1881 he came to America and 
settled in Texas, where he rode the range for a period of five years. He next 
went to Wyoming, where he followed the range for four years. Mr. Biggs came to 
California and located in San Francisco in 1890, and became identified with 
Warren & Company, a wholesale machinery firm, for two years. He then took a 
position with the Minturn ranch in Fresno County, where he acted as foreman for 
two years. Throughout his career Mr. Biggs has been successful in every business 
he has undertaken, and was especially successful in handling horses. He 
conducted a business for three years in San Francisco, corner of Van Ness and 
Golden Gate Avenues, where he bought and sold horses, after which he became 
associated in his present position. Politically, Mr. Biggs is affiliated with 
the Republican party. He held a position as foreman of the jute-mill at San 
Quentin for nearly two years, and acted as deputy sheriff in Fremont County, 
Wyoming. While he was acting in this capacity the sheriff was killed while 
hunting horse-thieves, and Mr. Biggs served three months as sheriff to fill the 
unexpired term. He was then appointed deputy sheriff under the new 
administration. Fraternally, Mr. Biggs is affiliated with the B. P. O. E. lodge 
of Richmond, and he has the recognition of having held the office of exalted 
ruler. He was elected to this office April 1, 1914, and his term expired April 
6, 1915. At the expiration of his office, Mr. Biggs was presented with a 
handsome gold watch. He was united in marriage to Gertrude Lindsay, daughter of 
Judge Lindsay, August 29, 1894. Their two children are Adele, born September 19, 
1895, and Reginald, born May 5, 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Biggs are esteemed by all who 
know them.
 
Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California," Elms Publ. Co.," 1917, 
pp. 593-594.