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Researcher
Submission
Higgs
Cemetery
By Ralph and Betty
Higgs Lamberson
The Higgs Cemetery is located on a hill above a spring which runs into
Pogue's creek. It is located North of Highway W on farm road 1060 (Twp 24
Range 28W section 33) In the 1970's the farm was owned by Lloyd Dilbeck. The
property to access the Cemetery now belongs to Debra Aldridge.
849 Warranty Deed
Julia A. (Higgs) Brite
Et Al to Barry CO.
for cemetery filed for record May 12th 1890 at 9:30 O'clock
Charles Bryan Recorder
State of Missouri
County of Barry
On this the 36th day of April 1890 before me personally appeared Julia A.
Brite,________, Zachariah Higgs and Betty his wife (by their attorney Thomas
McDuffa Higgs) , James K. Higgs and Martha J. Higgs his wife, Alexander
Higgs and Margaret E. Higgs his wife, Thomas M. Higgs and Mary Higgs his
wife, S.R. Higgs and Martha Higgs his wife, James A .Duncan and Eliza Duncan
his wife, Charles B. Duncan and Julia R. Duncan his wife, Julia Baker and
James Baker her husband, F. M. Duncan (single). To me known to be the
persons described in an who executed the foregoing instrument and
acknowledges that they executed the same as their free act and deed. In
testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my official seal
at my office in Barry County the day and year as above written.
Charles S. Bryan
Deed Book 44 page 174 - "It is understood that this deed is made to the said
hand for the graveyard for the parties of the first part and their heirs."
The plot consists of one half acre.
Artelia E. Higgs - dau. of A.H. and M. E. Higgs
Nov.9, 1871- May 6, 1876
Ettie E. Higgs - dau. of N.E. and J. Z. Higgs
Sept. 27, 1820 - Feb. 3, 1821 (I am not certain of this date this is what it
looked like, It may very well be a 7?) ( It is possible it is a memorial
stone?)
Adaline E. Higgs - dau of J. and M. Higgs
April 17, 1825 - Feb. 20, 1862
James K. Higgs and Martha J. Higgs
1833 - 1922 1839 - 1905
Harve Higgs and Belle Higgs
1871 - 1942 1877-1942
Shoopman - son of A. J. and M. J.
July 9, 1873 - Oct. 8, 1885
Mary Geneva Higgs - dau of Thos McD and MD Higgs
April 1, 1872 - Mar. 25, 1875
Alexander and Margaret E. Higgs
1839 - 1904 1844 -1912
Tollie Higgs
1908 - 1926
John Higgs and Martha Higgs John and Martha Higgs are the Great Grandparents
of virtually all the Higgs who live in Barry County today.
John Higgs
Aug, 1792 Jan. 23, 1802
May 16, 1883 -5 Sept. 22, 1889
There are several unmarked graves. Many are supposed to be slaves and their
descendants who came with John Higgs to Missouri in 1852. One is definitely
Aunt Katy Higgs, a black lady, who chose to stay with John and Martha after
emancipation to live out her life. She died in 1898. See Higgs book for more
info on slaves birth and record.
Information from page 75 and 76 of The Higgs Family Maryland to Missouri by
Betty Higgs Lamberson, published in 1978.
Ralph & Betty Lamberson |
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The black
families that could be buried In the Higgs Cemetery
The blacks that were in the lot (#3) that John Higgs reportedly brought from
North Carolina to Missouri are: Fereby, Sally, Peggs, Frankey, Lucy. Elvia,
Wilcher (Melcher?), Pricilla, Alfred, Katy, Jordan, Pointer, Arch, Aaron,
Abby, Parthemia, Edie, Cherry.
The Higgs blacks who were found near Springfield, Missouri in 1870 and 1880
Census.
Some of these persons were listed as Black and some as Mulatto.
They all took the Higgs name
1870, Green County Census
Eda age 45 – born abt. 1825
Lucy 20 – b. Abt. 1850
Allen 20 – b. abt. 1850
Peggy 35 – b abt. 1835
Ferba 47 – b. abt. 1823
Joe 56 – b. abt. 1814
1880, Green County Census
Edith age 47 – b. abt. 1833
Allen age 28 – b. abt. 1852
Melcher, age 35 – b. abt. 1845
Bastie Eliza age 50 – b. abt. 1830
Archer 60 – b. abt. 1820
Meany E. age 45 – b. abt. 1835
Joseph age 65 – b. abt. 1815
Feriby age 64 - b. abt. 1816
Blake age 20 – b. abt. 1860
I have listed only the names which were old enough to have come from N.C. to
Missouri with John in 1852. All these people have descendants. The purpose
of listing them is to eliminate them from ones who might be buried in the
Higgs cemetery in unmarked graves as they were still living after the War
and residing in Greene County MO. Family Legend tells us “that a slave
called Joe was purchased in Cassville after the Higgs came here? They named
a Hollow for him, near Butterfield, called “Old Joe’s Hollar” As in other
families of the time, younger generations were named after elder
generations.
The Higgs records also include a Negro birth record kept in the family
bible, it is on page 116 – 117 of the Higgs book. I do not quote it in its
entirety here.
Only the ones who were most likely brought to MO about 1852 are listed here.
Pointer was born 9th of December 1827 – Age when came to MO abt. 25
Archer was born 11 of January 1813 – abt. 39
Caty was born 12 of June 182? – abt. 30
Sarah was born 17 of Nov. 1813 – abt 39
Feraby was born 5th of Oct. 1820 – abt 32
Cherry Do was born 1st of January 1791 – abt. 61
We know that Katy was buried in the Higgs Cemetery. By process of
elimination we can say that the only others that could be buried there in
unmarked graves are: (Of Course this does not take into account of any
children of any of these persons who might have died during the ten years
they were in Barry County from about 1852 to about 1862.)
Sally, Elvia, Priscilla, Alfred, Jordan, Pointer, Aaron, Abby, Parthenia,
and Cherry - Cherry would have been 71 in 1861, she may be buried in the
Higgs Cemetery as she did not turn up in Green county in 1870. The others
from Lot #3 are found in Green County in 1870 and 1880.
I corresponded with Calvin Higgs, a black man, from Denver, Colorado, for
several years, during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. I helped him
reconstruct his family history. His grandmother was Feraby born Oct 5, 1820
in North Carolina. He was a son of Calvin Higgs, Sr. who was murdered and
robbed on his way home from his job at a hotel at night in downtown
Springfield, MO. His Father was descended from Joseph and Feraby Higgs and
they are buried at a small church yard (Mt. Comfort Cemetery) North East of
Springfield just off Highway KK.
According to Goodspeed’s History of Barry County, reprint page 38: “There
were 248 slaves in Barry County at the time of the Civil War and John Higgs
owned 14 valued at $5000. A. S. Harbin had 13 valued at $7800 and W. G.
Townsend had 13 valued at $5000”, no one else had as many as 10.
The estate of Leonard Higgs in the May term of court in Granville County,
N.C. in 1851 lists in the Petition for settlement the following Negro
Slaves.
This list gives some of the Mothers and their children. Many of these did
not come to Missouri but were property awarded to the other heirs in lots
#1, #2 and #4.
“Charles, Peggy, Jordan, Gabriel, Alfred, Jim, Arch, Merryman, George,
Pointer, Fielding, Tarlton, Dred, Essese, Isham, Eaton, William, Aaron, Sam,
Cambridge, Arch, Jin, Amy, Chaney, Parthena, Jane, Harriet, Eady, Abby,
Leah, Silvey, Patty, Rhoda, Caty,
Rosa, Cherry, Eliza, and her children Priscilla and Wilcher, Milly and her
children Mississippi and Edward, Betsy and her children Charlotte, Phillis,
Sarah, Allen and Woodson, Mary and her children Jordan, Barbary, Mary, Ann
and Caty, Phenby, and her children Sally, Peggy, Franky and Lucy, Chole and
her children Lucky, Mimy, and Hard, Mariah and her children Chirley, Hannah,
Winny and Patsy, Martha and her children Madison and Milly, ___, Mina and
Jenny”
As any family, newer generations were named after the older generations.
Which can confuse. Also the penmanship and spelling can also be hard to
decipher.
From an Excerpt from a book, Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball,
page 14 sums up what many of us who are descendants of these Slave owning
families feel.
“The subject of the Plantations stirred conflicting emotions. I felt
proud (how rare the stories) and sentimental (how touching the cast of
family characters!) At the same time, the slave business was a crime that
had not been fully acknowledged. It would be a mistake to say that I felt
guilt for the past. A person cannot be culpable for the acts of others, long
dead, that he or she could not have influenced. Rather than responsible, I
felt accountable for what had happened, called on to try to explain it. I
also felt shame about the broken society that had washed up when the tide of
slavery receded.”
Betty Higgs Lamberson
Revised Jan. 2008
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