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Looking east across Budd Inlet to downtown Olympia and Bigelow House, ca 1870 |
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This family portrait was taken in 1889 and shows Daniel and Ann Elizabeth with all eight of their children. Back row (left to right): Richardson Lee “Ray” Bigelow (1873-1967), Tirzah Bigelow Royal (1855-1927), Front row (left to right): Eva Bigelow Bonney (1858-1960), Daniel Richardson Bigelow (1824-1905), George Bigelow (1881-1961), Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow (1836-1926), and Margaret Bigelow (1878-1937). |
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Daniel Richardson Bigelow and Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow, ca 1900. BHPA Photo |
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Online Resources
Videos
An actor portrays Daniel Bigelow and explains the history of the house. Produced in 1992 to help garner support for the restoration of Bigelow House as a museum.
2009 student project by Mandy Weiler. Interviews with current volunteers explain the significance of Bigelow House.
Restore America: Bigelow House Segment from Bob Vila’s Restore America series. Includes interviews with Daniel and Mary Ann Bigelow.
Faces and Places of Washington: Bigelow House Former Washington Secretary of State Ralph Munro visits Bigelow House in 2004 and interviews Daniel and Mary Ann Bigelow, the last generation to live in the house.
Visit the Bigelow House YouTube Channel
Published Works
Daniel R Bigelow: Early Washington Territory’s Venerable Pioneer and Statesman by Shanna Stevenson. Columbia Magazine, Winter 1993-94, 31-35.
Almost Columbia, Triumphantly Washington: the remarkable beginnings of Washington Territory. by John McClelland, Jr. Recounts the early political formation of Washington Territory.
Save That House! By Heather Lockman. Past BHPA director recounts the effort to preserve Bigelow House in the 1990s.
Bigelows Stay True to Their Traditions 2002 Olympian article on Daniel and Mary Ann Bigelow, the last generation to live in the house.
Where The Potholes Are by Mary Ann Bigelow. Thoughts and reminisces of a lifetime in Olympia. Published 1990 by the Olympia Heritage Commission
Primary Sources
Includes Daniel Bigelow’s 1848-1854 personal diary, family photographs, and other items digitized by the Washington State Library.
Daniel R. Bigelow Diary, 1848-1854 Transcribed and annotated. The diary recounts Bigelow’s education, social life and political interests while attending Harvard, his trip west on the Oregon Trail and his participation in the events of early Olympia and Washington Territory.
Speech of Hon. D.R. Bigelow on Female Suffrage Made before the Washington Territorial Legislature, 1871
Daniel Richardson Bigelow Family Genealogy Bigelow Society Genealogy
Historic Buildings & Architecture Survey (HABS) Documents, drawings and photos completed in 1984 prior to renovation showing interior and exterior elevations and floor plans.
News Clipping and Photo Archive Relating to Bigelow House and the Bigelow Family in Olympia.
Manuscript Collection Bigelow House Museum contains numerous primary-source documents available to researchers relating to 150 years of the family’s participation in local, state and national issues and events. The collection includes personal letters, journals, official documents, news clippings, historic photos and other ephemera. If you would like to access these materials please contact the museum to make arrangements. |
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Bigelow House Museum |
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Washington’s History in a House. |
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1866 Photo of Bigelow House BHPA Photo |
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History |
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The Daniel & Ann Elizabeth Bigelow Family
Daniel Richardson Bigelow was born in 1824 in New York State. In 1851, two years after reading law at Harvard, he crossed the Oregon Trail. After a short stay in Portland he traveled to the pioneer settlement of Olympia in late 1851. He soon established a law practice, filed a 160 acre Donation Land Claim east of town, and threw himself into local politics. Ann Elizabeth White was only 14 years old when her family came west from Wisconsin in 1851. By 1853, she was employed as a teacher for the children of other settlers’ families in the Packwood home in the Nisqually Delta area near Olympia. In 1854, Elizabeth and Daniel married and moved to a two-room cabin on his land claim just east of downtown Olympia. Soon afterwards they built their neat two-story home where they raised their eight children. Daniel was among the first settlers to call for the separation of Washington from Oregon Territory. He served as a Councilman representing Thurston County in the Washington Territorial legislature from 1854-56 and as a Representative in 1871. He also held a number of other public offices during his long career. He and Elizabeth were devout Methodists and helped organize the Methodist Episcopal Church in Olympia. They were also active proponents of public education, rights for non whites, women's suffrage and temperance.
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1953 Ad for Bigelow & Brooks, Olympia |