Bigelow House Museum

Webmaster November 2nd, 2007

The Daniel & Ann Elizabeth Bigelow Family

Daniel Richardson Bigelow was born in 1824 and raised 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 recently settled town of Olympia in late 1851. There he established a law practice, filed a 160 acre Donation Land Claim east of town, and threw himself into local politics, serving as one of Washington Territory’s first legislators, as treasurer, and in a number of other elected positions.

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.

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 eventually raised eight children.

Daniel was among the first settlers to call for the separation of Washington from Oregon Territory. He served in the first Washington Territorial legislature and held a number of other offices during his long career. He and Elizabeth were devout Methodists and helped organize a church in Olympia. They were also ardent supporters of public education, civil rights for non whites, womens suffrage, and temperance.

Daniel Richardson Bigelow and Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow
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),
Jotham “Duncan” Bigelow (1871-1969), William Ellis Bigelow (1862-1891), and Ruth Bigelow Wright (1860-1950).
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).

1866 Photo of Bigelow House
BHPA Photo

When was Bigelow House built?

This question remains open to debate. Most folks people who ask this question want to know when the house was “finished.” In this regard, it is a difficult question to address!

Daniel Bigelow began working on the house shortly after taking up his claim, just a few years after the founding of Olympia. A letter to his daughter Margaret in 1902 indicates Bigelow first lived “in town” which was then, about three dozen cabins in the vicinity of the intersection of State Street and Capitol Way. On July 11, 1852 Daniel wrote in his diary, “Worked yesterday upon my claim and commenced a clearing for to build a house.” On January 31, 1853 he wrote, “Moved on to my claim and commenced residence in full.” Ann Elizabeth Bigelow later recalled residing in a two room cabin after she married Daniel in 1854, indicating the house was not yet habitable. The oldest known photo of the house has a penciled note in the margin that reads, “Built in 1860. Photo taken in 1866″ though who wrote the note and when is unknown.

Looking east across Budd Inlet to downtown Olympia and Bigelow House, ca 1868
Oregon Historical Society Photo Adding to the discussion, the foundation shows signs the Bigelows built the house in two stages. It appears the front half was constructed first as it uses for a foundation a series of charred cedar logs measuring 16″-18″ in diameter. This was a common practice used by local Native peoples in their own dwellings to preserve wood from beetles and rot. The Bigelows added the back portion of the house,built on more contemporary “pier and pad” construction, a short time later to accommodate their growing family. An 1879 Birds-eye view of Olympia shows the house as it still looks today. After Daniel passed away in 1905, Ann Elizabeth modified the interior room layouts, added a second set of stairs and substantially changed the old kitchen into a formal dining room. The “milk room,” just off the original kitchen, originally used water from a nearby artesian spring to keep food-stores chilled. In 1905 this became the current kitchen. These remodels allowed the family to rent rooms to boarders and generate additional income. There was another phase of renovation in 1950 after Aunt Ruth died. Daniel and Mary Ann Bigelow, the third generation to live in the house, modernized the kitchen and installed a central hot water radiator heating system. The most recent upgrades occurred in 1994 after the Bigelow House Preservation Association purchased the house. The contractor and volunteers returned the downstairs rooms and exterior trim as near as possible to their 1870s appearance, updated the utilities, and reinforced the structure. In the near future Bigelow House Preservation Association will continue upgrading portions of the foundation, install a new roof, and rebuild the aging porches.Returning, then, to our original question, “When was Bigelow House built?” we have to ask, “when is any house ever finished…?”

Research

• Daniel Bigelow’s 1848-1854 Diary [158k text file] - Transcribed by Roger Easton
• Bigelow Family Mementos includes images of Daniel Bigelow’s diary, family photographs, and other items digitized by the Washington State Library

Links

• The Creation of Washington Territory: Securing Democracy North of the Columbia by Dennis Weber
• Historic Buildings & Architecture Survey (HABS) drawings, completed in 1984 showing interior and exterior elevations and floor plans.
• Save That House! by past director Heather Lockman. Recounts the effort to preserve Bigelow House in the 1990s.

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