Biggs, Thomas A.

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

Thomas A. Biggs, cashier of the Farmers State Bank of Barnard, and one of the progressive and enterprising business men and financiers of Lincoln County, was born on a farm six miles south of Barnard, February 13, 1881, a son of Capt. John J. and Mary Ann (Stokes) Biggs. The Biggs family were pioneers in Ohio, where, in Meigs County, January 13, 1838, was born Capt. John J. Biggs. His title was secured as a soldier during the Civil war, he having enlisted from his native county in 1861 as a member of an Ohio volunteer infantry regiment, from which he was honorably discharged after a year or more of service because of disability. Going to Illinois, he organized Company C, 112th Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, of which he was made captain, and with which he fought until the close of the war, participating in numerous engagements, including the battle of Shiloh. He had a fine record as a soldier, and after the war settled in Illinois, where he remained until 1879, in that year coming to Kansas and buying a farm of 160 acres six miles south of the Town of Barnard. In 1890 he moved into town, where he followed the trade of his younger days, that of blacksmith, and continued to be so engaged until his death in February, 1913. Captain Biggs was a republican, and for four years served Barnard in the capacity of postmaster. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a member and past master of Saltville Lodge No. 59, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Captain Biggs married Anna Stokes, who was born near the City of Dublin, Ireland, May 30, 1843, and came to the United States in 1859, joining her parents, who had preceded her, at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. She died at Barnard, January 14, 1911, having been the mother of these children: Annie, who is the wife of Ed Mesick, a carriage painter of Barnard; J. W., who is engaged in farming in the vicinity of this town; C. R., who is a retired real estate dealer and property owner of Barnard; George N., who was engaged in farming near Barnard until his death in 1896, when he was twenty-five years of age; Maude, who is the wife of Dr. J. A. Lounsbury, president of the Farmers State Bank; and Thomas A.

Thomas A. Biggs was educated in the public schools of Barnard, and at the age of nineteen years completed his studies and entered the postoffice, in which he spent four years as assistant and two years as postmaster, to which latter office he was appointed in 1905 by President Roosevelt. In 1906 he resigned the postmastership, was again appointed in 1907, and resigned again in 1908, at which time he became connected with the firm of Welsh Brothers, proprietors of a grain business and elevator. He remained in this connection for three years, and in March, 1911, entered the Farmers State Bank as assistant cashier, being advanced to the cashiership in 1913. Mr. Biggs is well and favorably known in banking circles and among his associates is considered a man of foresight, ability and sound banking sense. He is a republican, and his only fraternal connection is with Saltville Lodge No. 59, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. In addition to his residence and the six acres of ground upon which it stands, adjoining the town, he had 160 acres of good farming land located in Wallace County.

Mr. Biggs was married October 31, 1908, at Wallace, Kansas, to Miss Fay Lacey, daughter of John and Lizzie (Nixon) Lacey, who reside near Wallace and are engaged in farming. Three children have come to Mr. and Mrs. Biggs, born as follows: Marjorie, December 10, 1909; Stanley, in November, 1911; and Marion, in June, 1913.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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