Santa Clara County
Biographies
WILLIAM JOSEPH BIGGER
A junior member of the firm of Bates & Bigger, of San Jose, well-known contractors and builders, William J. Bigger is carrying on a substantial business. As a carpenter and contractor he has superintended the erection of many of the finest houses in the city and vicinity. He also built the residence of Dr. Wilson in Milpitas, and at Evergreen a winery for William Wehner, it being the largest plant of the kind in the valley. A son of William T. Bigger, he was born November 14, 1865, in Marion, Linn county, Iowa, which was also the birthplace of his father. His grandfather, William Joseph Bigger, a native of the north of Ireland, was a farmer by occupation, and a pioneer settler of Linn county, Iowa. He was an active and earnest member of the Methodist Church and a most valued citizen. He built the first house erected in Marion, now the county seat of Linn county, and resided there until his death, at the age of sixty-five years.
Succeeding to the occupation of which he was reared, William T. Bigger bought eighty acres of land lying about one-half mile from the city limits of Marion, Iowa, and was there employed in agricultural pursuits during his early life. Subsequently removing to Arapahoe, Furnas county, Neb., he continued farming in that locality until his death. During the Civil war he enlisted in an Iowa regiment, and served through two enlistments, in one engagement being wounded in the leg. He married Margaret Hayes, who was born in Indiana, and died in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Her father, William T. Hayes, a native of Ohio, removed from there to Indiana, thence to Linn county, Iowa, and died in Cedar Rapids. Of the union of William T. and Margaret (Hayes) Bigger, two children were born, William Joseph and Harry Albert, the latter dying at the age of twelve years, in Nebraska.
Accompanying his parents to Arapahoe, Neb., when a lad of seven years, William J. Bigger was brought up on a farm, and obtained his early education in the district schools. Going to Marion, Iowa, in 1882, he followed farming for a year, and then went to Cedar Rapids, where he served an apprenticeship of four years or more at the carpenter's trade. Locating in San Jose, Cal, June 2, 1888, Mr. Bigger worked at his trade for several years, keeping busily employed all of the time, and winning an extended reputation for skill and artistic ability. Starting in business for himself as a builder and contractor in 1891, he has followed it since, and been very successful. Going to Eagle City, Alaska, in the spring of 1903, he remained there about six months, in the meantime superintending the building of flumes and bridges for the King Mining Company. Returning to San Jose in the fall of 1903, Mr. Bigger formed a copartnership with A. C. Bates, with whom he has since been identified under the firm name of Bates & Bigger.
In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mr. Bigger married Priscilla Janet Palmer, a native of Strawberry Point, Iowa, and they have three children living, namely: Lela Ethel, Clyde Albert and Lois Inez. In his political affiliations Mr. Bigger is a sound Republican, and is an ex-member and ex-president of the East San Jose board of school trustees. He is active in several fraternal organizations, being a member and past officer of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics; past officer of the Fraternal Aid Society; a member of Garden City Lodge, I.O.O.F.; and a member of the American Yeomen. He was one of the organizers of the San Jose Builders' Exchange, and is now chairman of its committee on rooms and furnishings. He belongs to the East San Jose Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he has been for many years a trustee. He resides at No. 22 Jones street, where he built his conveniently arranged home.
Transcribed
1-13-16 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource:
History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Pages 939-940. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Marilyn R.
Pankey.