John Marcus 9 BIGELOW



Photo about 1914:  John Bigelow, left, was the father.  Standing in the back row are Georgia Bigelow Bryan, Elizabeth (Jack's first wife), Jack, Harry Bigelow, Della Bigelow, and mother Etta.  Josephine Bigelow Smith is behind the left snare drum, with brother John Jr. at her left and sister Edith Bigelow Jackson Myers at the right snare drum.  Virginia Bigelow Hartman "Fritzi" stands between the drums. All except Georgia, Harry, Josephine, and Virginia are now deceased.(1981) 

15145.1713      John Marcus 9 BIGELOW, son of John Humphrey 8  ( John 7 , John 6, John 5 , John 4, John 3, Samuel 2, John 1 and Charlotte (HODGMAN) BIGELOW, was born 13 February 1860. He married on 19 March 1892 Etta Eliza Hunt. She was born about 1874 and died 21 August 1961. John died 10 August 1936 Weston,, OH. John was the leader of the Bigelow Family Band in Toledo, OH.  (see below)

Children of John M. and Etta (Hunt) Bigelow;

15145.17131     Jack Harvey, b 13 Dec 1893 Bowling Green; d 03 Feb 1977 Bowling Green, Wood, OH; m (1) 1912 Elizabeth _____ ; m (2) Florence Black; dau Georgetta Bigelow;
(  -1915)
15145.17132     Della Jocelyn, b 06 Dec 1895 Bowling Green, Wood, OH; d 29 Aug 1967; m 26 Aug 1924 Harold Joseph "Gus" Leahy;

15145.17133     Georgia A., b 22 Mar 1898 Bowling Green, Wood, OH; d ____ ; m D. C. Bryan (1898-1956); child: Virginia Bigelow Bryan;

15145.17134     Harry K., b 08 Oct 1901 Bowling Green; d _______ ; m Agnes Curtain.

15145.17135     John Ray, b 21 Nov 1903; Bowling Green; d 12 June 1975 Hemet, CA; m _ Feb 1921 Madelyn Vern (1898-1975); 3 children: Jeanne Frances, Joan Rae, and John Ray, jr Bigelow;  (see below)  
 
15145.17136t    Edith L., b 11 Nov 1905 Bowling Green, Wood co, OH; d 22 Feb 1958; m Edward Newton Jackson (1896-1943); 3 children known; Patricia, June Etta, and John Edward Jackson;

15145.17137     Josephine "Joey", b __ 1908 Bowling Green, OH; d 18 Jan 2000 Bowling Green, OH; m 15 Feb 1928 Roy H. Smith; 2 children;     

15145.17138     Pauline Virginia "Fritzi", b 23 Apr 1911 Bowling Green, OH; d _____ ; m 22 Mar 1936 John A. Hartman; 2 children:

Sources:
Bigelow Society,The Bigelow Family Genealogy, Vol II, pg 308-309 child;
Family correspondence with Bigelow Society historian/genealogist

    Music and talented musicians seem to run in many branches of the Bigelow Family. One such is the John Marcus 9 BIGELOW family.  This John was a very strong man - six ft. tall weighing 220 pounds with not an ounce of fat; all muscle.  When he was 32 he married Etta Eliza Hunt, she was 18 on her wedding day.  This was in Bowling Green, Ohio, 19 March 1892.  Between 1893 and 1911 John and Etta had 8 children. To keep the children in a tight home atmosphere, it was decided that music was the answer.  There seemed to be a lot of natural talent on both sides of the family.
     John would buy his children the finest instruments, but each child had to learn to play them without lessons. Jack started coronet when he was 10 and he help­ed his sisters, Delia and Georgia. Harry played an alto horn and John, Jr., the trombone - also an organ later on. Edith played the trombone, piano and organ.
     She was a fine musician and later played professionally with Rita Rio and his orchestra.  Josephine played the drums, Virginia played the saxophone and clarinet

John, the father, played the bass drum and Etta, the mother, alto horn.
father was a lumber yard owner and stationery engineer, but both parents de­voted lots of time to their musical family.  They played band concerts on the square in Bowling Green and around the area.  Jack formed the All-Girl Band in 1921, including his five sisters and first wife, Elizabeth.  They traveled the states playing the Keith Orpheum Circuit and the RKO Circuit and for 25 years played at the Wood County (Ohio) Fairgrouds in conjunction with radio station WFOB. Jack opened a music store in Bowling Green with his sister Josephine, and mother.  This store featured "a complete line of musical supplies, including instruments, sheet music, records, record players, cutters, radios and pi­anos.  It also repaired all kinds of musical instruments and certain lessons were given." This store operated from 19M-6 until December of 1980. After Jack's death, in 1977, his widow, Florence, aided in running the store.
     Virginia Bigelow Hartman's son, John (a dentist), plays trombone in The Natural Gas Jazz band for his recreation in the San Francisco area.  Her daughter, Georgetta, was a 3 time winner on the Ted Mack program and played with the Phil Spitalny All Girl Orchestra.  She also competed in a program from Madison Square Garden, playing a variety of instruments.
Music held this Bigelow family together over the years and it doesn't seem like­ly that music will disappear from later generations' gatherings.
Material for this article from: Mrs. Hartman, The Daily Sentinel-Tribune, Bowling Green, Ohio, December 19, 1980; Mrs. Ed Bigelow, Fairbanks, Alaska, and Howe's: The Bigelow Family.

Liner notes from LP in Bigelow Library:

     You might say Fritzi was born with a horn to her lips. Nan Nan Bigelow must have given her a tuba mouthpiece for a "teething ring" for if you were in the Bigelow family, you had to play a horn!! She was the youngest of eight children, born in 1911 to John and Etta Bigelow in Bowling Green, Ohio. Jack, Delia. Georgia, Harry, John, Edith and Josephine were already part of the Bigelow Family Band; so Fritzi joined them at an early age singing, dancing, and playing the drum. She later added other band instru­ments to her repertoire concentrating on tuba and sax. Playing for fairs, fanners institutes, political rallies, and vaudeville shows all over Northwestern Ohio kept the family band busy during the teens. One memorable concert was for Armistice Day, November 11, 1918.
     In 1925, at the tender age of fourteen, she got her first taste of vaudeville. When the Vincent Lopez Debutantes came to the Trianon Ballroom in Toledo, their tuba player became ill and needed an operation. The manager of the Debutantes was a friend of Fritzi's brother, Jack, who by this time had his own band on the Keith Orpheum Circuit. After much persuasion, Mama Bigelow let Fritzi join the group until the tuba player recovered. They played the Keith's Theatre in Toledo and the Circle in Indianapolis.
     1927 found Fritzi playing tuba in brother Jack's band at the Bay Shore Inn on Lake Erie. For a publicity stunt, the band went high over Maumee Bay in a United Cigar Store airplane piloted by the famous Col. Roscoe Turner. The next day's headlines in The Toledo News Bee were "Fritzi Teaches Birds to do Black Bottom."
Fritzi stayed out of high school that year to play with Jack's band. They were headquartered in Chicago where they played in the vaudeville theaters. The band ended the year with a trip to the West Coast playing in the theaters of all the major cities. It was during that year that Fritzi was first featured in her specialty one man band "Dinah" number. She played sax, clarinet, trombone, trumpet, piano, drums, tuba and ended with a tap dance. It was a real showstopper!
     After traveling a year, Fritzi returned to high school and graduated in 1929. Even though playing bands was fun, Fritzi really wanted to be a school teacher. She entered Bowling Green University and studied French and math, because the music courses were too expensive.
     With two years of college completed, Fritzi got the opportunity to travel again with her two sisters in a small stage band. She thought she could save enough money and return to school and study music. They toured the South in 1931. Their shows included a chorus line, comedians, jugglers, a string group and a young singer named Roberta Sherwood.
    Fritzi returned to Bowling Green and graduated with a major in French. She also did additional work at Ohio State University and obtained a major in music.

A BIT ABOUT  JOHN A. AND JOHN B.
     Backing Fritz: is John A. Hartman on keyboard and John B. Hartman on trombone, percussion, and vocal. Born in Napoleon, Ohio. John A. started his musical career under the direction of his mother, Lottie Crabtree Hartman, who was a church organist. John's high school band director, Mike Lombards, was also a big influence. In 1928 John was selected to play in the Ohio State Fair Band and was directed by John Philip Sousa.
John was also a natural athlete playing all sports, but excelling in track. In college he combined both music and athletics. John broke records on the Bowling Green State University track team and is now a member of the Athletic Hall of Fame. Besides being a band director, John was a successful basketball coach and guidance counselor. He directed the senior choir at the Wesley United Methodist Church for seventeen years. He is very active in Republican politics in Williams County, Ohio, and is past president of the Rotary and Toastmasters clubs. In the summers, John directs the Bryan City Band, an organ­ization that was formed in 1852.
John B. started his musical career on the piano followed shortly by the cornet and violin. Because his father needed trombone players in the school band, John switched to that instrument in sixth grade. During his high school years, John played in the marching, concert and dance bands. He attended Culver Military Academy and was a member of the band. Athletics was important to John, and like his father, he excelled in track setting many school records.
At an early age, John B. decided he wanted to be a dentist. He pursued getting his degree at Bowling Green State University and Ohio State University. While he was at Ohio State, he played guitar with folk groups. After graduation, John served two years in the army one being in Viet Nam as a dentist.
John B. moved to the San Francisco area in 1969 and returned to school to get a certificate in Periodontia from the University of California. He presently is practicing dentistry in Novato California. Shortly after he moved to the Bay Area. John joined the Natural Gas Jazz Band. This group performs not only in the Bay Area  but also plays in festivals in Sacranmento,  Three Rivers and Pismo Beach. Outside California they have played gigs in Davenport Iowa Ir.dis.-.spriis Denver Charleston West Virginia

Note:
Subject: John Marcus Bigelow
Date: 27 Dec 2003
From: John Bigelow   (jbigelow@vcn.com)(not valid 2008)
Rod,

I just got onto the web site - wonderful job you're doing.  I was tracing down the lineage to my grandfather John Marcus Bigelow.
Sincerely,
John Bigelow
2015 Autumn Ct.
Gillette, WY 82718
ps.  I will be pleased to submit updated info for John Marcus and subsequent if I have it.


Rod Bigelow (Roger Jon12 BIGELOW)
Box 13  Chazy Lake
Dannemora, N.Y. 12929
rodbigelow@netzero.net
BACK TO THE BIGELOW SOCIETY PAGE
BACK TO BIGELOW HOME PAGE