John Bigelow Sr. (November 25, 1817 – December 19, 1911) was an American lawyer, diplomat, and historian who edited the complete works of Benjamin Franklin and the first autobiography of Franklin taken from Franklin's previously lost original manuscript. He played a central role in the founding of the New York Public Library in 1895.
After the war's conclusion, he returned to New York, where he assisted his old friend Samuel J. Tilden in opposing the corruption that flourished in New York City under William Magear Tweed. Because of the universal respect in which Bigelow was held in New York, he was offered nominations by both political parties for state office in 1872. Under the influence of Tilden, Bigelow decided to rejoin the Democratic party, accepted its nomination, and was elected Secretary of State of New York, a position he held until 1876. When the Democrats nominated Tilden for President in 1876, he served as Tilden's campaign manager, and in that capacity advised Tilden in the famous dispute over the result of the presidential election. Tilden died almost a decade after the dispute was decided in favor of his rival, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Bigelow then acted as one of Tilden's estate trust executors. He carried out Tilden's wishes, over several years, to develop, design, and establish the New York Public Library and served as its first president from May 27, 1895, until his death on December 19, 1911.[6]
He was a staunch proponent of the development of the Panama Canal. He was a friend of Philippe Bunau-Varilla, who brought Panama's declaration of Independence to Bigelow's home. Panama's first proposed flag, made there by Mrs. Bunau Varilla, was rejected by the Panamanians, who made their own.
Bigelow's writing career, begun with Bryant on the New York Evening Post, included several books. He was one of the first Americans to visit Haiti with an open mind, and published The Wisdom of the Haitians, which, before the Civil War, was one of the few American works to take a positive view of Haitian independence.
Bigelow published an edition of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin in 1868, the first publication taken from Franklin's original, and nearly complete, manuscript, which had been lost sometime after Franklin's death. After haggling over the price, he finally agreed to pay the original asking price of 25,000 franks and purchased the manuscript from William Temple Franklin, Benjamin's Franklin's grandson.[7] Since the manuscript ended at age 51, in 1757, Bigelow re-worked it, incorporating Franklin's extensive correspondence, into the three-volume The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Written by Himself, first published in 1874.
In 1895 Bigelow published the two-volume The Life of Samuel J. Tilden.
Personal life
On June 11, 1850, Bigelow married Jane Tunis Poultney and they had nine children. They included:
John Bigelow Jr. (May 12, 1854 – February 29, 1936) graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1877. He served in the United States Army in Texas with the Buffalo Soldiers, taught at West Point, served again in the West, and fought and was seriously wounded in Cuba. He retired in October 1904. From 1905 to 1910, he was a professor at M.I.T. During World War I, he was recalled to active duty and served in Washington. He traveled and wrote until his death in 1936.[8]
Poultney Bigelow (1855-1954) was a lawyer and a noted journalist and editor.
^Kinevan, Marcos E., brigadier general, USAF, retired (1998). Frontier Cavalryman, Lieutenant John Bigelow with the Buffalo Soldiers in Texas. Texas Western Press, The University of Texas at El Paso. ISBN0-87404-243-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
