Email Request to the Newsletter Editor
In a March 25 e-mail, Deborah Kaye Higdon wrote, "I have been browsing your higdonfamily.org site and would like to know how to discover/contribute information. My father was Emmitt Dewitt Higdon Jr. He was born April 4, 1923, in Louisiana, retired from the Navy in 1964. My mother was Nettie Mae Cheek Higdon. My aunt, Kathleen Higdon Pittman, was at one time involved in researching the Higdon family. She had a book that was Colonial Higdons and Descendants but I do not see how we fall into the lines. I have never done any research and really don't know where to start. My father's siblings were Kathleen Higdon Pittman, Virginia Higdon Stovall, Robbye Higdon Magliocca, Gene Higdon, and Danny Higdon. I would appreciate any information you can share."
Reply from the Newsletter Editor:
I found information about Debbie's family in Higdon-Whitaker, by Bettina Pearson Higdon (Cullman, Alabama, March 11, 1982). Bettina was a member of the Higdon Family Association and attended meetings when she was collecting material for her book, a copy of which is in the HFA Library. On page 144, Bettina lists the family of Robert Daniel Higdon (b. 1815 in North Carolina), who married Lettie Mae Hearn and died about 1891 in Simsboro, Louisiana. Their oldest son, Thomas Hastings Higdon, was born 22 Dec. 1836 in Muscogee, Georgia, and married Elizabeth Williams.
The book that Debbie mentions above, Colonial Higdons and Some of Their Descendants,
is by Lucille B. Coone (1976, rev. 1978) and was also one of Bettina's
sources. Coone links Robert Daniel Higdon (b. 1815-d. Louisiana) to his
father, Daniel Higdon (b. Chatham County, NC 1 Aug 1755 - d. Columbus,
GA 1 Dec 1846), and all the way back to the Daniel Higdon who died
before 1715 in Prince George County, Virginia. This Daniel Higdon's son,
according to the chart on p. 2. (Lucille B. Coone's book is also in the
HFA library.) In Bettina Higdon's book, pp. 168-169, are listed the
children of Thomas Hasting(s) and Elizabeth Williams Higdon. One of
their children was Thomas Warren Higdon (b. 4 Apr 1869 - d. 14 Apr.
1937), who married Daisy Pugh. One of their sons, Emmitt DeWitt Higdon
was Emmitt DeWitt Higdon, Jr. They lived in Louisiana. Given these clues, Debbie can check their accuracy by looking at Census
records over the years and noting family groupings and places of
residence. With such Internet sources as research that Lucille Coone
conducted in archives in Virginia and Maryland is still not to be found
on the Internet.
If any of you HFA members are more closely related to Debbie than I am,
please get in touch with her at higdon.deborah@yahoo.com.
If you have any questions about your family history, please send that information for publication to The Higdon Family Association Newsletter editor, Barbara Tedford, at btedford@frontier.com
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