The family in dated records, 1788 to 2024
Source. Each entry links to its record, from the 1788 tax list to the Daily News-Miner obituary.
Method and data
Method. Green marks the events of Big Will’s and Max’s own lives. FamilySearch records require a free sign-in.
| Year | Event | Source URL |
|---|---|---|
| 1788 | Holland Higgins taxed in Capt. Gudger’s Company, Washington County, beside the Culbersons | https://wctnarchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/capt-gudger-1788-washington-county-tax-list.docx.pdf |
| 1790 | “Higins, Holland” in Burke County’s 12th Company with three boys | https://www.us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/nc/burke/1790/pg0088.txt |
| 1824 | Holland Higgins Jr. granted land at Flag Pond; shot by David Greer on November 30 | https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48408/48408-h/48408-h.htm |
| 1850 | John Higgins Sr., 82, and John Jr., 42, side by side in the Yancey census | https://archive.org/download/populationschedu0649unix/page/n392_w1000.jpg |
| 1866 | William M. “Big Will” Higgins born, by his gravestone | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41825713/william-m-higgins |
| 1870 | “Wm Shelton,” 2, in the house of John and Winney Higgins | https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWDC-X8F |
| 1880 | William, 12, entered as John and Winnie’s grandson | https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCF3-6SK |
| 1888 | Big Will marries Arrah E. Shepherd, about this year | https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSBR-VTB |
| 1889 | A post office named Higgins opens | https://www.carolana.com/NC/Towns/Yancey_POs.htm |
| 1904 | Max Theodore Higgins born | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54168389/max_t-higgins |
| 1912 | Bob Higgins marries Martha Jane “Janey” Adkins | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072283/1977-10-20/ed-1/seq-5/ |
| 1922 | A missionary of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions rides down the valley with “Big Will Higgins” to found the mission | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92074087/1931-12-11/ed-1/seq-1/ |
| 1934 | Max marries Esther Higgins at Egypt; the license names his parents, Will and Arrah | https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q28R-GRMW |
| 1937 | Max Higgins and a partner open a store and gas station in the post office at Higgins | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072281/1937-06-02/ed-1/seq-8/ |
| 1938 | Bee Log’s native-stone WPA high school is finished, one of five that replaced earlier wooden buildings in their communities | https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/YC0025.pdf |
| 1943 | Carlton and Max Jr. each bring 1,875 pennies to Bee Log school to buy a $25 war bond | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072281/1943-09-30/ed-1/seq-3/ |
| 1944 | S/Sgt. Ned W. Higgins, Bob’s son, killed in action on September 9 | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41836297/ned-w-higgins |
| 1944 | Big Will on the Red Cross contributors list | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072281/1944-03-23/ed-1/seq-2/ |
| 1945 | Max Higgins chairs the Higgins committee in the county’s spring war drive | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072281/1945-05-17/ed-1/seq-1/ |
| 1945 | A medical clinic opens in the Markle Building at Higgins, May 3 | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072281/1945-04-26/ed-1/seq-1/ |
| 1946 | The Higgins Clinic moves into Sunshine Cottage, able to take inpatients | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072281/1946-10-17/ed-1/seq-1/ |
| 1947 | The Higgins Clinic closes on April 1 for lack of demand | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072281/1947-03-20/ed-1/seq-1/ |
| 1949 | Big Will dies at Marion, June 28; buried beside John Jr. and Winnie | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41825713/william-m-higgins |
| 1950 | Max listed as postmaster in the census | https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6FMS-TZKN |
| 1954 | The Higgins post office closes | https://www.carolana.com/NC/Towns/Yancey_POs.htm |
| 1958 | The county’s high-school students move to Cane River and East Yancey; Bee Log becomes an elementary school | https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/YC0025.pdf |
| 1959 | Max Higgins’ Store serves as the Upper Egypt polling place, as it would into the 1970s | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072281/1959-08-27/ed-1/seq-1/ |
| 1964 | Carlton, son of Mr. and Mrs. Max Higgins, graduates as a Doctor of Dental Surgery | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072281/1964-06-11/ed-1/seq-1/ |
| 1972 | Fire badly damages buildings owned by Max Higgins Sr. at Higgins | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072283/1972-05-04/ed-1/seq-3/ |
| 1973 | Max Jr., a Navy veteran, hired as maintenance foreman for the schools | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072283/1973-03-01/ed-1/seq-2/ |
| 1977 | A Yancey Journal notice of Bob and Janey Higgins, married October 16, 1912, recalls their son Ned | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072283/1977-10-20/ed-1/seq-5/ |
| 1983 | Jessie Higgins Randolph dies at 87; her obituary names her parents, Will and Ara Shepherd Higgins | https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072283/1983-05-26/ed-1/seq-18/ |
| 1996 | Max T. Higgins dies; buried in the Max Higgins Cemetery at Higgins | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54168389/max_t-higgins |
| 2004 | Carlton retires after thirty-six years of dentistry in Fairbanks and winters at Higgins | https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/newsminer/name/carlton-higgins-obituary?id=53227683 |
| 2017 | Max “Sonny” Higgins Jr. dies; funeral at Holcombe Brothers, Burnsville | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181661312/max-theodore-higgins |
| 2018 | Bee Log Elementary closes after 82 years, the smallest school in the state | https://www.wlos.com/news/local/yancey-co-students-and-teachers-say-emotional-farewell-to-the-smallest-school-in-nc |
| 2023 | Carlton Allen Higgins dies at Anchorage | https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/newsminer/name/carlton-higgins-obituary?id=53227683 |
| 2024 | Hurricane Helene; by the family’s account the Cane River carries away Max Higgins’s store | https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092024_Helene.pdf |
