Abijah Bigelow

Abijah Bigelow (December 5, 1775 – April 5, 1860) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts and a prominent lawyer and public official in Worcester County during the early nineteenth century. He was born in Westminster, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, the son of Elisha Bigelow and Sarah (Goodridge) Bigelow. Raised in the final decades of the colonial era and coming of age during the early years of the American republic, he belonged to a New England family whose members were active in local civic and religious life.

Bigelow pursued his early education at Leicester Academy in Leicester, Massachusetts, and at New Ipswich Academy in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, institutions that were important regional centers of secondary education in the post-Revolutionary period. He then attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, graduating in 1795. After college he read law in Groton, Massachusetts, following the then-customary apprenticeship model of legal training rather than formal law school instruction. This preparation led to his admission to the Worcester County bar in 1798.

Upon his admission to the bar, Bigelow commenced the practice of law in Leominster, Massachusetts, in 1798. He quickly became involved in local affairs and served as town clerk of Leominster from 1803 to 1809, a position that placed him at the center of municipal record-keeping and town governance. His growing reputation in the community led to his election as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, in which he served from 1807 to 1809. In 1809 he was commissioned a justice of the peace, an office he held continuously until his death in 1860, and in 1812 he was further designated a justice of the quorum, serving in that capacity from 1812 to 1860. These judicial and quasi-judicial roles reflected his standing in the legal profession and his long-term involvement in the administration of local justice.

Bigelow entered national politics as a member of the Federalist Party. He was elected to the Eleventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Representative William Stedman, and subsequently was reelected to the Twelfth and Thirteenth Congresses. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from October 8, 1810, to March 3, 1815. During his tenure in Congress he represented a Massachusetts constituency at a time of intense partisan conflict over foreign policy and commercial restrictions. Like many New England Federalists, he viewed the War of 1812 in a decidedly negative light, reflecting the concerns of his region about the war’s impact on maritime commerce and regional security. His congressional correspondence from this period provides insight into Federalist opposition to the war and the broader political climate of the Madison administration.

After leaving Congress, Bigelow relocated from Leominster to Worcester in 1817. That same year he was appointed clerk of the courts of Worcester County, a position he held from 1817 to 1833. As clerk he was responsible for maintaining court records and overseeing much of the administrative work of the county judiciary. Following his service as clerk, he resumed the active practice of law. He also maintained a long association with Leicester Academy, serving as a trustee from 1819 to 1820 and as treasurer from 1820 to 1853, thereby contributing to the governance and financial management of one of the region’s leading academies. In 1838 he was appointed a master in chancery, a judicial officer charged with handling certain equity matters, further underscoring his continued prominence in the legal affairs of Massachusetts.

Bigelow was also active in the intellectual and historical life of his state. In 1813 he was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society, founded in Worcester in 1812 as a national learned society devoted to American history and culture. He later served on the Society’s board of councilors from 1817 to 1828. The American Antiquarian Society preserves a substantial collection of manuscripts generated by Abijah Bigelow and his extended family, covering the years 1785 to 1883. Among these materials is his extensive correspondence with his wife, which was later recognized as a valuable primary source on early nineteenth-century political and domestic life.

Bigelow married Hannah Gardner Bigelow (1780–1857), with whom he had nine children, seven of whom survived their father. Their family was connected to broader political networks in Massachusetts; Hannah’s brother, Francis, also served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts, illustrating the family’s sustained engagement in public service. The letters exchanged between Abijah and Hannah during his years in Congress, from 1810 to 1815, were published in 1930 in volume 40 of the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society under the title “The Letters of Abijah Bigelow, Member of Congress, to his Wife, 1810–1815,” and have been used by historians to illuminate both congressional life and family relationships in the early republic.

Abijah Bigelow spent his later years in Worcester, where he continued to be regarded as an experienced lawyer, public official, and civic leader. He remained a justice of the peace and justice of the quorum until his death, maintaining a formal role in local legal affairs for more than half a century. He died in Worcester, Massachusetts, on April 5, 1860, and was interred in Rural Cemetery in Worcester, a burial ground that became the resting place for many of the city’s notable nineteenth-century figures.