Bigelow, Arnold

Born: 1809-12-20 Vermont

Died: 1868-02-19 Chicago, Illinois

Flourished: Chicago, Illinois

Arnold Bigelow moved to Chicago in 1838. Prior to his move, Bigelow married Caroline Hubbard, with whom he had seven children. One of his daughters married John W. Waughop, who became a prominent Chicago attorney and Republican. A merchant by trade, Bigelow was for many years head of the dry goods business Bigelow, Muhlke, & Co. Avid Methodists, Arnold and Caroline were prominent in the beginnings of Methodism in Chicago, being among the first members of the First Methodist Church and charter members of Trinity Methodist Church.

Gravestone, "Arnold Bigelow," Section G, Lot 21, Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, IL; Gravestone, "Caroline Bigelow," Section G, Lot 21, Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, IL; "Obituary: Caroline Bigelow," Northwestern Christian Advocate (Chicago, IL), 21 January 1903, 32:1-3; Gilman Bigelow Howe, Genealogy of the Bigelow Family of America (Worcester, MA: Charles Hamilton, 1890), 193; Halpin's Eighth Annual Edition Chicago City Directory, 1865-6 (Chicago: T. M. Halpin, 1865), 102; A. T. Andreas, History of Chicago (Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1886), 3:249.