My Genealogy Hound

Thomas McDuffa Higgs was born in Granville County, N. C., and is the son of John and Martha (Harrison) Higgs, both natives of Granville County, N. C. The father of John Higgs, Dr. Leonard C. Higgs, was a native of Maryland, and of old stock in that State, and was a Revolutionary soldier. Martha (Harrison) Higgs was the daughter of George (also a Revolutionary soldier) and Dorcas (Woods) Harrison, natives of Maryland, and also of old stock in that State. Thomas McDuffa Higgs was the eleventh of a family of thirteen children born to his parents. His father, in 1852, with his family, removed from their North Carolina home to Lawrence County, Mo., where he had visited the year previous, and made for himself a home in that locality. He here reared his family, of whom six sons and one daughter still survive: Julia Ann, George H., Zachariah, James K., Alexander, Thomas M. and Seth R. Those deceased were named Adeline, Robert, John, Martha and Sally, all of whom were grown, and William, who died in infancy. Thomas McDuffa was reared to manhood in Missouri, and when scarcely a young man was necessitated by the then condition of affairs, precipitated by difference of opinion, to go into the war, and served valiantly, under Gens. Price and Parsons, in the Eighth Missouri, commanded by Charles S. Mitchell. He served through the war, and at its termination returned home, and engaged in farming and stock raising; was also engaged in merchandising. While a citizen of Barry County, Mo., he married Miss Mary Danforth Williams, a resident of Lawrence County, Mo., and a daughter of Judge James M. and Artelia Elizabeth (Barker) Williams, natives of Tennessee and pioneers of Southwest Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Higgs are the parents of three daughters: Ida Elizabeth, Laura Alphonsine and Lottie America. They buried one daughter, Mary Geneva, who died while young. Mr. Higgs is a member of the Masonic fraternity; served on the school-board of his district, and himself, his wife and two daughters are members of the Missionary Baptist Church, of which Mr. Riggs is deacon, and was at one time clerk.