James Edward Biggins Family

James Edward Biggins was the son of James and Sarah Biggins, and was born on December 27, 1884, on the farm they owned. He was the fourth member of the family. His sister, Margaret, married Fred Box, his sister, Sadie, married Gilbert Anglemyre, and Ellen died at the age of eighteen. His brothers were James, Jr. who married Etta Kurtz, George who married Emma Kurtz, Carl married Minna Henlene from Swanton, Ohio, and his sister, Jessie, who married Thomas Reynolds.

James Edward spent his entire life on the farm where he was born. He married Etta Kurtz on October 7, 1906 and they celebrated fifty years of marriage in 1956. They appeared on television station WSPD-13 on October 7, 1956, on the Jenny Wood program. They were selected to appear on television by their daughters, Leona and Dorothy, who wrote in telling about their parents.

James drove school bus for Grand Rapids School for twenty-five years, from September, 1924 to June 1949, without an accident, and 'owned his bus for over twenty years.

James and Etta Biggins' farm was the first farm to become a Henry County Centennial farm in August, 1953 and they were honored at the Henry County fair that year. The Centennial Farm owners held a reunion for six years after 1953, and then disbanded.

James and Etta had four children. Howard married Reva Stuker in 1949 and has daughter Carla Sue Biggins who is a registered nurse at Wood County Hospital in Bowling Green, Ohio, and has been there since 1971.

Leona Biggins married Orville Lang on November 26, 1936. Orville died in

October, 1937.

Marie Biggins married George Hepfinger in 1937 and they had four sons and one daughter, James, Robert, Howard, Charles, and Carol.

Dorothy Biggins married Bernard Huffman.

James Edward Biggins spent his entire life with the exception of one year living west of Liberty Center, Ohio, on the farm where he passed away on September 1, 1957, after a short illness.

His wife, Etta, with daughters, Leona Lang and Dorothy Huffman, lived on the farm until her death on January 28, 1972. Etta was born on December 12, 1888, to John and Mary Kurtz of Providence Township, Lucas County, Ohio, and passed away at the age of eighty-seven years. Etta was a forty-three year member of the Grand Rapids Order of the Eastern Star Chapter, at Grand Rapids, Ohio.

See also the Lang-Huffman history in this book.

Submitted by: Leona Lang and Dorothy Huffman