Biography

02/12/1810 - 11/09/1884

Thomas James “Jefferson” Bigham (R25) Allegheny County, 1865-1867

Early Life:

Thomas James “Jefferson” Bigham, born February 12, 1810, Hannastown, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; son of Thomas and Sarah Christy Bigham; public school education; Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, 1834; teaching career, Harrisburg, 1835; studied, law, admitted, Allegheny County Bar, 1837; lawyer, 1837-1884; founder, Pittsburgh Commercial; proprietor, Commercial Journal; elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1845-1847; married, Maria Louisa Lewis, 1846, children, Joel Lewis, Kirk Q., Mary Ann Stout, Eliza Augusta, Maria L.; elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1851; elected, board of managers, Pennsylvania Reform School, 1851; elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1854; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1862; elected, Union (Republican), Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1864; not a candidate for reelection, 1865 term; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1865-1867; gubernatorial appointee, Commissioner of Statistics of Pennsylvania, 1873-1875; elected, council, Pittsburgh, 1878-1882; founder, Grace Protestant Episcopal Church of Mount Washington; died, November 9, 1884, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; interment, Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Early career: 

Founder, Pittsburgh Commercial, proprietor, Commercial Journal, both consolidated with the Pittsburgh Gazette.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1845-1847; wrote married women’s act of 1848.  

Elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1851. 

Elected, board of managers, Pennsylvania Reform School, 1851. 

Elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1854. 

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1862. 

Elected, Union (Republican), Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1864; not a candidate for reelection, 1865 term. 

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 25th district, Allegheny County, 1865-1867; authored, railroad law of 1867, Pittsburgh consolidation act of 1867.

Gubernatorial appointee, Governor Hartranft Commissioner of Statistics of Pennsylvania, 1873-1875. 

Elected, council, Pittsburgh, 1878-1882.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Biography:

Official Website - PA House Archives Official Website (state.pa.us)

Legacy: 

His father having died before his birth and his mother so soon thereafter, Thomas James Bigham was brought up by his maternal grandparents.

In the Great Fire, April 10, 1845, Bigham lost his law office and all his books and papers. In 1849, he purposely built the "Bigham House" of brick, on his wife's property atop Mount Washington, away from other homes, also became a place of refuge for slaves fleeing their masters; a "Station of the Underground Railway.

In politics, was a Whig, an Abolitionist, an original Fremonter, and steadfast Republican. He became widely known as an Abolitionist at a time when that cause was not popular. " For so many years was he called upon to read the election night returns to the crowds at Republican headquarters that he came to be regarded as one of the features of an election.

Laid to rest in the Allegheny Cemetery, of which he was in 1844 one of the charter members, and first secretary of the corporation.

Cited:

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members B". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Jordan, Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania. Biography, volume. I (NY: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1914) pages 139-143.

"A Century and a half of Pittsburgh and her People." John Newton Boucher, 1908.

Thomas James “Jefferson” Bigham (1810-1884) - Find a Grave Memorial