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John Bigler; 1852-56 California
John was the oldest, born Jan. 8, 1805. The boys' schooling was rural and skimpy. While both were very young, the parents moved to Mercer County on a tract of wilderness. Hard labor and the maintenance of the family soon killed their father. Both boys were sent out when only in their teens to earn a living.
John was apprenticed to a printer in Mercer County. His training there took him to the editorship job of the Democrat in Bellefonte when he was only 25. During his five years in Bellefonte, he was active in both political and community affairs, serving on borough council and as a member of the committee which rebuilt the Bellefonte Waterworks.
His apprenticeship had interrupted his education at Dickinson College, Carlisle, so after leaving the Democrat he finished his law study and was admitted to the bar in Mount Sterling, Ill.
Gold rush fever caught him in 1849. He started west with his family, traveling by ox-team and covered wagon. He arrived in Sacramento on Aug. 31, 1849. His wife had the distinction of being the first white woman to call Sacramento her home.
There was no opportunity in the frontier town to practice law so he earned his living by auctioneering, woodcutting and unloading river steamers. One of his odd jobs was the making of calico quilts a contract from a merchant. Partial payment for this work was material for dresses for his wife and daughter.
His early brush with Jacksonian politics in Bellefonte had fired his blood for this arena of service. Almost immediately he was in the middle of California state affairs. He was elected to the Assembly in November of that bustling year of 1849. In 1851 he was elected governor on the Democratic ticket and reelected in 1853 He received an appointment as minister to Chile from President James Buchanan and served for four years. In 1861 he returned to his practice of law in California. He served three times as delegate to the national Democratic convention, but never returned to active political life.
He died on Nov 29. 1871.
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