The BIGG Family
Thomas Bigg (c.1740 - 1812)
Family Tree Family Group Sheet
The
earliest of the BIGG ancestors so far discovered is Thomas Bigg of
Loose and Hadlow, Kent. As there were so many relatives called
Thomas Bigg, where appropriate they have been written with the year of
their birth in brackets after their name.
Thomas (1740) married Mary Harris on 16th July 1770 at Loose in Kent. Loose is a village some 2 miles directly south of Maidstone in the Loose Valley. The map shows it in relation to Maidstone. Maidstone lies largely to the East of the Medway, the river that is supposed to divide Men of Kent from Kentish Men, but whereas Loose is to the east of the Medway, Hadlow is a few miles to the west!
Most of the information about the BIGG family of this period came originally from a family Bible, more of which later, but this item was an exception, the marriage being found recorded in the copy of the Loose Parish Register held by the Society of Genealogists.
Of Thomas and Mary's large family, only their first child, Frances, was born and christened in Loose. Frances was born on 27 April 1771, just over 9 months after Thomas and Mary were married, and she was christened a few weeks later on 13 May.
The family must have moved to Hadlow, a village some 8 miles to the west of Loose, soon after, for all their subsequent children were born there. The first child born in Hadlow was a boy called William who was born in May 1773, and he was followed by Thomas, apparently the traditional name for the second son in the family, in February 1776. The family group sheet shows the details of all Thomas and Mary's 8 children.