George W. Wiggs Biography Page

GEORGE WASHINGTON WIGGS
Corporal, Co. E
1830-1900

Father: Alexander Jackson Wiggs (b. 4/2/1799 - d. 2/2/1872).
Mother: Matara Wagner (b. 9/9/1804 - d. 3/13/1891).
Date and Place of Birth: 2/10/1830, Pike County, Indiana.
Spouse: Hannah Ashby (b. 2/6/1837 - d. 2/18/1906)
Children: Alice, William Carroll, Joshua Alexander, Mary Etta, Joseph Warner, Benjamin Franklin, Adaline, Charlotte, John Mark, Hanna Effie, Floyd Wayne, and Dwight Lyman.
Date and Place of Death:  4/1/1900, Pike County, Indiana.
Place of Burial: New Liberty Cemetery, Pike County, Indiana.
Military History: See Below:
Comments: Brother of George Washington Wiggs, 42nd IN, Co. E, Andrew Jackson Wiggs, 58th IN, Henry J. Wiggs, 80th IN
Submitter of Information: Bob Eubanks, Ben Wiggs, Jim Decker-Ward, Donna Cranston


Corporal George W. Wiggs
(photo believed to have been taken 
at beginning of Civil War, 1861)

Photo Courtesy of Donna Cranston and Bob Eubanks



Corporal George W. Wiggs
(photo believed to have been taken
somewhere in Georgia, 1864)

Photo and Details Courtesy of  Bob Eubanks, 
Ben Wiggs, and Jim Decker-Ward


Civil War Military Service
George Washington Wiggs served as a Regimental blacksmith and a teamster (wagon driver) during the Civil War. He was enlisted as a Corporal by N. B. French, in Princeton, Indiana on October 5, 1861. He signed up for a
three year term, and served in Company E, 42nd Regiment Indiana Infantry. At the time he was described as; height 5’7", dark complexion, hazel eyes, and had black hair.  He was promoted to 7th Corporal on August 20, 1862, and to 4th Corporal on March 1, 1863. On June 24, 1863 he left with the wagon train at Murfreesborough, Tennessee by order of the Regimental QM. He was detailed as a teamster on October 24, 1863 by order of General Carlin No 148. At one time his clothing account was shown to be $48 26. George Washington Wiggs was honorably discharged on October 17, 1864 at Villanow, Georgia.

GEORGE W. WIGGS

George Washington Wiggs was the son of Alexander Jackson and Matara Wiggs. Alexander and Matara Wiggs came to Pike County, IN from near Wartrace, TN by 1825. George W. Wiggs was born on February 10, 1830 in Pike County, IN. George W. Wiggs had 11 brothers and sisters.

George W. Wiggs married Hanna E. Ashby on May 27, 1855. They were married at the home of Hanna's parents, Joshua and Susan (Tisdale) Ashby, near Coe, IN.

George W. and Hanna Wiggs had 12 children: Alice, William Carroll, Joshua Alexander, Mary Etta, Joseph Warner, Benjamin Franklin, Adaline, Charlotte, John Mark, Hanna Effie, Floyd Wayne, and Dwight Lyman Wiggs.

BAPTIST CHURCH SERVICE  (researched by Ben Wiggs III)
The New Liberty General Baptist Church was originally built as a log church on land bought by Hannah Wiggs’ parents, Joshua and Susan Ashby. The land was later deeded to G. W. Wiggs and four other men on September 26, 1871.

According to "100 Years With United Association", George Washington Wiggs was a "Messenger" from the New Liberty Baptist Church, Monroe Township, Pike County, Indiana to the Annual Meeting held at Bethany Church, Warrick County, September 1870. He was also a messenger to the Annual meetings held at Otter Creek Church on August 30, 1872, and at the Mt. Zion Church September 1876 where he was elected Assistant to the Clerk. He was a delegate from the Mt. Zion Church of Winslow to the Annual meeting held at Centenary Church September 1, 1883, where he was appointed to the both the Divine Service and Program Committees. He was a delegate from Mt. Zion Church of Winslow for the meeting held at the Mt. Gilead Church September 5, 1884. At the meeting on August 31, 1888,held at the Sharon Church, Warrick County Indiana, he was elected Clerk, and appointed to the yearbook committee .

The address of Mt. Zion Church from which he was a delegate was an Ingle P.O.  Old County maps show that this was near the present day Williams Cemetery. The nearby church has changed hands.

After the Civil War George Washington Wiggs was a blacksmith, a farmer, and was commissioned as a Justice of the Peace in Pike County, Indiana on November 1, 1880.  George W. died at his home near Coe, IN on April 1, 1900. George and Hannah Wiggs are buried in New Liberty Cemetery, Monroe Township, Pike County, Indiana.


I received an e-mail from my cousin Donna Cranston which contained the following newspaper article text which was written by my Grandfather (Frank) Benjamin Franklin Wiggs (a son of George W. Wiggs). Although it does not pertain to the Civil War, I am including that text here since it gives an insight as to what life was like in Pike County a few years after the war.

"The Homespun Club"

Frank Wiggs, 67, Winslow, is given a membership in The Homespun Club with bands playing and flags waving.  We feel sure our readers, old and young, will be thrilled by his reminiscences of the days when children witnessed the making of their clothing from the wool off the backs of the home flock of sheep.  His wonderful review of that romantic era in the history of Indiana is given as follows:

"At the time my mother (Hannah Wiggs) was a very busy woman trying to meet the needs of a family of 12 children.  After my father (George Washington Wiggs) had sheared the sheep and took the wool to Huntingburg where it was carded into rolls, my mother and the older girls  would set the spinning wheel buzzing and spin these rolls into yarn.  Then mother would set the old loom up and weave this yarn into jeans and flannel cloth, yards and yards of it.  Then she would make this cloth into clothing until we all had a suit around of underwear, jean pants, and coats.  Besides, she would knit us socks and gloves and yard suspenders for we boys and father.  She would raise a patch of cotton and we all sat around the fireplace and seeded the cotton. One time my brother Joshua made a small cotton gin which shortened the job of picking cotton, and mother was the proud possessor of a pair of cards with which she carded the cotton and wove it into cloth.  In the summer she would go to the field and select straw and plait hats for Sunday wear.  So you see mother made all our wearing apparel except shoes.  Besides, she did most of the cooking in front of the old log fireplace.  I was quite small then. When my father got our shoes for winter he would take a strip of leather and place it on the floor with one end of the leather against the wall, each one of us would stand with on foot on the strip of leather and our heel against the wall, and he would take his knife and cut a notch at the end of our big toe. This was the measure of all our shoes- all on one strip."  "Father would go to Boonville to get our shoes, and when he returned with them in a large toe sack he would dump the whole lot in a bunch and every fellow had to pick out a fit for himself.  Some brass toes, and some red top boots.  This one pair around was all we got until the next year."

 

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This Page was Last Edited on March 02, 2022