Higgerson History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Ireland
• England

Early Origins of the Higgerson family

Early History of the Higgerson family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Higgerson research. Another 115 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1588, 1616, 1629, 1630, 1652, 1692, 1698, 1708 and 1764 are included under the topic Early Higgerson History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Higgerson Spelling Variations

Names from the Middle Ages demonstrate many spelling variations. This is because the recording scribe or church official often decided as to how a person's name was spelt and in what language. Research into the name Higgerson revealed many variations, including Higginson, Hickinson, Hickenson, Hickeson and many more.

Early Notables of the Higgerson family

Notable among the family name at this time was Isabel Hickinson who was buried at St. Johns Church, Dublin. Francis Higginson (1588-1630), was an English-born Puritan minister who led a group of about 350 settlers on six ships from England to New England in 1629, one year before the Winthrop Fleet. He became the first minister of Salem, Massachusetts. A portion of his diary was published in 1630 under the title, "New Englands Plantation, or a Short and True...
Another 79 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Higgerson Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Higgerson family

During the 19th century thousands of impoverished Irish families made the long journey to British North America and the United States. These people were leaving a land that had become beset with poverty, lack of opportunity, and hunger. In North America, they hoped to find land, work, and political and religious freedoms. Although the majority of the immigrants that survived the long sea passage did make these discoveries, it was not without much perseverance and hard work: by the mid-19th century land suitable for agriculture was short supply, especially in British North America, in the east; the work available was generally low paying and physically taxing construction or factory work; and the English stereotypes concerning the Irish, although less frequent and vehement, were, nevertheless, present in the land of freedom, liberty, and equality for all men. The largest influx of Irish settlers occurred with Great Potato Famine during the late 1840s. Research into passenger and immigration lists has brought forth evidence of the early members of the Higgerson family in North America: Anne, Charles, Frances, John, Mary, Neophytus, Samuel, Pheophilus, Timothy Higginson, who all settled in Salem, Massachusetts in 1629; Humphrey Higginson settled in Virginia in 1635.