Pueblo County Biographies

Pueblo County, Colorado
ROBERT H. HIGGINS

Contributed by Karen Mitchell.

Hon. Robert H. Higgins, state treasurer of Colorado and for many years one of the builders of Pueblo, is a direct descendant of that Robert Higgins who, after many voyages as captain, finally settled down on Manhattan island in 1755 and married Miss Van Zandt, the daughter of the owner of the good ship he had commanded. Robert H. Higgins has in his possession the evidence of direct descent from this hero of pre-Revolutionary days. This is the parchment, yellowed with age and given in turn from father to eldest son, by which the Frederick county (Va.) home of the Higgins family was deeded in 1762 to Robert Higgins by Thomas Lord Fairfax. But there is much more of value in that huge box which Treasurer Higgins now keeps in a fireproof vault. There is the original military warrant granted to Captain Robert Higgins of Revolutionary fame, "four thousand acres, revolutionary land grant, between the Little Miami and the Scioto rivers" in Ohio. This is signed by President James Monroe and dated 1817. John Joliff Higgins, grandfather of State Treasurer Higgins, was a native of Ohio and served his county as sheriff for several terms, between the years 1830 and 1840. In 1842 he was elected a major-general of volunteers by the state legislature and was also a presidential elector on the Martin Van Buren ticket in 1844. Robert H. Higgins was born at Georgetown, Brown county. Ohio, on April 29, 1862. His father was Robert Hetrick Higgins, who was a native of Ohio and passed away at his home in Georgetown, that state. During the period of the Civil war he served for three years and seven months as captain of Company D of the Fifty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He took a prominent part in the affairs of his county, commonwealth and country, serving as county clerk for fifteen years before and after the Civil war and one term as a member of the lower house of the state legislature, while later he became assistant adjutant general of Ohio. The mother of Robert H. Higgins of this review was Matilda Battaile Marshall Buckner Higgins. In these names her ancestry is fairly well outlined, for she was a descendant of the Battaile, the Marshall and the Buckner families of Revolutionary days. In 1891 Robert H. Higgins, who had spent six years with the Santa Fe Railroad system in Kansas, came to Colorado to go into the smelting business. He was again with the Santa Fe from 1896 until 1900, and from 1900 until 1907 was active for a second time in the smelting business. From 1908 until 1916, or for a period of eight years, he was county commissioner of Pueblo county. This represents the period in which the greatest progress was made in the history of both the city and county. The new seven hundred thousand dollar courthouse was built in that time without a bond issue and is all paid for. In 1909 began the era of road building and Pueblo county today has the finest system of hard-surfaced roads in the state. It has, moreover, more miles of road than any other county of the state. In 1916 Mr. Higgins was nominated for state treasurer by the democrats of Colorado and was elected to the office by a large majority, a position which he has filled with honor to himself and credit to the commonwealth. On the 4th of February, 1892. Mr. Higgins was married to Miss Laura Alwilda Prescott. Their living children are Ruth, Robert and Nellie. Robert is now with the Twenty-eighth Engineers in France. He enlisted at Camp Meade, Maryland, within a hundred miles of where his ancestor, the original Robert, enlisted for service in the Revolutionary war. Mr. Higgins belongs to the Masonic lodge, being a thirty-second degree Mason, and is also a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World. His political, like his business career has been marked by steady progress and his ability is attested by the demand of his fellow citizens for his service in office. History Of Colorado Illustrated Volume III Chicago The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1918

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