William Orlando and Emily Holt Bigelow

Chewing Gum

I remember one time; several old and young squaws were in our house. The river was low and they had waded across. They were chewing gum. I suppose they had recently been to Standoff. That was the place where the Indian Agency was and they had gotten a quantity of gum. Well, I hardly knew what gum tasted like so I suppose I was gazing rather enviously. One of the squaws stretched the gum and broke a piece off and handed it to me. Mother (Emily) was watching the performance and shook her head at me. Of course, I didn’t take it.—(told by Guinevere Bigelow Heninger)

Choose your ending—

The above story is written by Guinevere herself. However, through the ages the story has been handed down with a different ending to the story—

Some say that “As young Gwen watched the energetic activity of the chewing of the gum, she appeared greatly intrigued. And to the horror of her mother (Emily) the Indian squaw took the wad of gum out of her mouth, and with her dirty hand shoved it into Gwen’s gaping jaws.”

Either ending—it’s still a wonderful story!

Babe, the Horse

Dad, (William Orlando Bigelow), once purchased a beautiful horse. He was high spirited and would run away if he got half a chance. He was a wonderful walker. In any relay race he could out walk any other horse, but he would not trot, he always broke into a run so he was disqualified.

Mother, (Emily Selina Holt Bigelow), often drove Babe on the one-horse buckboard.

Babe was a wonderful saddle horse and easy as a rocking chair. Father loved to trade, but Babe was never traded and lived a long life owned by the Bigelows.

(Told by daughter Guinevere Bigelow Heninger)

Moving to Cardston, Alberta, Canada

The town of Cardston was the first of what would become several Mormon settlements in Southern Alberta, Canada. Its colonizer, Charles O. Card, came seeking refuge from prosecution in the U.S. due to his practice of plural marriage. On President John Taylor's advice, he went first to British Columbia in search of friendlier territory. There, he found nothing available that was to his liking. Hearing from a mountaineer of the “buffalo plains” of Alberta, he reportedly said to his traveling companions, “If the buffalo can live there, we can. Let us go and see it.”

In late October 1886, Charles selected the site of the future town of Cardston at Lee’s Creek, and by late the next spring his wife Zina (daughter of Brigham Young) and several other families had arrived at the new settlement. Charles set to work building the town that would soon bear his name, establishing a Sunday School within a few weeks and opening a general store.

During its first few years, Cardston’s population grew gradually as other polygamist families sought refuge in Canada. By the time the LDS practice of plural marriage officially ended in 1890, land shortages in Utah and Idaho were driving young farmers north to seek a living in Alberta, where a $10 entry fee and cultivation of the land was enough to secure a homestead.1

In 1893 the William Orlando Bigelow family and other residents of Millville, Utah began considering moving to the new settlement in Canada.

This is what their daughter Guinevere Bigelow Heninger said about it:

We left Millville in the month of May; at least Dad and Orson did. Mother and the three younger children left about two weeks later on the train traveling to Pocatello, where Dad had purchased a very nice fringe topped buggy for Mother.

Cardston, Alberta 1904

We landed at Cardston in July 1893. Cardston was six years old. There was a two-room log house partly built in the west part of town; about three blocks west of the main street. Dad acquired this house and straight way traveled to Lethbridge to get shingles, windows and doors. This was the first house in Cardston to have a shingled roof. Dad said he wasn’t going to have milk pans sitting around to catch the drips.

Father acquired a homestead site on the Saint Mary’s river just across from the Indian Reserve. It was a lovely piece of land.

The Indians came to our place a lot. Mother was very kind to them. She gave them many gallon of skim milk and Father always gave them parts of the beef he killed in the fall.



1. https://history.lds.org/place/cardston-alberta-canada

Memories of Margaret Thelma Bigelow

Family Tree for Emily Selina Holt

Gravestone for William Orlando Bigelow and Emily Selina Holt

Picture of Emily Selina Holt

William Orlando Bigelow and Emily Selina Holt

     William Orlando Bigelow, son of James Otis bigelow and Elizabeth Cazier, was born on 1 Jan 1853 in Nephi, Juab, Utah, United States. He died on 7 Apr 1925 in Sacramento, Sacramento, California, United States. He was buried on 16 Apr 1925 in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. He married Emily Selina Holt on 13 Dec 1883 in Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States.

     Emily Selina Holt, daughter of Samuel Holt and Rhoda Bowhey, was born on 17 Mar 1866 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States. She died on 3 Apr 1916 in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. She was buried on 9 Apr 1916 in Cardston, Alberta, Canada.

They had 9 children:

Orson Orlando Bigelow

William Otis Bigelow

Emma Fern Bigelow

Guinevere Bigelow

Silas Holt Bigelow

Josephine Bigelow

Rhoda Bigelow

Elisabeth Bigelow

Margaret Thelma Bigelow