Reuben 9 BIGELOW
Children of Reuben and Active (Huntley) Bigelow:
1592C.14231t Cecil H., b living1933 Melrose,
MA; d 26 Nov 1979 Wareham, MA; m Helen B. Briggs; 4 children (see
below)
1592C.14232 Victor, b ______ ; d ______ ; living
1933; Onset, MA;
1592C.14233 Beulah Mae, b __ 1905 ; d ___
1991 (aged 85–86 Shelburne County, Nova Scotia); m Frederick
Walter Nickerson (1902-1980);
1592C.14234 Rhoda, b ______ ; d ______ ; living
1933; Pacasset, MA
1592C.14235 Grace, b ______ ; d ______ ; living 1933; New Bedford, MA
Sources:
Bigelow Society,The Bigelow Family Genealogy, Vol II, pg
424;
Correspondence with family descendant and family records;
Bigelow Society historian/genealogist.
1592C.14231t Cecil
H. 10 Bigelow, b living 1933 Melrose, MA; d 26
Nov 1979 Wareham, MA; m Helen B. Briggs; Cecil was a boat builder
and took over from his father Reuben.
Children of Cecil and Helen (Briggs) Bigelow:
1592C.14231.1 John C., b ______ ; d ______ ;
1592C.14231.2 Myron C., b ______
; d ______ ;m and at least one child known (see below)
1592C.14231.3 Emily M., b ______ ; d
______ ;m ____ Fliger;
1592C.14231.4 Reuben J., b ______ ; d ______ ;
BOURNE --
After graduating from Upper Cape Tech 15 years ago, Michael
Bigelow didn’t have to think long how he would spend his summer.
Or the rest of his life.
That summer, Bigelow spent more than 550
hours at his father’s Bourne boatyard building a 13-foot, 6-inch
catboat. He had been working at the boatyard since he was 10,
painting boats and doing light maintenance for his father. The
catboat he built that first year after graduation was a Wenaumet
Kitten, a custom-made sailboat designed by his great-grandfather
in 1901. The Kitten, and the boatyard itself, are parts of the
maritime tradition of Bourne and Cape Cod.
So when Bigelow’s father, Myron,
died a few years ago, there wasn’t much question whether he would
continue the operation.“It just seemed like something I was born
into,” said Michael Bigelow, now 33. “I just did it
without any thought. When my father died, I had to pick up the
reins.”
The Bigelows have been in Bourne since
1899, when Reuben Bigelow opened the boatyard on
Phinney’s Harbor. Two years later, he designed the variation of
the catboat he called the Kitten. It wasn’t until 1935 that his
son, Cecil - Michael’s grandfather - started making the
boats commercially. The model of that first catboat still sits in
the Bigelow boatyard and has been the model for all 85 Kittens
made since.
And it is not the only artifact of the
boatyard’s past. A band saw from the late 1800s still works as
well as when Michael’s great-grandfather used it. And across the
ceiling, there remains what was a gas-powered drive shaft that
once spun belts that drove many of the facility’s machines.
The Bigelow boatyard is believed to be
the second-oldest boatyard on Cape Cod, after the Crosby Yacht
Yard in Osterville. The Bigelow family business has dodged some
bullets from Mother Nature over the years, most notably two
hurricanes in 1938 and 1954. Fierce winds from the second storm,
Hurricane Carol, caused the shop to cave in. After nature’s second
strike, Myron Bigelow decided to relocate to a spot near
the Monument Beach Marine. A zoning controversy forced him to move
the entire building in 1963 to its current location on MacArthur
Boulevard, now a busy stretch of highway. Keeping on
“We kept goin’,” Michael said recently.
“Back then, we were the only show in town, so it was important for
us to keep going.” These days, Michael Bigelow’s three-man
operation does boat restorations, hauling and mechanical work for
about 250 customers annually.
What makes a catboat? Design based on 19th
century New England coastal work boats Shallow draft, usually with
a drop-down center board rather than a keel, making them easier to
use in shallow harbors. About
half as wide as long, for steadiness and maneuverability. One
gaff-rigged sail on a single mast set well up in the “eyes” of the
boat.The Catboat Association Web site,
Among Bigelow’s customers are the owners
of about 30 Kittens, including that first one he made as a
teenager, and a Kitten made by his grandfather in the
mid-1940s.“Some of our customers have been with us going back four
generations,” he said.The Wenaumet Bluffs Yacht Club has been
racing its fleet of catboats since 1942.He says another 20
catboats are still on the seas, somewhere. The newest was launched
last June.Changes in the industry make wooden boats less popular
these days - they take much longer to build and are considerably
more expensive to build and maintain.For instance, a new Kitten is
a 400-hour project and costs about $18,500.
The original 1935 form used to make the first 13 1/2 foot Wenaumet Kitten is still used today to shape the hulls 0f new craft.
From article in Cape Cod Times by Kevin Dewitt 2011
Oakland Grove Cemetery; Bourne, Barnstable County, MA
<
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