One of the things that I had hoped to accomplish on this trip was to find direct proof of a particular part of my Wiggins heritage. My grandmother was Eva Pearl (Wiggins) Malone, daughter of Alfred Sheldon and Caroline (Davis) Wiggins. Alfred's parents were Charles Augustus and Mariah Lucinda (McEveny) Wiggins, who both died, leaving Alfred an orphan at a very young age (this is the part that I would like to find direct proof of). Charles' parents were Sheldon (or Selden) and Sarah Ann (Mapes) Wiggins, both of whom descend from families that had settled at the east end of Long Island at a very early date (circa 1650s or earlier).
Why Sheldon left Long Island has always been a mystery to me, but I suspect it was because he served in the Finger Lakes region of New York during the War of 1812. At some point after the War he was paid $11.50 for a military equipment claim while living in Almond, Alleghany County, New York. That was likely for his service in Case's Regiment of New York Volunteers and Militia. So it is likely that he served in the area during the War and chose to move there after returning to Long Island and getting married. In the early 1830s he moved from Long Island to Steuben County, NY, purchasing 52 acres of farm land there on 24 May 1832 for $700 from James Jones and Polly, his wife (Volume 11, page 324, Steuben County, New York Deeds). He sold that property to Morgan H. Carney for $2,800 on 3 Dec 1856 (Volume 40, page 11, Steuben County, New York Deeds).
On 7 Aug 1857, Sheldon purchased two acres of land in Wellsville, Allegany County for $500 from Edward J. Farnum and Lucy, his wife (Volume 50, page 400, Allegany County, New York Deeds). The property was next door to Henry Garretsee, the father-in-law of his granddaughter, Ida Belle Wiggins.
According to a late 1890s deposition by Clarence S. Wiggins (Sheldon's grandson and Ida Belle's brother), Sheldon Wiggins died in 1870 (Steuben County, New York Probates, File A12181). At that time he was stated to be a resident of Hornellsville, Steuben County, New York, but he died in New York City. Searching the records of the New York City Municipal Archives shows that he died in Manhattan on 30 Apr 1869 (Death Certificate # 32759). The most likely explanation for his being in Manhattan was that he was being treated for some infirmity, though the actual reason is not currently known.
The disposition of his Wellsville, New York property is not known, as there was not a deed recorded where he granted the property to someone else.
The probate file for Sheldon Wiggins that was created in the 1890s by his grandson, Clarence S. Wiggins was of no help in establishing that Charles Augustus Wiggins was his son, or that Alfred Sheldon Wiggins and his siblings were Sheldon's grandchildren. Clarence's deposition stated that Sheldon's only children were Washington Wiggins (who died unmarried and without heirs) and Benjamin Franklin Wiggins (father of Clarence and Ida Belle).
Clarence had filed for Letters of Administration in order to resolve an unrecorded mortgage from 1868 that was allegedly paid off some time in the 1870s. This would explain why there was no deed conveying Sheldon's property in Wellsville, NY. The deposition doesn't state who that mortgage was for, though likely it was Clarence's father. If Sheldon's estate had been handled properly when he died, the mortgage would have come to light and all of Sheldon's heirs would have been entitled to a share of the outstanding balance due on the mortgage. It sounds suspiciously like Benjamin Franklin Wiggins had not disclosed the unrecorded mortgage from his father, thus cheating Sheldon's other heirs of their legacy, and making it nearly impossible to establish that my great grandfather was Sheldon's grandson.
Contrary to Clarence's deposition, in Genealogies of Long Island Families, Volume II, page 688, in a section entitled The Wiggins Family of Southold, New York, Charles Augustus Wiggins is listed as the older brother of Washington Warren and Benjamin Franklin Wiggins. The same source states that Charles' wife was Maria [sic] Lucinda McEveny (they were married in Clark County, Missouri in 1847). These four people were all listed in the household of Sheldon Wiggins in the 1850 Census for Dansville, Steuben County, New York, along with Charles' eldest son, William, age 1.
Charles had been the postmaster of Renault, Monroe County, Illinois in the late 1850s, with his wife assuming those duties after his death. She was administrix of his estate, but she died before the estate was settled (the estate file is likely lost somewhere in the probate records of Monroe County). Lucinda apparently died during or not long after the birth of Joseph Napolean Asberry, the only child of her second marriage (to Joseph B. Asberry). Her four surviving children by Charles likely ranged in age from 4 to 12 years old when she died.
Charles' daughter Eva (Wiggins) Gregory (b. abt 1856) was the source of information that she and Alfred were his children. While she may have been too young to have known her father, her older brother William was about 9 years old when he died. William died in Jackson County, Illinois in 1880, when Eva was about 24 years of age. Finding clear proof of the information that she had passed on to my grandmother is the reason that I am searching for deed and estate records in this area. At present, I have been unsuccessful, though there is a slim chance that Sheldon's Manhattan death certificate might provide some needed clues.
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