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• Gender	Male
  Person ID	I93305	Brainard (Brainerd) / Foster / Fish
  Last Modified	15 Oct 2004 00:00:00
  Father	Elijah HIGLEY, b. 21 Aug 1740, Harwinton, Litchfield, Connecticut
  Mother	Anna HALLADAY, b. 4 Mar 1737/1738, Suffield,Hartford,Connecticut
  Family ID	F39696	Group Sheet
  Family 1	Electa BALDWIN
  Notes	_STATMARRIED
  Children	1. Lydia Jane HIGLEY   2. Anna Elizabeth HIGLEY   3. Mary Sophia HIGLEY   4. George HIGLEY   5. Laura Adgate HIGLEY
  Family ID	F40559	Group Sheet
  Family 2	Lydia PADDLEFORD
  Notes	_STATMARRIED
  Family ID	F40560	Group Sheet

• Notes

  **1850 Census--Milo, Yates, New York (Film 44434, pg 355/178) **"Elijah Higley, Jr. the youngest child and son of Elijah Higley, Sr. and his wife Anna Halliday, was born September 4, 1784. He married Lydia Paddleford, March 4, 1807, whowas born June 5, 1790. The facts fathered for his history are from the remembrances of his children and a few old friends. These aged people, who can give facts, can give no dates, and only scraps of information preserved in the hallsof memory, that pieced together, cannot make a perfect whole. With these, however, we are forced to be content. There are many elements of romance connectedwith his career, which, could they be brought into these pages, would read almost as if one drew upon the imagination for some novel of the olden time. Strange forces seemed to combine to snatch from him heights of prosperity to which, on more than one occasion in his eventful life, he attained. It is not known inwhat year he left his childhood home for a new home in a strange country. Froma nephew, Clark Higley of Tooele, Tooele County, Utah, son of his brother Oliver, we learn that he had in his youth, the reputation of being a ?great trader,' and attained his first financial success in making a watch trade, and that hebecame concerned in the lottery business, which was discontinued by the passage of a law detrimental to lotteries. In what year he went to Canada is not known, but it is reasonable to suppose that he went in company with his fist cousin, Jesse Higley, who bought large tract of land where London, Canada, now is, and which was confiscated at the time of the War of 1812. At all events they must have gone at about the time, and perhaps together. He must have made a protracted residence, there, as he was long time in the fur trade, residing with theIndian tribes while awaiting the coming of the hunting parties who would returnladen with the commodity he desired. Months would elapse in which he would never see the face of a white man. He became familiar with their language and customs, and intensified a naturally stern and stoical character by long intercourse with them. When the War of 1812 broke out, he was located at Port Hope, Canada, where he owned much land and large business interest. He was engaged in thecloth dressing business, owning mills for that purpose, and was the proprietorof one or more stores. At his time he considered himself the possessor of considerable wealth, everything having prospered with him, but when the alarm of war was sent through the land, being too much of a patriot to take the oath of allegiance, he improved an opportunity to send his wife to the States, and aftermaking arrangements with his partner to convert what he could into cash, one night he stealthily crossed the St. Lawrence, firing at and probably killing thesentinel who challenged him, himself escaping unhurt. His knowledge of the country enabled him to recross with a party of soldiers whom he piloted to an important British outpost, which they captured. He then recruited a company, and served in the war until its close. Of course all his Canadian property was now gone; dissolved like the first tracing of frost on the window pane before the rays of the sun. What his dishonest partner had left was confiscated to the Crown. He had to begin anew in life. He had one thousand dollars in money. With thishe went to Pittsburgh, Pa. and took a contract to build a large bridge. Very soon after, lumber and other materials so advanced in price, that when every workman and employee was paid only one dollar remained in the pocket of the contractor. The presumption is, from what we can gather, that he then went from Pittsburgh to Penn Yan, Yates County, N.Y. We hear of him there somewhere about 1820 and 1823. Here he was for some years in business at the head of Main Street,which was then the business center of the town. He had a store, probably such as were kept in those early days, combining grocer