BIRTH: 16 AUG 1719, Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA
DEATH: 11 Oct 1786, Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA
FATHER: Samuel Higgins (1676-1761)
MOTHER: Thankful Mayo (1678-1739)
SPOUSE: Deborah (?-?)1
When William Higgins was born on August 16, 1719, in Eastham, Massachusetts, his father, Samuel, was 43 and his mother, Thankful, was 41. He had one son and two daughters with Deborah1 between 1738 and 1740. He died on October 11, 1786, in his hometown at the age of 67.
His story
Born on 16 August 1719 in Eastham, nestled on Cape Cod in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, William Higgins entered a world shaped by Puritan values, maritime rhythms, and the legacy of Pilgrim settlement. He was the son of Samuel Higgins and Thankful Mayo, both descendants of early colonial families who had carved out lives in the sandy soil and salt air of Barnstable County.
William came of age during a period of relative peace and growth in New England. The harsh frontier conflicts of the late 1600s had given way to a more settled colonial society, and Eastham was a town of farmers, fishermen, and tradesmen. In this environment, William married Deborah1—her surname lost to time—and together they began a family in Medfield, Massachusetts.
Between 1738 and 1741, William and Deborah welcomed three children, Deborah Higgins, born May 27, 1738; William Higgins Jr., born September 1, 1739; and Lucrecy Higgins, born March 20, 1740.
These births, recorded in Medfield, suggest the family relocated from Cape Cod to the inland farming community west of Boston. The move may have been motivated by land opportunities, kinship ties, or economic necessity—common drivers of migration in colonial Massachusetts.
William’s son, William Jr., would later marry Mercy Shirley Niles and raise a large family in Easton and Worthington, continuing the Higgins line into the 19th century. The elder William’s own death date remains uncertain, and Deborah’s origins are undocumented, but their presence in town records anchors them in the fabric of Massachusetts’s colonial expansion.
William Higgins’s life reflects the quiet persistence of New England families who moved with opportunity, raised children in modest homes, and left traces in town books and family Bibles. Though not a public figure or land magnate, his legacy endures through the generations that followed.
Legacy of William Higgins
Parents
Father: Samuel Higgins (1676-1761)
Mother: Thankful Mayo (1678-1739)
Married
Married Deborah (?-?)1
Children
- Deborah Higgins (1738-1822)
- William Higgins Jr. (1739-1820)
- Lucrecy Higgins (1740-?)
Documents
- Birth Records
- Mayflower Births and Deaths, Vol. 1 and 2 > Volume 2 > William Higgins. b. 16 Aug. 1719 (Birth of William Higgins to parents Samuel Higgins and Thankful Mayo)
- Marriage records
- None
- Death records
- None
- Other Records
- Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 > Medfield > Vital Record Transcripts > birth of children Lucrecy and Deborah to William Higgins and Deborah
- American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) > Name: William Higgins; Birth Date: 1719; Birth Place: Massachusetts, USA; Volume: 79; Page number: 209; Reference: Higgins, Rich:85
Footnotes
- Some genealogical sources identify the wife of William Higgins (1719–1786) of Eastham, Massachusetts, as Deborah Diacy, though her maiden name is not confirmed in primary records. The name appears in compiled family trees and user-contributed profiles, but original documentation is lacking. There is a record of a marriage between William Hagan and Deborah Diacy on 26 May 1737 in Boston, Massachusetts (Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., Marriages, 1700-1809).
Relation of William Higgins to Steven Barry Staggs: 7th great-grandfather
Page last updated November 30, 2025
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