Person

Joseph M. Bigger (Ballard County, Kentucky, attorney and judge)

b. 1824-09-22 d. 1888-06-11

Ballard County, Kentucky, attorney and judge. Simpson County, Kentucky, native. Married Francis "Fannie" N. Stephens Bigger in 1846. Educated in the common schools of Barren County, Kentucky, and Warren County, Kentucky. Studied law under Judge E. I. Bullock in Hickman, Kentucky. Admitted to the bar in 1847. Attorney in Ballard County from 1847 to 1853. Owned four enslaved persons in Ballard County in 1850. Member of the Whig Party. Relocated to Paducah, Kentucky, in 1853. Attorney in Paducah from 1853 to 1858. Member of the Democratic Party. Judge of the Equity and Criminal court for the First Judicial District of Kentucky in Paducah from 1858 to 1861, when the court ceased. Owned two enslaved persons in Paducah in 1860.

Details

Sex
Male
Race
White

Bibliography

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Population Schedules, Kentucky, Ballard County, p. 288A.

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, Ballard County, p. 129.

Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Population Schedules, Kentucky, McCracken County, City of Paducah, District No. 2, p. 134.

Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, McCracken County, City of Paducah, District No. 2, p. 19.

Ninth Manuscript Census of the United States (1870), Population Schedules, Kentucky, McCracken County, Precinct No. 3, pp. 21-2.

J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin, & G. C. Kniffin, Kentucky: A History of the State (Louisville: Battey Publishing, 1887), 283-84.

"Judge Joe Bigger Dead," Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.), June 12, 1888, p. 5.

Citation

Bigger, Joseph M.. Accessed via the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, https://discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/S32211130 (November 12, 2026).

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