To return to the autobiography:
“The farm was about three miles east of the village of Joliet, and the early schools were the ordinary district schools with one teacher for a few months in each year. In winter they used to have spelling contests every week in one of the three schools located at three points of a triangle named Jericho, Babylon, and Bagdad. Harlow had the distinction of being the champion speller when he was so small that he had to stand on a box to be as high as the others in the class.
“In order to give his children a better school, Henry Dumont Higinbotham built a house in the village of Joliet about 1855 and moved there. This was his home until his death in 1865.
“In 1857 the nineteen-year-old youth accepted a position as bookkeeper and teller in a bank in Joliet, after which he was cashier of the Bank of Oconto, at Oconto, Wisconsin. In 1860 he became entry clerk, bookkeeper and cashier for Cooley, Farwell & Company, wholesale dry-goods dealers in Chicago, a city he had first discovered long before from the top of a load of hay which he had brought there to sell as a boy. In 1862 he left Chicago to go to the Civil War.
“He first enlisted in the Mercantile Battery, but was rejected on account of poor health. Then he obtained a position as clerk in the Quartermaster’s Department, and went to Clarksburg, West Virginia. His service there being much in the open and on horseback, his health was restored. While there he organized a company of infantry, as a guard to protect Clarksburg as a base for supplies for the United States army, which was always in the mountains, frequently leaving its base unprotected. He was captain of this company, which was called the Kelley Guards, General Kelley then being in command of the department. While in Chicago Mr. Higinbotham had belonged to the old Zouaves, and had been drilled in the manual of arms and company formation and tactics. The Government supplied the Kelley Guards with arms and ammunition, and their presence perhaps prevented raids that might have been made. The company was made up of men employed in the Quartermaster’s and Commissary departments.
“In 1863 and 1864 Higinbotham served in like capacity in Kentucky and Tennessee, and concluded his service at Hagerstown, Maryland, at the close of the war.
“Returning to Chicago in 1865, he engaged as bookkeeper with the new firm just commencing business as Field, Palmer & Leiter. This firm changed in 1867 to Field, Leiter & Co., and a few years later to the present firm of Marshall Field & Co. Mr. Higinbotham was a member of that firm and remained in that business until he retired in 1902. In his later years he was the only original member of that firm still living.”
On December seventh, 1865, occurred his marriage to Miss Rachel Davison, of Joliet. Her mother was Priscilla Moore, whose ancestors were of Scotch descent, and came to this country in 1723, settling in Londonderry, N. H. The two had been acquainted since childhood, their fathers’ farms being side by side. They attended the same school, and later, when Rachel Davison was the belle of Joliet, their friendship grew and culminated in their marriage. Six children—two sons and four daughters—were born of this union. Two of the daughters died in infancy. The four surviving are Harlow Davison Higinbotham, Henry Mortimer Higinbotham, Florence, wife of Richard T. Crane, Jr., and Alice, wife of Joseph Medill Patterson.
During the presidential campaign of 1864, when a large parade was to be held in Joliet in honor of McClellan and Pendleton, the democratic candidates, Rachel Davison had been selected to head it because of her great beauty and fine horsemanship; and this beauty remained with her until her death on June twenty-fifth, 1909.
Although modest and shy, Mrs. Higinbotham was a strong personality. She cared little for social life, never seeking conspicuous position, her home and children being always uppermost in her thoughts. Her sense of duty, and her thrift when a young matron, aided her husband to attain an influential position in the community. She exerted a strong influence, and during their life together was companion, adviser, and assistant in large business undertakings and in philanthropic work. Like him, she was always kind, and always mindful of those in need.