Collection Dates: 1830 - 1989
4.25 linear ft.

Washington Augustus Rigby (1814 -- 1881) was born in Ohio. He came to Iowa in 1836. The following year he married Lydia Barr (1817 -- 1896) in Bloomington (now Muscatine) in what was the first wedding in the county. They moved to Red Oak Grove (north of Tipton) where they farmed. The couple had four children, William Titus, Joshua Hopkins, Rhoda (1848 -- 1863), and Ellen Sarah. Washington Augustus Rigby was one of the first elected clerks of Cedar County and helped form the M.E. Society in Tipton. Washington A. Rigby, his wife, and daughter Rhoda are buried in Red Oak Cemetery, south of Stanwood, Iowa.

William Titus Rigby (1841 -- 1929) was the eldest son of Washington and Lydia. He served in the Civil War as a second lieutenant in the 24th Iowa Infantry, Company B. Later he attained the rank of captain. He was involved in the Coldwater Expedition and the Vicksburg campaign. After the war he attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, gaining his A.B. degree in 1869. It was at Cornell that he met Eva Cattron whom he married in 1869. They then went to farm his father's land and he became a banker at Mechanicsville. William T. and Eva Cattron had three children, William Cattron, Charles Longley, and Grace Kendrick. Rigby was deeply involved with veterans affairs. In 1895, he was elected secretary of the Vicksburg National Military Park Association. In 1899, he became the park's resident commissioner. He is buried at the Vicksburg National Cemetery.

Joshua Hopkins Rigby (1844 -- 1892) was the second child of Washington and Lydia Rigby. He too attended Cornell College and became a Methodist minister. He married Alice Fellows in 1870 and they had seven children, five of whom lived to maturity. Joshua Hopkins Rigby died from diphtheria which he contracted while aiding sick parishioners. He is buried at Mt. Vernon Cemetery, Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

Ellen Sarah Rigby Davis (1850 -- 1943) was the youngest of Washington and Lydia's children. Like her brothers she was educated at Cornell College, graduating in 1871. She taught school at various locations until 1878. Ellen Sarah Rigby married Frank Davis and they lived for some time in Jewett City, Connecticut. They had two daughters.

William Cattron Rigby (1871 -- 1946) was the eldest child of William T. Rigby and Eva Cattron. He attended Cornell College and served in the army as a lawyer. He was the Chief of Insular Affairs in the Judge Advocate General's office and argued several cases before the Supreme Court on behalf of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. He married Grace Gilruth in 1893 and they had three daughters. William Cattron Rigby is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Charles Longley Rigby (1874 -- 1949) was William Titus Rigby's younger son. Following the rest of the family he graduated from Cornell College in 1894. He managed the family farm and was chief executive officer for the Union Savings Bank. In 1898, he married Jennie Billings. They had two children, C. Edward and Isabel. Charles Longley Rigby served as an Iowa State Senator from District 24 from 1925 -- 1931. He is buried at Red Oak Cemetery, south of Stanwood, Iowa.

William Titus Rigby's youngest child and only daughter was Grace Kendrick Cameron (1876 -- 1960). Grace married Edward Cameron; they had no children. She cared for her father in his declining years and after his death moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

[Reference: Herman Hattaway, General Stephen D. Lee, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1976]

1841 Born in Red Oak Township, Cedar County, Iowa

1862 Second Lieutenant in 24th Iowa Infantry Regiment, Company B

1863 Promoted Captain

1865 Mustered out of Army in Savannah, Georgia

1869 Graduation from Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and marriage to Eva Cattron

1872 A.M., Cornell College

1878 Farmer and stock raiser, Section 14, Fremont Township, Cedar County, Iowa, P.O. Address Stanwood

1879 Member of the Board of Trustees of Cornell College; served until 1903

1880 Member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, Cornell College, served until 1901

1884 Elected Trustee of the State Agricultural College for a two year term

1887 Member of the Committee on Course of Study of the Iowa Industrial Reading Association

1891 Moved to Mount Vernon, Iowa

1895 Secretary of the Vicksburg National Military Park Association

1897 Representative at Detroit, Michigan, Congress of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States

1898 Chairman of the State Committee for Iowa of the Executive Committee of the Indianapolis Monetary Convention

1899 Creation of the Vicksburg National Military Park; Rigby becomes resident commissioner

1902 Chairman of the Vicksburg National Military Park Commission

Scope and Contents

The William Titus Rigby papers were donated to the University of Iowa Libraries in two separate installments. In 1963, Isabel Rigby presented the libraries with the papers of her grandfather, William Titus Rigby. These included four boxes of correspondence, dating from 1859 -- 1941, among which were his Civil War letters. There were also diaries, army rosters, and printed material about the Vicksburg National Military Park. In 1994, C. Edward Rigby donated additional family papers to be added to his grandfather's collection. Included in this addendum were diaries and financial records from William Rigby's father, Washington Augustus; correspondence spanning at least three generations; essays by William's brother, Joshua; numerous photographs; and detailed genealogical records.

The major correspondents were Washington Augustus Rigby and his children William Titus, Joshua Hopkins, and Ellen Sarah. They also include William Cattron Rigby, Charles Longley Rigby, and Grace Kendrick Rigby Cameron.

1859 -- January 1863.

1869 -- 1891.

1898. Including letters from Stephen Dill Lee and Thomas B. Reed.

Undated. (61 items)

1860 -- 1866.

Washington Augustus Rigby, 1839 -- 1878. Including banking records, tax receipts, mortgages, etc.

1926 -- 1988. Including reminiscences, clippings, etc.

Washington Augustus Rigby; wife Lydia; son Joshua; daughters Rhoda and Ellen; granddaughter Dora.

Unidentified people.