About PetersPioneersBragging Rights

By Peter Biggins

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  1. My grandfather Leslie Biggins met Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini when waterproofing the basement of Columbus Hospital circa 1906. more

  2. The house where we lived in Wilmette from 1968 to 1972 was part of the Stran-Steel exhibit in the 1933/34 Chicago World's Fair. more

  3. My brothers and I caddied at the same course that Bill Murray later caddied at--Indian Hill Club in Winnetka, Illinois. more

  4. In 1989, we bought a house in Darien built on the 1,300-mile Kings Highway ordered by Charles II, King of England. more

  5. George Washington rode by the site of our house in Darien in 1756, 1775-76, and 1789, as Colonel, General, and President. more

  6. In 2004, Marilyn and I found the 320-acre farm of my great great grandfather Patrick Biggins in Romeovile, Will County, Illinois. more

  7. In 2009, I found the farmhouse of my great great great grandfather Hugh Beggan in Drumgill, County Cavan, Ireland. more

  8. My great great grandfather John Schmitt of Tiffin, Ohio, was a 49er in the California Gold Rush from 1849 to 1851. more

  9. Frances Foy, a second cousin of my grandmother, Emily Foy Biggins, has a mural in the Chicago Loop Post Office. more

  10. My Y-DNA ancestor Carthend, grandson of Colla Uais, lived on the Faughan River in Tirkeeran, County Derry, in the 5th century. more

  11. Based on her cousin Michael Carroll's Y-DNA, Marilyn is descended from Breassal Breac, King of Leinster around 200 BC. more

  12. Our son's father-in-law Dan O'Brien has the Y-DNA of Brian Boru, high king of Ireland from 1002 to 1014. more

  13. Herbert Kohler Sr., chief executive of the Kohler Company, attended the funeral of Marilyn's father Edward Carroll in 1955. more

  14. The comedic actor Eddie Foy adopted my great grandfather's brother James Foy's name because it would fit nicely on marquees. more

  15. My Foy great great grandparents lived a half mile from the Wigwam, when Abraham Lincoln was nominated as President in 1860. more

  16. My great grandfather John Foy was present at the Golden Spike Ceremony at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10, 1869. more

  17. In Fall 2007, I found the farm of my Foy ancestors, with Blackface sheep and an Irish sheepdog, in the Partry Mountains of County Mayo. more

  18. Sheffield Square Apartments, part of DePaul University since 1994, were built by my grandparents Leslie and Emily Biggins in 1925. more

  19. My third cousin Rev. John P. Minogue was President of DePaul University in Chicago from 1993 to 2004. more

  20. My great great great grandparents John Adam and Maria Eva Schickell lived in Tiffin, Ohio, when Charles Dickens visited in 1842. more

  21. My grandfather William Drueke hosted chess matches between child prodigy Sammy Reshevsky and 15 men in 1922. more

  22. In Spring 2007, Marilyn and I found the house of my great great great grandfather Johann Drücke in Ostentrop, Germany. more

  23. In 2013, the historical society in Finnentrop, Germany, wrote an article about my great great great grandfather Johann Drücke. more

  24. I have the Wander-Buch issued in 1845 by the Kingdom of Württemberg to my great great grandfather Koch, journeyman ropemaker. more

  25. My cousin John Foy Coverdale is a historian, a law professor, an author, and a member of Opus Dei. more

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