Erastus M. Higgins was born in 1840-46 in New York, the son of Thomas and Julia Ann Higgins.  August 20, 1862, "Rastus" joined the Union Army and fought in the Civil War as a private with Company C, 29th Wisconsin Infantry.  His regiment left the state by rail for Cairo, September 2, 1862, under Colonel Charles R. Gill.  Company C was commanded by Captain Horace E. Connit, with James O. Pearce serving as its First Lieutenant and Lovell F. Willard as its Second Lieutenant.  By November 7th, they had arrived at Helena, Arkansas and were camping on the east side of the river, opposite the town.  On the 16th of November, General Hovey, commanding the Department of Eastern Arkansas, organized a force of about 7,000 soldiers for an expedition against Arkansas Post, of which 400 picked men, of the Twenty-ninth Wisconsin, under Colonel Gill, formed a part.  The force was to move up White River to a point twelve miles distant from the Post, on the Arkansas, which distance it was proposed to march.  The water in the river was so low as to prevent the passage of the transports over the bar at the mouth of that stream, and, after repeated efforts, the whole expedition was abandoned, and returned to Helena.   April 6, 1863, Erastus received a disability discharge and resumed family life in dense woodlands of Levis Township, Clark County, Wisconsin.

Delilah Higgins, the first wife of Erastus who was born August 20, 1854, died October 2, 1877 when she was just 23 years old.  She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Colburn.  At the time of her death, her youngest child was just one month old where his aging parents were farming.  She was buried in the Levis Township Cemetery, Clark Co., Wisconsin.

The five year old daughter of Erastus and Delilah, Corrah J. Higgins, who was born June 23, 1872, died September 11, 1877 of brain fever.

Their son, Perry Lee Higgins, who was born August 4, 1877 and died November 3, 1877.  Timothy Higgins was born during the heat of August in 1870 and died in the fall of 1885 (Oct. 15th).

In 1899, he married Ethie Louise (Wilcox) Harvey who was born October 27, 1863 and had previously married to Samuel Howard Harvey September 28, 1879 in Clark County, Wisconsin.  She was the daughter of David A. and Hulda Ethie (Jones) Wilcox. Samuel died July 2, 1896 in Cleveland, Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

Erastus died May 21, 1911. 

Census Records

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