Bury
John Francis Bigony
1869 - 1937From The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.
JOHN FRANCIS BIGONY, M. D. A professional service that has met every test of proficiency and faithfulness as well as time has been that of Dr. Bigony, who for nearly thirty years has practiced medicine and surgery over a wide extent of country around Hinton, and in connection with his private practice established and has conducted a high class private hospital.
Doctor Bigony was born on his father's farm near Columbus, Ohio, May 22, 1869, son of Joseph and Caroline (Bury) Bigony, who are still living on their farm in that locality. The great-grandparents of Doctor Bigony came from Switzerland, and to repay their passage money over the ocean they worked two and one half years in the Stephen Girard Sugar Factory in Philadelphia. Mary Czircle, his grandmother, when a girl of six years walked with her mother behind the wagon that carried the family possessions from Harrisonburg, Virginia, to Ohio. Joseph Bigony in the course of a long lifetime has been a very prosperous farmer in Central Ohio. He was the father of five sons: Doctor John; Joseph H., who is a scientific gardener and has kept in close touch with the agricultural department of Ohio State University; Hiram Franklin, a graduate of the Medical College of Virginia, now practicing at Millersport, near Columbus, Ohio; Warren Ellsworth, a successful attorney at Columbus, who was educated in the Ohio State University and the University of Texas; Winfield Scott, a scientific farmer at the old homestead and who has also been trained in the Ohio State Agricultural College. All these sons at some period in their lives were teachers.
John F. Bigony attended home schools, and later entered the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, graduating Bachelor of Science in 1891 and with the M. D. degree in 1892. His period of teaching comprised four years. He began the practice of medicine at Kirkersville, twenty-one miles east of Columbus. After being there two years he came to Hinton in 1894, and for some years he performed the arduous labors of a country physician, traveling thousands of miles on horseback in all kinds of weather to look after his patients. During the influenza epidemic of 1920 he fell from his horse while on a professional visit, broke a leg, and was in the woods for hours before being discovered and rescued. Doctor Bigony so far as his busy practice has permitted has been a student and kept in touch with the advancement of medical and surgical knowledge, and during 1906 he took post graduate work in diseases of women and children at Philadelphia. The Bigony Hospital was established in 1904. There were only four rooms to begin with, but it is now a modernly equipped hospital with twenty-three rooms. Doctor Bigony served as county health officer of Summers County five years and as jail physician seven years, and is former secretary and president of the Summers County Medical Society and a member of the State and American Medical Associations. He has also served on the City Council and the Board of Education.
On May 24, 1893, he married Mattie E. Charlton, daughter of Joseph and Sarah Jane (Wilson) Charlton. Joseph J. Charlton was born December 30, 1826, in Monroe County, Virginia, and was of English descent. He was educated in private schools, was a school teacher and vocal music teacher, was ordained a Baptist minister, was a temperance lecturer and served four years in the Confederate Army. He joined the regular army at Salt Sulphur Spring, belonged to Company B. Edgars Battalion, Twenty-second Regiment, under Captain Reed. He was in the battles of Lewisburg, Dry Creek and New Market, and was wounded in the battle of Cold Harbor in June, 1864. Mr. Charlton married twice, first Miss Nancy Parker in 1847. To them, three children were born, E. Tillie, Mary and Jesse. He married for his second wife in March, 1858, Sarah Jane Willson and to them were born ten children, Ida, Nannie, William, Annie, Mattie, Charles, Aldine, Edgar, Sarah and Edna. Mr. Charlton died October 3, 1905, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Mattie Bigony in Hinton, West Virginia. Dr. and Mrs. Bigony have five children: John Charlton, the oldest, is now a student of medicine in the Ohio State University, and during the World war was a cornet player for a year and ten days in Sousa's Band at the Great Lakes Training Station near Chicago. Joseph Clare, the second son, is a clerk in the Hinton offices of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. Ellsworth is a student of mechanical engineering in Ohio State University and has also taken military training there and is Major of Cadets. Philip H. is a student in the Hinton High School and Frances Louise, the youngest, is also in school at Hinton. Doctor and Mrs. Bigony are members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and both are teachers in the Sunday School.