1. John Bigelow played a central role in the founding of the New York Public Library in 1895 and served as the first president of the New York Law School Board of Trustees.
14 Facts About John Bigelow
1. 2.
In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him American consul in Paris, and John Bigelow progressed to Charge d'Affaires and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Napoleon III.
3.
John Bigelow negotiated with Emperor Napoleon III over withdrawing France's troops from Mexico, which were supporting Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.
4.
Under the influence of Tilden, John Bigelow decided to rejoin the Democratic party, accepted its nomination, and was elected Secretary of State of New York, a position he held until 1876.
5.
Tilden died almost a decade after the dispute was decided in favor of his rival, Rutherford B Hayes, and Bigelow then acted as one of Tilden's estate trust executors.
6.
John Bigelow carried out Tilden's wishes, over several years, to develop, design, and establish the New York Public Library and served as its first president from May 27,1895, until his death on December 19,1911.
7.
John Bigelow was a staunch proponent of the development of the Panama Canal.
8.
John Bigelow was a friend of Philippe Bunau-Varilla, who brought Panama's declaration of Independence to Bigelow's home.
9.
John Bigelow's writing career, begun with Bryant on the New York Evening Post, included several books.
10.
John Bigelow was one of the first Americans to visit Haiti with an open mind, and published The Wisdom of the Haitians, which, before the Civil War, was one of the few American works to take a positive view of Haitian independence.
11.
John Bigelow published an edition of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin in 1868, the first publication taken from Franklin's original, and nearly complete, manuscript, which had been lost sometime after Franklin's death.
12.
Since the manuscript ended at age 51, in 1757, John Bigelow re-worked it, incorporating Franklin's extensive correspondence, into the three-volume The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Written by Himself, first published in 1874.
13.
In 1895 Bigelow published the two-volume The Life of Samuel J Tilden.
14.
On June 11,1850, John Bigelow married Jane Tunis Poultney and they had nine children.