Frank W. Higgins#Personal life

Higgins was born in Rushford, New York, on August 18, 1856.{{cite news |last1=Quinn |first1=Brian |title=The facts about Rushford native and former New York State Gov. Frank Higgins |url=https://www.wellsvilledaily.com/article/20150618/NEWS/150619696 |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The Wellsville Daily Reporter |date=June 18, 2015 |language=en}} He was the son of Orrin Thrall Higgins (1826–1890) and Lucia Cornelia (née Hapgood) Higgins (1831–1868). Given the first name "Francis" at birth, he called himself "Frank" from an early age. His elder sister was Clara Alzina Hapgood Higgins,{{cite news |title=MRS. FRANK S. SMITH; Sister of the Late Governor Higgins of This State |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1934/03/16/95037688.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=16 March 1934}} who later married Frank Sullivan Smith, one time head of the Shawmut Railroad.{{cite news |title=RED CROSS TO GET MILLIONS BY WILL; Made Residuary Legatee by Widow of F.S. Smith, Former Head of Bar Examiners. BIG BEQUESTS TO CHARITY $250,000 for 11 Other Institutions and Individuals -- $100,000 for Seamen's Church Institute. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1934/03/30/95038678.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=30 March 1934}} His father, a descendant of Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower, was a successful merchant who owned a chain of grocery stores in Olean, New York and held mining and timber tracts in Michigan, Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota.

Higgins's grandfather was a pioneer physician of distinction in Western New York.

Higgins attended Rushford Academy and then Riverview Academy, a military school in Peekskill, New York, from which he graduated in 1873. He then attended a commercial college in Binghamton, New York.

After completing his education Higgins worked as a sales agent for an oil company in Detroit and Chicago, and then became a partner in the Stanton, Michigan, mercantile firm of Wood, Thayer, and Company. In 1879, Higgins returned to New York and became a partner in his father's business, Higgins, Blodgett & Co.

He was a delegate to the 1888 Republican National Convention. In 1894, Higgins was elected to the New York Senate with a plurality of 8,046 votes over his opponent, and he served for eight years, sitting in the 117th, 118th (both 32nd D.), 119th, 120th, 121st, 122nd, 123rd, 124th and 125th New York State Legislatures (all seven 50th D.). While in the Senate, he served on various committees and was "Chairman of the Finance Committee for a longer period than any other man."

In 1888, he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago that resulted in the nomination of former Senator Benjamin Harrison of Indiana for President and Levi P. Morton of New York, a former Congressman and Minister to France, for Vice President.

In 1902, Higgins was the successful Republican candidate for lieutenant governor against Democrat Charles N. Bulger (663,689 votes to 653,555 votes), and he served one term from 1903 to 1904. In what was considered the Republican Roosevelt wave, due to former New York Governor's Theodore Roosevelt's election to the Presidency,{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Edmund |title=Theodore Rex |date=2010 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=9780307777812 |page=358 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9r_p6Kbi24C&pg=PA358 |access-date=12 June 2019 |language=en}} Higgins was the successful Republican nominee for governor in 1904,{{cite news |title=THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEES. Records of the Candidates Selected for the State Ticket |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/09/16/117948447.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=September 16, 1904}} and he served one term from January 1905 to December 1906.{{cite news |last1=Special to The New York Times |title=MR. HIGGINS LEAVES ALBANY.; Remarkable Demonstration for Him at the Railway Station. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/01/02/106704359.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=2 January 1907}} He was succeeded by fellow Republican Charles Evans Hughes (who later became the U.S. Secretary of State and Chief Justice of the United States).{{cite news |last1=Hughes, Charles E. |author-link=Charles Evans Hughes |title=HUGHES'S TRIBUTE TO EX-GOV. HIGGINS; Left to the People the Fresh Memory of a Character Without Blemish. FUNERAL TO-MORROW Delegations from Both Houses to Attend It, and ex-Governors Invited. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/02/14/101723824.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=14 February 1907}}{{cite book |last1=Wesser |first1=Robert F. |title=Charles Evans Hughes: Politics and Reform in New York, 1905-1910 |date=2009 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=9780801475504 |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pXWs7pcDCLwC&pg=PA16 |access-date=12 June 2019 |language=en}}

Higgins was in ill health at the end of his term and died just six weeks after leaving office. In his obituary in The New York Times, it was said:

"The illness of ex-Gov. Higgins covers practically the whole of his administration of two years. His health was not robust when he was nominated for Governor in 1904, and it is but chronicling the truth to say that the campaign taxed him greatly. Following his election he was able to rest up, and for a time he felt better than in months. On assuming office, however, the cares of the Governorship wore on him and each month increased the pressure."

On June 5, 1877, Higgins was married to Kate Corinne Noble (1855–1929), a daughter of Aaron Harrison Noble and Aldura (née Bell) Noble. They married in Stanton, Michigan, where Higgins was then in business. Together, they were the parents of:

• Orrin Thrall Higgins (1879–1912){{cite news |title=WIN HIGGINS ESTATE SUIT.; Two Granddaughters of Former Governor Will Get $250,000. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/12/04/112694308.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=4 December 1931}}
• Josephine Bell Higgins, who married Émile Lucien Hovelaque, the Inspector General of Public Instruction in France, in 1911.{{cite news |last1=Times |first1=Special to The New York |title=MISS HIGGINS A BRIDE.; Daughter of Late ex-Governor Married to Emile L. Hovelaque of France. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/07/27/104872799.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=27 July 1911}}{{cite news |last1=Special to The New York Times |title=EXPRESSES THANKS OF FRENCH MISSION; Hovelaque Issues Statement to the American People in Behalf of Viviani and Joffre. SURPRISED BY ENTHUSIASM One Regret Is That They Could Not Visit the South;-French Purchasing Board Has Arrived. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/05/17/102344589.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=17 May 1917}}
• Frank Harrison Higgins (1886–1937).{{cite news |title=F. HARRISON HIGGINS; Son of Former New York Governor Dies in Olean at 52 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/12/04/101015238.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=4 December 1937}}
• Clarence Noble Higgins (1890–1890), who died in infancy of Cholera Infantum.

Among Higgins closest friends was Olean Mayor Nicholas Van Vranken Franchot, who served as the New York State Superintendent of Public Works during Higgins administration.

Higgins died of heart disease in Olean on February 12, 1907.{{cite news |last1=Times |first1=Special to The New York |title=EX-GOV. HIGGINS DIES IN OLEAL; End Comes While He Is-Unconscious, with His Family at His Side. ILL NEARLY SIX WEEKS For More Than a Year the Fatal Malady Was Known -- Sketch of His Career. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/02/13/106740032.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=13 February 1907}} After an Episcopal burial service read at his residence, he was buried at Mount View Cemetery in Olean.{{cite news |title=MR. HIGGINS BURIED; PUBLIC MEN ATTEND; Gov. Hughes and Other Officials at the Funeral at Olean. HIS CAREER PRAISED Dr. Ashton Speaks of the ex-Governor's Public and Private Life. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/02/16/106740220.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=16 February 1907}} President and Mrs. Roosevelt sent flowers, as did Governor Hughes and many other prominent people. Higgins estate was valued at $1,250,000, considerably less than the $15,000,000 estimated around his death.{{cite news |title=HIGGINS'S ESTATE MUCH LESS; Fortune of the Late Governor Expected to be Only $1,250,000. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/02/26/106741787.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=26 February 1907}} His wife died at the Higgins residence, 128 South Street in Olean, in May 1929.{{cite news |title=MRS. FRANK W. HIGGINS.; Widow of New York Governor Dies of a Stroke of Paralysis. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/05/26/91794877.pdf |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=26 May 1929}}

Higgins official portrait as Governor of New York was painted by Buffalo, New York, native, Eugene Speicher.{{cite web |title=Frank W. Higgins {{!}} 35th Governor 1905–1906 |url=https://hallofgovernors.ny.gov/FrankHiggins |website=hallofgovernors.ny.gov |publisher=New York State Hall of Governors |access-date=12 June 2019}}

A biography of Higgins, Frank Wayland Higgins: New York’s Forgotten Governor, was authored by William Gabler in 2002.{{cite news |last1=Eberth |first1=John T. |title=Olean to honor its governor |url=http://www.oleantimesherald.com/news/olean-to-honor-its-governor/article_77f31526-6154-531c-87fd-a27d946f6a2c.html |access-date=12 June 2019 |work=Olean Times Herald |date=September 19, 2008 |language=en}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Find a Grave|6846488}}
• [http://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/41351 Gov. Frank W. Higgins] at the New York State Archives.
• [http://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/Collection/Show/collection_id/4182 Political papers of Frank Wayland Higgins] at the New York State Archives.

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{{succession box | title = New York State Senate
32nd District | before = James T. Edwards |years = 1894–1895 | after = George R. Malby}}

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50th District | before = new district | years = 1896–1902 | after = Albert T. Fancher}}

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{{succession box | title = Lieutenant Governor of New York | before = Timothy L. Woodruff | after = M. Linn Bruce | years = 1903–1904}}

{{succession box | title = Governor of New York | before = Benjamin B. Odell Jr. | after = Charles Evans Hughes | years = 1905–1906}}

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Category:1856 births

Category:1907 deaths

Category:Republican Party governors of New York (state)

Category:Republican Party New York (state) state senators

Category:Lieutenant governors of New York (state)

Category:People from Rushford, New York

Category:19th-century American Episcopalians

Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature

Category:20th-century members of the New York State Legislature