My Wiggins History - Part 1

I got started researching my family 17 years ago when my cousin had been researching for a while and got me started. We have been to several family-historical sites and have met several distant relatives and other Wiggins researchers.

To begin,

My father is Larry Grant Wiggins. Grant is a family given name or Christian name that is in our family for 100+ years. In fact, my son, brother and my nephew have Grant as a middle name to continue the tradition. My father's parents were James Frank Wiggins and Lois Ruth Wiggins. He has an older brother, James Ronnie, and an older sister Mary Lee Wiggins Simpson. My dad was born in Houston, Tx in March 21,1944,and lived his first three years in East Houston's Denver Harbor. His family built their own home and lived in the same neighborhood as other family members. During that time, after WW II, the families moved to Houston to get better jobs. My grandmother worked part time at Sears in downtown Houston and the women in the neighborhood would watch the other's children. My grandfather worked for Parker Brothers shipping in the Houston ship channelas a night foreman.

When my father was three, my grandfather decided to try and get rich by raising Brahama cows and moved the family to Highlands, Tx on 627 Barbers Hill Rd. They bought a parcel of land, which they added to in later years, and bought a small house. They have record deeds that date to the Mexican land grants. Years later, they constructed a 4 bedroom 1 bathroom house that is still there today and has been passed down to my aunt Mary. My father grew up attending Crosby schools since the house was on the Crosby side of the dividing line between Crosby and Goose Creek ISD (Baytown). He was an excellent student and a star football player and tri-captain in high school. He married my mom, Linda Holy, who was a cheer leader in 1960-1962. Mom and Dad were Mr.& Mrs. CHS in 1962. They lived next door to his parents and later, when I was three, built a house at the back of the property.

My dad attended the University of Houston and graduated with an associate degree in 1966 and a bachelors' degree in 1967 electronic engineering. He has worked on several military programs with Space Craft, Inc. such as the F15 plane test equipment and many rocket/missle programs, owned his own company with three other workers specializing in computer based SCADA monitoring equipment for pipelines, and has recently retired with 28 years from Invensys (previous Foxboro Company) where he ended his career as a proposal specialist. Now, he and my mom spend time with my family and my two brother's families traveling, going to grand-kid's sports events, plays, and school programs.