Margaret Higgin (née Syms)

Executrix and widow of Isaac Higgin (c. 1789-1832, partner in Higgin, Whiteley and Higgin and of Jamaica, and son of Mary Higgin (q.v.) and John Higgin), in which capacity Margaret Higgin was awarded the compensation for several estates in St Ann, Jamaica. Daughter of Jane Syms and James Syms (each of whom q.v.). Although she is known to have been in London between 1827 and 1832, no census record has yet been traced for her in England. It appears that she moved to Le Havre, where the German scholar Johann Friedrich Minssen reportedly worked 1847-1848 as tutor to 'the family of the former plantation owner, Isaac Higgin of Jamaica, and his wife Margaret', and married their second daughter Margaret.

1. Baptism 02/05/1789 at St Andrew Holborn of Isaac Higgin son of John and Mary Higgin.

2. Isaac Higgin AJ and magistrate and vestryman St Anns 1824.

3. Will of Isaac Higgin Merchant of Grove Cottage near Tooting Surrey 15/05/1832.

4. Baptisms of Margaret Syms Higgin to Isaac and Margaret Higgin at Lewisham St Mary 01/10/1827; Mary Ann to Isaac (merchant) and Mary [sic] of Mount Pleasant Lewisham at Lewisham St Mary 1827; Sarah Emily to Isaac (Gent.) and Margaret Higgin of Upper Tooting late of Jamaica at Streatham St Leonard 08/08/1832.

5. Death of Isaac Higgin, son of late Isaac Higgin of No. 18 London St. and of the Island of Jamaica May 1854.

6. Death of Margaret Higgin widow of Isaac Higgin 11/05/1871 aged 79 in Co. Monaghan

T71/857 St Ann Nos. 11, 12, 724, 725, 727 and 728. The supposition that she was née Syms, given (1) the name of her first daughter (2) that James Syms owned Felix Arabia in St Mary and St Ann 1817 Jamaica Almanac, is confirmed in her husband's will, which names his wife's mother as Mrs Syms and her father as James Syms; Patrick V. Styles, 'Johann Friedrich Minssen: Frisian scholar, neighbour of Bismarck, and host of the young Churchill', [accessed 23/09/2015].

1. Ancestry.com, London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1538-1812 [database online].

2. Jamaica Almanac (1824).

3. PROB 11/1800.

4. Ancestry.com, London, England, Births and Baptisms 1813-1906 [database online].

5. Times 16/05/1854 p. 1.

6. Belfast Newsletter No. 55023 18/05/1871.