MOGMCBigger
CLAY CICERO BIGGER 1855-1924
Picture courtesy of Missouri Lodge of Research Archive
Grand Master, 1910-1911
BIOGRAPHY
From Missouri Lodge of Research:
Clay Cicero Bigger was a native of Missouri, He was born in a farm house in Linn County, four miles south of Linneus on August 17, 1885. He lived on the farm until the age of twenty-four. He attended public school until the age of seventeen, when he became a teacher, He would teach in the fall and winter and in the spring and summer would work on the farm.
He had an ambition to be a lawyer, and while teaching pursued his studies with enthusiastic ardor. Finally, at the age of twenty-five he as admitted to the bar by the late Judge Burgess. He married Mary E. Means and had one son, Byrne E. Bigger who also served the Grand Lodge as Grand Master.
In 1888, Brother Bigger was elected prosecuting attorney of Linn County, In 1903, his personal friend, Governor Alexander Dockery, named him a member of the Board of Managers of the State Hospital in St. Joseph. He also served as city attorney and city clerk of Laclede.
Clay Bigger was made a Master Mason in Cypress Lodge No 227, Laclede, Mo., in 1886. He served as Master of the Lodge for six years and DDGM for ten years. He was named Grand Pursuivant of the Grand Lodge in 1902 and regularly advanced until 1910, when he became Grand Master.
He was a member of the York Rite and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Masonic Home and held membership in Moolah Temple, St Louis. He was Grand Patron of the Order of the Eastern Star in 1914.
His death occurred in his home in Laclede, January 26, 1924 and funeral services were held in the Methodist Episcopal Church in that city on January 29th. Masonic burial services were conducted by Grand Master Joseph S. McIntyre and his remains were interred in the cemetery in Laclede.
