Dr. Isaac Bigelow
Dr. Isaac Bigelow. son of Dr. Israel Bigelow, was born August 25, 1797, near Balston Spa, Saratoga Co., N. Y. At the age of seventeen, in the year 1814, he came on foot from Center County. Penn., to make a payment for his father on a land purchase from his uncle, Isaac, the land being that where Plain City now stands. Returning to Pennsylvania, he studied medicine with his father. Dr. Israel Bigelow, and in 1817 returned to Ohio and located on Trickle's Creek, in Champaign County. He remained there one year, and in 1818 came to Darby Township, Madison County, and laid out the town of Westminster. This name was afterward changed to that of Pleasant Valley, but in 1872, after his death, the citizens petitioned their Representative in the Legislature—William Morrow Beach—for an act to change the name to Plain City. It was done. The reason therefor was the fact that there were four or five towns in Ohio by the name of Pleasant Valley, and perishable merchandise, shipped by railroad, was often sent wrong, and became a loss to the receiver before reaching its proper destination. In about 1828, after his father came on and located for practice, Dr. Isaac went out of practice and became a general trader. From September 23, 1847, until September 23, 1849, I was an inmate of his household, and, during all that time, I found him diligent, persevering and active in all his enterprises. He had kept a hotel and store on the southeast corner of Main and Chillicothe streets until after the year 1838, when he sold out to Samuel O. Weatherington. He built the large brick dwelling house on the northwest corner of the same streets, now occupied by Mooney Bros., in about 1842. He was Mayor of Pleasant Valley at one time, and was Postmaster during Polk's administration. He married, July 17, 1815, Miss Polly Bigelow, daughter of Isaac and Polly Bigelow, who then lived where Plain City now stands. He died in Pleasant Valley, Ohio, April 10, 1857, of pneumonia.
From History of Madison County - W. H. Beers [Chicago, 1883]