Individual Details

Found in the 1850 Bienville Parish, LA Census living with the family of Jasper Gibbs, working as a laborer. I didn't find him again until after his marriage.

1880 Census. Bienville Parish, LA, Ward 1
The page has been skipped in filming on Ancestry.com
W. Higginbotham, age 54, b. AL
Annie, age 30, b. NC
William W., age 1, b. LA

1900 Census. Bienville Parish, LA, Ward 1, Hh 44
William Higginbotham, b. Jan 1825, age 75, married 24 years. Born Alabama, parents, born SC.
Anna M., wife, b. May 1849, age 51. Born NC, father b. NC, mother b. VA
William, son, b. Jun 1879, age 20; b. LA
Roseanna, daughter, b. Sept 1882, age 17, b. LA
Minnie L, daughter, b. Apr 1885, age 15, b. LA
Mary McLeod, mother, b. Sep 1825, age 74, Widow. Born VA as were her parents.
Note: This cannot possibly be William's mother since he is older than she is - apparently his mother-in-law. McLeod believed to have been her maiden name.

This may be Anna's family:
1880 Census. Bienville Parish, LA, Ward 1 (the same place where William & Annie were in 1880)
Hh 557
Wm W. McCleod, 60, b. NC. Tw5,45
Mary, 46, wife, b. VA, parents born VA
William T., 25, son, b. NC
Julius, 20, son, b. LA
Sarah J., 14, dau, b. LA

FindAGrave has a picture of a gravestone, Union Baptist Cemetery, Bienville Parish, LA - but the dates do not agree with the research of Earl Higginbotham. William's name is also never seen with a middle initial.
W. W. Higginbotham
Jan. 15, 1824
Jan 28, 1905
There is an Ann Higginbotham buried there as well - she is definitely not the wife above:
Ann Higginbotham
Feb 4, 1829
Dec 15, 1917
The 1910 census, Bienville Parish, does not show Ann Higginbotham as being anywhere in the USA. 1900 census shows no other couple of these names, with these dates of birth. The 1880 census does have in Blount Co, AL, a couple who appear to be William Higginbotham, age 53, with Anna M. his wife, age 52. The stones appear to be more recent than 1905-1917. It seems this is a very different couple or just as likely a descendant has placed these stones with very wrong data.

Birth	24 Sep 1824	Dallas County, Alabama
Death	2 Jan 1906	Bienville Parish, Lousiana

Father	WILLIAM HIGGINBOTHAM (1788 - 1852)
Mother	MARY DAVIS ( - 1827)
Sibling	[Son] Higginbotham ( - )
Sibling	Moses Higginbotham (1811 - 1849)
Sibling	Lindsey Higginbotham (1812 - 1873)
Sibling	Jackson Higginbotham (1816 - )
Sibling	THOMAS HIGGINBOTHAM (1820 - 1880)
Sibling	Melvina Higginbotham (1822 - 1906)