Bignall, Robert

ca. 1730–87

Robert Bignall, revolutionary patriot, first appears in the records of Edgecombe County in 1756, when he was witness to several deeds. His antecedents are unknown. He was one of the first settlers in the town of Tarboro when it was laid out in 1760, and he became a wealthy merchant. At the onset of the Revolution, Bignall was a member of the North Carolina Provincial Congress held at New Bern in 1775; he was later a member of the committee of safety. In 1779 he was president of the council and acting secretary of state. Later he advanced the state sixty thousand pounds for public expenditure.

His will, dated 5 June 1786 and probated in October court in 1787, devised a large amount of silver plate and other personal property. The lengthy inventory of his estate included an undated certificate of money of his own "lent to Governor Caswell for the use of North Carolina."

Bignall was married, prior to 1767, to Margaret Parish of Norfolk County, Va., who died before him. According to his will, he had sons Robert and Edward, underaged at the time of his death, and daughters Sarah, Peggy, and Ann, the wife of Joseph Speed of Mecklenburg County, Va. Of the sons, Robert married Elizabeth, the daughter of Blake Baker of Halifax, and Edward married Peggy Washington Haywood, the daughter of Egbert Haywood.