Born in New York City, Bigelow served in the American Civil War as a teenager and moved to the West while still a young man.
Taking up residence in Nevada, he studied law[2] and became involved in Republican Party politics, being a candidate to serve as a presidential elector in 1880.
[3] In 1882, Bigelow was appointed a district court judge by Governor John Henry Kinkead.
[4] After finishing his term on the court, he moved to San Francisco, California, and returned to the private practice of law until his last illness and death.
[2] He died at his home in San Francisco at the age of 58, after a lingering illness that kept him bedridden for a month and a half.