The Shire of the Hobbits: Famous Bagginses

Famous Bagginses

Bungo Baggins (1246 - 1326) was the "solid and comfortable" son of Mungo Baggins and Laura Grubb. His wife was Belladonna Took and their son was Bilbo Baggins. "Bungo, that was Bilbo's father, built the most luxurious hobbit-hole for her [Belladonna] (and partly with her money) that was to be found either under The Hill or over The Hill or across The Water, and there they remained to the end of their days." This luxurious hobbit-hole was Bag End. Bag End had "bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining-rooms, all were on the same floor, and indeed on the same passage. The best rooms were all on the left-hand side (going in), for these were the only ones to have windows, deep-set round windows looking over his garden, and meadows beyond, sloping down to the river."

Bilbo Baggins was the son of Belladonna Took (1252 - 1334) and Bungo Baggins (1246 - 1326). Bilbo was born on September 22nd in SR 1290 (TA 2890). Bilbo Baggins "looked and behaved exactly like a second edition of his solid and comfortable father" yet he "got something a bit queer in his make-up from the Took side, something that only waited for a chance to come out."

Bilbo Baggins was "grown up, being about fifty years old or so" when that chance came and Gandalf the Wizard reappeared. Gandalf had last been in the Shire during the time of Gerontius, the Old Took, who was Belladonna's father. Gandalf referred to Bilbo as "Belladonna Took's son". Bilbo remembered Gandalf from those times. When he met Gandalf as an adult he said, "Good gracious me! Not the wandering wizard that gave Old Took a pair of magic diamond studs that fastened themselves and never came undone till ordered? Not the fellow who used to tell such wonderful tales at parties, about dragons and goblins and giants and the rescue of princesses and the unexpected luck of widows' sons? Not the man that used to make such particularly excellent fireworks! I remember those! Old Took used to have them on Mid-summer's Eve. Splendid! They used to go up like great lilies and snapdragons and laburnums of fire and hang in the twilight all evening!" Gandalf in turn was pleased that Bilbo remembered the fireworks kindly and said that this was "not without hope". Gandalf then said "for your old grandfather Took's sake, and for the sake of poor Belladonna, I will give you what you asked for."

On June 22, SR 1342 (TA 2942) Bilbo Baggins returned from his amazing adventures a rich hobbit. That he also brought the One Ring to the Shire was not then known. He returned with "a pony and some mighty big bags and a couple of chests". He was now 52. His riches captured the imagination of many a hobbit although Bilbo Baggins had no close friends. "He was in fact held by all the hobbits of the neighbourhood to be 'queer' - except by his nephews and nieces on the Took side, but even they were not encouraged in their friendship by their elders". The Sackville-Bagginses were disappointed to see him return alive from his adventure as they had been hoping to inherit Bag End from him. Gandalf and Balin visited Bilbo in TA 2949.

When Bilbo Baggins was 99 he adopted Frodo Baggins as his heir. This was a great disappointment to the Sackville-Bagginses who had been hoping to inherit from the unmarried Bilbo Baggins. Frodo Baggins, then in his tweens, was the young orphan of Primula and Drogo Baggins. Primula Baggins was born a Brandybuck and was related to Bilbo's mother, Belladonna Took.

In SR 1401 (TA 3001) Bilbo Baggins threw a special party for his eleventy-first birthday (111th), which was also Frodo's thirty-third birthday when Frodo "came of age". He settled in Rivendell as the guest of Elrond the following year. He sailed over the Sea with Frodo Baggins and the Three Keepers on September 29, 1421 (SR).

Drogo Baggins (1308 - 1380) was the son of Fosco Baggins and Ruby Bolger. Fosco Baggins was the first cousin of Bungo Baggins, Bilbo's father. Drogo Baggins married Primula Brandybuck and they became the parents of Frodo Baggins. Drogo Baggins was held to be a respectable, if heavy, hobbit. "'A decent respectable hobbit was Mr. Drogo Baggins; there was never much to tell of him, till he was drownded.'" "'And Mr. Drogo was staying at Brandy Hall with his father-in-law, old Master Gorbadoc, as he often did after his marriage (him being partial to his vittles, and old Gorbadoc keeping a mighty generous table); and he went out boating on the Brandywine River; and he and his wife were drownded, and poor Mr. Frodo only a child and all.'"

Frodo Baggins was born on September 22nd in SR 1368 (TA 2968). His parents, Drogo Baggins (who was said to be heavy, even for a hobbit) and Primula Baggins (nee Brandybuck), drowned in the Brandywine River in SR 1380 while they were guests of Gorbadoc Brandybuck of Brandy Hall. The hobbits of the Shire were surprised to learn that they had actually been boating on the Brandywine when they died as boating was viewed with suspicion. Frodo was only 12. He lived in Brandy Hall for some time before being adopted by his cousin, Bilbo Baggins.

Bilbo Baggins left Hobbiton on Frodo's coming of age party when Frodo was 33. Gandalf visited Frodo 3 years later and continued to visit him for the next four years. Frodo Baggins was friends with Folco Boffin and Fredegar Bolger but his closest friends were Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. Merry was Frodo's first cousin once removed (on Frodo's mother's side). Frodo went tramping with them all over the Shire althought sometimes Frodo went by himself. Merry and Pippin guessed that he sometimes visited the Elves as Bilbo had done.

Frodo left Bag End on September 23, SR 1418 (TA 3018) at the age of 50. He was wounded on Weathertop on October 6 SR 1418 and poisoned by Shelob on March 13, SR 1419 (TA 3019). Gandalf's death struck Frodo hard. Though Frodo had a good voice he seldom wrote songs or rhymes. Gandalf's death led him to create a lament for him. Frodo and Samwise reach the Sammath Naur on March 25, SR 1419 (TA 3019).

After the Battle of Bywater and the death of Saruman in SR 1419 (TA 3019), Frodo was briefly mayor. He resigned this office on Mid-year's Day SR 1420 (TA 3020). Frodo and Samwise set out from Hobbiton on September 21 1421 (SR). They met the Last Riding of the Keepers of the Rings in Woody End on September 22nd. Frodo and Bilbo sailed over the Sea with the Three Keepers on September 29, 1421 (SR). He was 53.

Ponto Baggins (born 1346) was the son of Posco Baggins and Gilly Brownlock. He was the father of the famous beauty, Angelica Baggins. Ponto Baggins' younger brother was Porto Baggins (born 1348) and his sister was Peony Baggins (born 1350), who married Milo Burrows. Ponto Baggins inherited the headship of the Baggins family after Frodo Baggins (born 1368) passed over the Sea in 1421. The first Ponto Baggins (1216 - 1311) was the grandfather of Posco Baggins and the great-grandfather of Ponto II.

From: Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit.

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Updated January 3, 2012