Ansel Bailey Briggs     1829-1908

 

 

    

 

Born: October 1, 1829, Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence Cty, New York state.                 

Died: July 8, 1908, Appleton, WI.  Buried at Riverside Cemetery, Block C, Lot 8.

 

Spouse:        Ruth Kinnie (Millard) Briggs, m. 1861 while students at Lawrence University. 

Children:       Daniel Judson Briggs  (b. March 4, 1862, d. April 6, 1862)

Charles Robert Briggs  

                    Marion Josephine Briggs (see below)

                    Maude Millard Briggs  (see below)

 

Father’s name:  Daniel W. Briggs            Birth place:  New York State

Mother’s name:  Elizabeth (Akin) Briggs  Birth place:  New York State

Siblings:        Sarah A. (Briggs) Willson

                    Robert Cornell Briggs

 

Ansel and his father manufactured sashes, doors and windows and helped erect Lawrence University. Ansel Bailey Briggs was a manufacturer of sash and doors, and was one of the first, if not the first, to export these products. He retired from business after his plant burned the second time in 1888.

The Appleton City Directory of 1889-90 says that Ansel was a dealer in butcher blocks.  This would have been part of the business of his Brother-In-Law, sister Sarah’s husband, Walter W. Willson.

 

    

Appleton factory district: A view showing the flouring mills, sash, door & blind factories (Prominent building in distant right.), woolen factory & foundry on the south side.

Date: c. 1868.  From the Outagamie County Historical Society.


Photo Courtesy of Bill Briggs, c. October 1, 1874,

when father, Daniel, was back in Appleton upon his wife Esther’s death. 

Business was rebuilt after the 1873 fire.

 

There are 2 registrations of Ansel’s death in the Outagamie County vital records and they tell slightly different stories.  What I have used above matches one of the records and all of the other corroborating information I have.  The other death record suggests (I’m placing the differences in bold print.) that Ansel was b.  August 16, 1829 in Ogdensburg, New York and has the same date of death.  It notes his parents as being Daniel Judson Briggs of New York State and Phoebe ? of unknown origin.  Phoebe’s surname is spelled out on the form, but is illegible.  It could be Akin, Aden, or Arlen, or any other similarly shaped variation. 

 

I find it interesting that Ansel did have a son that he named Daniel Judson Briggs, which makes the 2nd record that much more believable.  However, as noted in the next paragraph, Judson was also the first name of mother Ruth’s father.  Something I’ve always been curious about is Ansel’s middle name of Bailey.  That is not a typical Briggs family name, but it is another early Appleton family name and it is more than likely that the Briggs and Bailey families knew each other very well.

 

While in Appleton, Wisconsin, the family lived at 700 Lawrence Street.

 

Marion Josephine Briggs was b. February 15, 1865 and d. March 17, 1939.  She never married and had no children.  Her last residence in Appleton, Wisconsin was 308 E. Lawrence.  She performed office work for Wisconsin Fire Insurance rating Bureau for 45 years.

 

 

 

Maude Millard Briggs was b. abt. 1874.  She died November 14, 1946.   She married Dr. William Henry Meeker who was born June 27, 1857 and died January 13, 1938.  Worked as a cashier at G.W. Spaulding & Co.

 

 

 

 

 

In the first picture, a couple of the markers are hidden within the tree branches.

 

Photos of the family members were graciously shared with me by Bill Briggs.  You may contact him at: WBRIGGS2@houston.rr.com

 

                   

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