San Benito-Amador-Alpine County CA Archives Biographies.....Briggs, Nash Corwith 1838 - 
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Author: Luther A. Ingersoll, Editor (1893)

NASH CORWITH BRIGGS was a native of Missouri, where, in the town of Hannibal, in
the year 1838, he was born. His father was a practicing attorney and a man of
ability, who saw the boy received every advantage of education that the
neighborhood afforded, both in Missouri and in Grant county, Wisconsin, where
the family moved when our subject was about ten years old. In 1852, the father
decided to "cast his lines" in California; upon arrival in California, the
family, consisting of father, mother and two children, took up their residence
in Olita, Amador county, subsequently removing to Jackson, the county-seat,
where Mr. Briggs, the elder, began the practice of his profession, and soon
built up a lucrative business.

  For some years after the removal of the family to this State, our subject
attended the public school, and devoted leisure hours to studying, in his
fathers's law office, the primary principles of law, for which profession he had
always exhibited a decided penchant. At the age of twenty-one he was admitted to
practice before the District Court of Amador county, and subsequently before the
Supreme Court of the State of California. He thereupon entered into active
practice, with his father, where he remained until 1864, when he branched out
for himself and removed to Silver Mountain, which was to be the county seat of
Alpine county, then about to be organized. The prestige which the young man had
secured, and the skill he had displayed while with his father, were very-soon
recognized; for upon the founding of the new county, Mr. Briggs, then a young
man of only twenty-six, was made District Attorney, by the vote of the people,
and upon the expiration of his office he was elected a second time.

  Mr. Briggs continued to make his residence on Silver Mountain, until 1869,
when the mining, on which Alpine county depended, began to wane, and he began to
cast about him for a county with a more promising future. San Benito county was
then a part of Monterey. Although but sparsely settled the soil was rich,
fertile and productive. The main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company
was surveyed, and every indication pointed to the organization of a new county,
with Hollister, which was then in embryo, as its seat of government. Mr. Briggs
decided that these inducements were sufficient to bring him to the county, and
he has never had cause to regret his "change of base." As soon as he was settled
he began the practice of his profession and from the beginning took an interest
in public and county affairs. He was chosen the attorney for the San Justo
Homestead Association, a company which was formed for the purpose of purchasing
from W. W. Hollister, after whom the town was subsequently named, 21,000 acres
of land, and dividing it into numerous small homesteads, one or more of which
was allotted to each member of the association. This association was practically
instrumental in calling the town of Hollister, into existence, and figured very
prominently in its affairs at that time. The enterprise was a success, and
brought much immigration of a desirable kind, and Mr. Briggs' connection with it
brought him plenty of business. It likewise gave him prestige and standing. He
assisted in the incorporation of both the county and town, drew up the charter
for each, and upon the organization of San Benito county he was elected its
first District Attorney, which he filled for two terms of two years each. He had
much to do with shaping land matters and getting titles perfected for settlers
and others; hence from his vast experience he is a recognized authority and is
able to pass readily on the most complicated land questions. He is personally
acquainted with nearly every acre of land and every land-holder throughout the
entire county.

  Mr. Briggs has never speculated to any great extent, nor grown rich on
land-value enhancements, but has accumulated what he now possesses by hard work
and untiring energy, intelligently directed. Mr. Briggs is of very active
temperament, a rapid thinker, prompt to act, and quick to take advantage of
opportunities that come in his way. He has always taken an active interest in
any project conducive to the welfare of the community, and to all such he is a
liberal contributor. He is prominently connected with the warehouse business,
which is one of the principal features of the town of Hollister, and is
secretary of the Hollister Warehouse Company. He is a stockholder and director
in the Gas Works Company, the Water Works Company, was one of the organizers of
the Bank of Hollister, and is now one of the principal stockholders.

  Mr. Briggs married, in 1866, in Amador county, Miss Annie E. Barton, who is an
estimable lady, the partner of her husband's joys and sorrows. His surviving
family, which in addition to himself and wife consists of two sons, one a boy of
thirteen, and the other a young business man of twenty-one, resides in a
handsome residence adjoining the courthouse on Fifth street.

  Mr. Briggs, during his long residence in San Benito county, has conducted all
his dealings in a manner, which has secured for him the respect and esteem of
the entire community.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California.

Illustrated.

Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the
Earliest Period of its Discovery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of
its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-Page Portraits of some of its
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers, and Prominent
Citizens of To-day.



HENRY D. BARROWS,
Editor of the Historical Department.

LUTHER A. INGERSOLL,
Editor of the Biographical Department.

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."-Macaulay.


CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1893.


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