Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Briggs, Col Albert W 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 12:50 pm

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

COL. ALBERT W. BRIGGS, who has been a resident of this county during much of 
the time since 1852, is descended from a colonial family of Massachusetts. His 
father, Charles W., son of Richard Briggs, was born on a farm near Rutland, 
Vt., and in early life learned the trade of a carriage-maker, which he 
followed in Painesville, Ohio. In 1852 he brought his family to Illinois and 
settled on a farm near Plainfield, but later removed to Chicago and lived 
there in retirement until his death in 1886. He married Julia A. Jones, who 
was born in Rutland County, Vt., and died in Will County, Ill. They were the 
parents of three sons and three daughters, namely: Julia, Mrs. K. J. Hammond, 
of St. Paul, Minn.; Albert W. and Arthur R. (twins); Eliza S., wife of W. C. 
Goodhue, of Chicago; C. R., whose home is in Redlands, Cal.; and Tinnie H., 
wife of R. H. Terhune, of Salt Lake City, Utah. Our subject's twin brother, 
who was for some years engaged in the wholesale grocery business in Chicago, 
afterward went to San Francisco, where he carried on a large trade in 
wholesale groceries and fruits; he is now living retired. Colonel Briggs was 
born in Painesville, Ohio, March 21, 1839. He was thirteen years of age when 
the family settled in this county, and his education was afterward carried on 
in the Plainfield public school and academy and the Blue Island schools. In 
1859 he went to California via New York and the Isthmus of Panama. From San 
Francisco he proceeded to the mountains at Shasta, thence to Virginia City, 
where he engaged in silver mining. While he was in Nevada he was commissioned 
by James W. Nye lieutenant-colonel of the First Nevada Regiment, which was 
raised by Charles A. Sumner, a nephew of Charles Sumner. His regiment was 
assigned to duty on the great plains between Utah and California, where they 
had many skirmishes with the Indians, and rendered faithful service under the 
leadership of Colonel Sumner and Lieutenant-Colonel Briggs. After two years in 
the army the latter resigned his commission in order to return east. While he 
was on the homeward voyage, at Panama, he learned of the assassination of 
President Lincoln. Upon his return to Joliet, in 1865, Colonel Briggs opened a 
drug store on Jefferson street, opposite the court house. When the country 
around Manistee, Mich., began to open up here moved the drug business to that 
town and for a few years conducted it there. Later he became interested in the 
manufacture of lumber as a member of the firm of Green, Briggs & Co. For three 
years he met with success, but the disastrous fire in the town caused a heavy 
loss. Returning to Joliet he carried on a grain business with H. S. Carpenter 
for several years. Next he became a member of the grain firm of W. S. Johnson 
& Co., in Chicago, operators of elevators of the Northern Iowa division of the 
North-Western Railroad. In 1891 he retired from that firm and accepted a 
position as assistant immigration agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad, a 
position that obliged him to travel throughout the entire country. After three 
years as agent he resigned in 1894 and has since acted as manager of Lambert & 
Cochrane's real-estate business in Joliet. He has laid out three subdivisions 
in the northeastern part of the city and one in the southwest part, and has 
also made building improvements on the property. In politics he is a 
Republican, but not active. The marriage of Colonel Briggs united him with 
Miss Rose Cagwin, who was born in Joliet, daughter of Abijah Cagwin, deceased, 
of this city. They are the parents of two children. Their son, Arthur A., a 
graduate of a Chicago high school, has for fourteen years been connected with 
the First National Bank of Chicago. The daughter, Julia H.,who has a soprano 
voice of unusual sweetness and power, is prominent in the best society in 
Joliet.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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