George C. Briggs Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Page 256

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


JUDGE GEORGE C. BRIGGS. In the last half century especially, it is 
seldom that one wins prominence in several lines. It is the tendency of 
the age to devote one's entire energies to a special line, continually 
working upward and concentrating his efforts toward accomplishing a 
desired end; Yet in the case of Judge Briggs it is demonstrated that an 
exalted position may be reached in more than one line of action. He is 
an eminent lawyer, an able judge and a successful business man. A 
portrait of Judge Briggs appears on another page of this volume. 

The Judge was born in Hinsale, New Hampshire, June 15, 1857, a son of 
Erastus and Sylvia (Chamberlain) Briggs, natives of Michigan and New 
Hampshire, respectively. The father, a Baptist minister, was reared and 
educated in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and after his ordination in that 
state, engaged in preaching there and in New Hampshire and Vermont. He 
died in Vermont, in 1861, but the mother is still living. 

During his boyhood and youth Judge Briggs attended Powers Institute, of 
Bernardston, Massachusetts, and Kimball Union Academy of Meriden, New 
Hampshire, where he was graduated in 1877. He then commenced reading 
law in the office of his uncle, B. F. Briggs, of Boston, Massachusetts, 
and finished his studies under H. W. Brigham, of Whitingham, Vermont. 
He was admitted to the bar in the latter state in 1880, and engaged in 
practice in Windham county for one year. In 188Z he removed to Cropsey, 
McLean county, Illinois, and engaged in teaching school there until 
1884, when he came to Miller, South Dakota, where he has since 
successfully engaged in the practice of law and in the real estate and 
insurance business. In 1893 he also embarked in the book and stationery 
trade which he still continues. 

In 1886, Judge Briggs married Miss Gertrude S. Sherman, a native of 
Dover, Vermont. They hold membership in the Baptist church, and he also 
belongs to the Masonic Order of the Ancient, Order of United Workmen. 
Politically he is an ardent Republican and on his party ticket was 
elected county judge in 1898, a position he is now filling with credit 
to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the general public. 

He has also filled the office of city justice for six or eight years. He is absolutely fearless in the discharge of his duties, and favor cannot tempt him from the straight path. He possesses a mind practically free from judicial bias, and has a most thorough knowledge of law and human nature, a comprehensive mind, and a calm and deliberate judgment.