James Briar
Throughout a period of residence of fifty-eight years in
Allamakee county James Briar has gained the respect and esteem of
his fellow citizens, being numbered today among the
section’s most honored pioneers. He has been one of the
greatest forces in agricultural development for more than half a
century, making substantial contributions to the county’s
resources by opening up and developing two fine farms. He is,
moveover, entitled to representation in this volume through his
worthy and loyal service on southern battlefields during the
Civil war.
Mr. Briar is a native of New York and was born in Albany, October
28, 1838. When he was only five years of age he moved with his
parents to Oswego county, where they located upon a farm and
where he grew to manhood. He acquired his education in the
district schools, attending during the winter months and spending
his summers aiding in the operation of the homestead. He gained
in this way a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the details
of arming and this early experience has been invaluable to him in
the course of his later career. In 1855 he came west as a young
man and located in Allamakee county, where for several years he
worked out on a farm, his principal duties consisting of breaking
the prairie land with ox teams. He continued at this occupation
until August 13, 1862, when he joined the Union army, enlisting
in Company a. Twenty-seventh Iowa volunteer Infantry. Soon after
his company was sent to Dubuque, where its organization was
completed and where it drilled for some time, afterward being
sent north to Minneapolis as a guard to the paymaster, who
brought money to the Indians. The company was afterward sent to
Memphis, Tennessee, where it spent the winter, and in the
following year it participated in the siege of Vicksburg and
General Sherman went to Jackson, Mississippi. Returning to
Memphis, it was made a member of Banks’ expedition up the
Red river and it took part in a two days’ battle and in
numerous skirmishes and minor engagements before it was again
sent to Memphis and thence to Tupelo, where it was in the thick
of battle. Mr. Briar afterward went with his regiment to St.
Louis and was in the raid through Missouri after Price’s
army, driving that general out of the state. He then returned to
St. Louis and from there went down the river to New Orleans and
thence to Mobile and Spanish Fort. He aided in the capture of
Fort Blakely and was afterward sent to Montgomery, Alabama, where
his regiment remained until the close of the war. After
Lee’s surrender it was sent north to Clinton, Iowa, and
there mustered out, Mr. Briar receiving his honorable discharge.
After the close of the war Mr. Briar returned home and for three
years engaged in farming, cultivation the old home place. At the
end of that time he moved to Waukon, where for five years he
engaged in teaming, later again turning his attention to general
farming. He purchased a tract of land three miles south of the
city, which he farmed and improved for some time, exchanging it
finally for a larger place. To this he made substantial additions
from time to time, owning finally two hundred acres of productive
land. This he fenced into six fields surrounded by barbed wire
fences, erected a large residence, a substantial barn and a
number of outbuildings, making it one of the best equipped and
most valuable farming properties in this vicinity. He continued
to reside thereon until 1894, when he moved to Waukon, where he
has since made his home. He later sold his farm and retired from
active life, having earned leisure and rest by many years of
honorable and worthy labor.
In the fall of 1865 Mr. Briar married Miss Sarah A. Gates, a
daughter of Samuel Gates and a sister of Mrs. Hugh McCabe, of
whom more extended mention is made elsewhere in this work. Mrs.
Briar was born in Decatur county, Indiana, but came to Allamakee
county when she was thirteen years of age. She and her husband
became the parents of eleven children, ten of whom are still
living; William H., who is in the real-estate business in Mason
City; Samuel D., who resides in Sawyer, South Dakota; Joseph H.,
who is in business in Winona; Julia, the wife of A. P. Denning,
of Heyburn, Idaho; James Elmer, who served as bugler in a Waukon
company during the Spanish-American war and who is now engaged in
farming in Buford, North Dakota; Charles C., of Berthold, North
Dakota; Adelia May, the wife of E. R. Peirce, of Idaho; Asa L.,
who is associated with his brother, Joseph H., in the marble
business in Winona; Arthur L., a commercial traveler with
headquarters in Minneapolis; and A. J., a farmer in Buford, North
Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. Briar lost a daughter, Elizabeth, who died
in infancy.
Politically Mr. Briar is affiliated with the republican party and
has always taken an active part in public affairs. While still
upon his farm he was elected township trustee and road supervisor
and for many years has been identified with school matters,
serving as one of the school directors. He has been a delegate to
numerous county conventions and has done able work on the grand
and petit juries. Fraternally he is connected with John J.
Stillman Post, G. A. R., and is now senior vice commander. His
wife is a member of the Women’s Relief Corps and has been on
the official board for a number of years. Mr. Briar has resided
in Allamakee county for nearly sixty years and his interests are
thoroughly identified with those of this section. He has
witnessed a great deal of the growth and development of the
county and in all work of progress has borne his full share both
by his individual labors and his active cooperation in
progressive public measures. No man in Waukon is more widely and
favorably known than he, whose good citizenship displayed on
southern battlefields has survived unabated for over half a
century.
-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by
Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich
Return to 1913 biographies index