Ansel Briggs

BRIGGS, BRADLEY, DUNLAP, SHANNON, JANSSEN, BUTTERWORTH, RANTZ, IRWIN, ROBERTSON, VANDOLAH, SCHREIBER, CARPENTER

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 11/6/2009 at 10:24:55

Ansel Briggs
Iowa’s First Governor
Arthur F. Janssen

INTRODUCTION, p1
VERMONT PERIOD OF BRIGGS’ LIFE, p2
OHIO PERIOD OF BRIGGS’ LIFE, p2
BRIGGS COMES TO IOWA AND BRUSH CREEK, p4
HOME AND SAWMILL ON BRUSH CREEK, p4
SAWMILL, PROOF OF EXISTENCE, p5
CONJECTURE, WHY BRIGGS MOVED TO BRUSH CREEK, p6
OLD LOG HOUSE AT BLUFF MILL, p7
BRIGGS MOVES FAMILY TO ANDREW, WHEN?, p8
EARLY DAYS IN ANDREW, p8
GOVERNORSHIP PERIOD 1846-1850, p9
POST GOVERNORSHIP PERIOD 1851-1881, p11
A DESCRIPTION OF THE MAN, p13
ACTS OF COMMENDATION, p15
APPENDIX, p17

INTRODUCTION

The preparation and writing of this article for the Andrew book has been somewhat difficult. Such has been the case for the reason that my source materials contain conflicts within themselves and with the 1975 Ansel Briggs Report published by the Iowa State Historical Society. I consider the Report reliable and I have accepted it as a primary material source. When conflicts have occurred between what writers of the past have written and the Briggs Report, I have accepted what has been reported in the Report if citations are given for authenticity.

It can be considered regrettable that the 1975 research work on the life of Briggs was not done years ago. Had this occurred, historians writing on the subject would have had the benefit of basing their stories on primary sources in many areas and not on what in many cases appears to be hearsay. Also, had such an early authentic report been made, it would have been a beneficial aid toward more accurate, reporting for many persons, including myself, who have been called upon to give public talks on the life of Briggs.

I have attempted to write only that about the life of our first Governor which has support in the record or which can be accepted as being logically correct. I have avoided taking space by attempting to explain why certain accounts which have been published are wrong or why they are not a part of the story which I have written. There is listed below in this introductory statement a number of accounts which have been previously published and which are not a part of this story. They have been rejected since they are without the support of primary evidence or cannot be logically supported. The prepared list is as follows:

1. That he was married three times and that Nancy M. Dunlap was not his first wife.
2. That he had only two brothers, Rosewell and Albert. A third brother, Benjamin, pre- deceased Ansel and is buried at Andrew.
3. That he moved from Ohio to Iowa in 1836.
4. That he moved direct from Ohio to Jackson County.
5. That he settled on Brush Creek after traveling overland from Bellevue.
6. That he moved from Davenport to Andrew. Andrew was not in existence at the time.
7. That he left Davenport for Jackson County where he bought "a little piece of land and a corn cracking mill.”
8. That he at one time owned 80 acres of land in Davenport. No deed of record.
9. That he owned a little one story frame house and lot in Davenport. No deed of record.
10. That he never wrote a letter.

The foregoing is not a complete list of the many writings which are in conflict with the 1975 research report of the Iowa Historical Society. The list surely suggests that the attention given in the past to the historical life of Iowa's first governor was neglected. More research is needed before the story can be written in its final form.

VERMONT PERIOD OF BRIGGS' LIFE

Ansel Briggs was born in Shoreham, Addison County, Vermont to Electa and Benjamin Briggs. The birth occurred on the 3rd day of February, 1806. A two volume work entitled "Clement Briggs of Plymouth Colony and His Descendants, 1621-1965”, listed as one of the documents having to do with the ancestry of Briggs, indicated that Ansel is a descendant of one of the settlers of Plymouth Colony. It is also reported that he had ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War. We do not know how many brothers and sisters he had nor do we know all of their names. An 1830 Ohio census, taken after this family had moved to Ohio and after Benjamin's untimely death, lists six males and three females. It is presumed that Ansel was the eldest of the counted males and that his mother is one of the numbered females.

It is not known what happened to all of Ansel's brothers. We do know about three of them. A brother, Benjamin, predeceased Ansel. He is buried at Andrew. His obituary appeared in the March 26, 1851, issue of the Andrew Western Democrat. Two brothers are known to have survived Ansel. One brother, Rosewell Briggs, lived with his family, including several sons, in Oregon. The other brother, Judge Albert Briggs, a Republican politician and a resident of the Territory of Washington, served in sessions of the Washington legislature and as one of its probate judges for fourteen years.

There is little direct evidence on the life of Ansel Briggs while he lived in the State of Vermont and prior to the time he moved with his parents to Ohio. Biographers state that he received a "Fair education improved by a term spent at Norwich Academy."

Mrs. W. L. Rantz, in a paper prepared and read by her at the dedication ceremony of a tablet to the memory of Ansel Briggs at Andrew on September 18, 1925, commented about the early life of Ansel. She said and we quote: "Briggs as a boy participated in that old-fashioned institution called 'Training Days'. This was a series of days or holidays in the eastern states that were given to athletic sports and were besides, days of military training - days of pranks and merry-making. This was for every town and country village and the athletic contests were to induce a good time for the boys and the young men..” She further stated and we quote: "There is ample testimony that Briggs could ride, wrestle, and run foot races and, the more interesting thing of all, could dance very gracefully."

OHIO PERIOD OF BRIGGS LIFE

Benjamin Briggs and his family moved from the State of Vermont to Guernsey County, Ohio, sometime after 1820. The exact year is unknown. A census taken in 1820 for Shoreham, Addison County, Vermont, shows Benjamin and his family still living in Vermont. A local deed of conveyance dated in 1824 contains Benjamin's signature as a witness. It must be accepted, however, that the move to Ohio was made after 1824 and not in the early 1820s as is written by one historian. Considering the fact that Ansel was born in 1806, it may be assumed that he was a teenager when he arrived in Ohio with his parents. The father took up farming when he arrived in Ohio but we have no information what his occupation was when he lived in Vermont. It may have been farming.

Ansel became interested in the stagecoach business sometime after the Briggs family settled in Ohio. He acquired wagons and horses of his own. He also acquired a freight business on the Wheeling Road. The road ran easterly from the town of Cambridge, Ohio, to Wheeling, West Virginia, an approximate distance of 55 miles. We cannot determine from the materials we have before us the year in which he went into business for himself. It probably was after the year of 1824 and prior to 1830. It was during this period of time that Ansel's father was killed while driving one of Ansel's wagons loaded with salt. We do not know the date of Benjamin's death though it has not been reported. We do know, however, that it occurred prior to 1830 because a census for Guernsey County, Ohio, taken in 1830, lists Ansel as head of his mother's household. There are writings to the effect that Benjamin was killed in “1830", around "1825" or in the "mid-1820s." It was after the death of Benjamin that the Briggs family moved into the town of Cambridge in Guernsey County. It was here that Mrs. Briggs managed to provide a livelihood for her younger children by selling bread, cakes, and pies to the town-folk and to travelers on the old Wheeling Road.

Historians who have worked on the story of Ansel Briggs' life report nothing as to the success or failure of Ansel's stage and freight hauling business. Very interesting quotes, however, are given us from the business ledgers of a William McCracken, a blacksmith in Briggs' town of Cambridge. He had extensive business dealings with Ansel. His ledgers reveal that Briggs paid "fifty-seven and one-half cents for getting one shoe toed and two set; twenty-five cents for repair on his wagon-bed; twelve and one-half cents for a log-chain link; ten cents for getting a single-tree ironed; and twelve and one-half cents to have his harrow teeth sharpened." McCracken’s records also show that he, Briggs, furnished McCracken coal at six cents a bushel and that he once hauled 4,266 pounds of goods for him from Wheeling.

On November 11, 1830, Ansel married Nancy M. Dunlap. This was after he and the Briggs family had moved into the town of Cambridge. This was Ansel’s first marriage. It has been reported that the marriage to Nancy was Ansel's second marriage. The claim is not supported by any original source material. There is primary evidence to the contrary. It is written in the Briggs family Bible, apparently in Ansel's own hand writing, that Francis Carpenter, the woman Ansel married after the unfortunate death of Nancy, was his second wife. It is written in the same Bible that Nancy's birthday was on the 3rd day of February, 1806. The same day of the same year is the date of record for the birth of Ansel in the State of Vermont. The fact that the marriage of Ansel to Nancy was his first marriage is affirmed by Mrs. John S. Briggs, Ansel's son's widow, in her Biography of Nancy M. Briggs.

There were four children born to the union of Ansel and Nancy between the dates of April 25, 1832 and June 8, 1838. Their names were James, Andrew, Washington and John. The first three children named were born prior to the birth of John and each died prior to attaining the age of two years. It will appear subsequently herein that John was the only child of Ansel to survive the father. It was in John's home
that Ansel died.

Nancy's father was Major James Dunlap, a veteran of the war of 1812. Her mother's sister was married to John Shannon, who was the governor of Ohio in 1839. It was Nancy's father who first got Ansel interested in politics. His first bid for political office occurred when he ran for Township Constable. He was successful in this endeavor but he lost when he ran for the office of County Treasurer. This was in 1836. Prior to his bid for the office of County Treasurer, he served as a deputy in the sheriff's office of Guernsey County. We are not sure from what has been written as to the political party affiliations of Briggs when he was in Ohio. Since a majority of the writers claim he was a Whig and not a Democrat, our verdict is that he apparently was a Whig.

BRIGGS COMES TO IOWA AND BRUSH CREEK

Briggs came to Iowa in the fall of 1839. He carried with him a letter of introduction, dated June 9, 1839, from John Shannon, the governor of Ohio, to Robert Lucas, the territorial governor of Iowa. It states in part that the letter "will be handed you by my friend, Ansel Briggs, of this place who is about to visit Iowa Territory. The seat of government for the Territory of Iowa at the time was located at Burlington. We do not know the exact date that Briggs personally left Ohio or when he moved his family to Iowa. We do know that John Shannon Briggs, Ansel's fourth son, was born at Cambridge, Guernsey County, Ohio, on the 8th day of June, 1839. We also know that Briggs sold his share of the Cambridge store business to his partner, Joseph Pollock, before he left town. A note for part payment on the sale is dated October 13, 1839.

Andrew Griffen writes in 1888 that when he came to Davenport in 1840 there was "a man living there by the name of Ansel Briggs." The National Archives' Registers of Iowa Mail Routes for 1839-1842 indicate that Briggs had the following mail contracts: Dubuque to West Liberty, Dubuque to Stephenson, Ill., through Davenport and also a route from Davenport to Rochester. On January 1, 1841, Briggs subcontracted the mail routes to Thomas Dillion and George Atherton. He gave his address on the document as being Davenport, Iowa. These records must be accepted as proof that Ansel Briggs settled at Davenport in the fall of 1839 and that he did not first settle in Jackson County when he came to Iowa, as claimed by most of the biographers. Unfortunately, there is no record as to when the wife, Nancy, and the son, John, left Ohio to join Ansel in Iowa. We know that it was after June 8, 1839, the date that John was born at Cam- bridge, Ohio.

Briggs left Davenport for Jackson County in 1841. Andrew Griffith mentions this occurrence in his 1888 work entitled "Reminiscences of Early Days". It is to be noted that the report does not state that Briggs went to Andrew. He could not have done so because at that time there was no town by the name of Andrew in Iowa. There was, however, a Jackson County because the Assembly at Burlington in 1837 had created it out of Dubuque County and had named Bellevue as the County seat.

HOME AND SAWMILL ON BRUSH CREEK

The move of Briggs to Jackson County terminated on the north side of Brush Creek in what is now Sec. 14, Township 85 North, Range 3 East of the 5th Principal Meridian. It was there that the stream made a large meander from west to east on its downward flow toward the Maquoketa River. This was before it turned to flow southeasterly at the foot of a beautiful bluff, now known as Bluff Mill. It was here that he built a log house on high ground with a southerly view of the valley toward the creek. A monument now marks the site where the Briggs home stood. It was erected in 1936 by J.H. Janssen, Ansel Butterworth, Dr. Rantz and John Irwin. Foundation rocks from the old log house and the accounts of eye witnesses enabled the four concerned citizens to properly place the historic marker. It contains the following inscription: "'J. H. JANSSEN * PARK MEMORIAL TO GOV. BRIGGS ON SITE OF HIS OLD HOME * 1836-1842 *FRIEND OF EDUCATION HE SIGNED ACT TO CREATE SUI. FEB.25, 1847 * GOVERNOR 1846-1850." It is obvious from what has been written that the "1836" date appearing on the inscription should have been 1841.

Briggs also built a sawmill on Brush Creek which was operated by water power. It was located on the creek in a southerly direction across the valley from the new Briggs home. The structure consisted of a dam and mill buildings. The dam for the mill was built at a location where the stream's north bank rose unusually high above the bed of the stream. The south bank was a limestone bluff. It stood vertically many feet higher than the stream's opposite bank. When the writer or this report was a small boy, the mill site was described to him by his father, J.H.Janssen. The description given was that the dam for the mill was not built higher than the stream's banks and that the pond created by the dam did not flood the valley. He also explained that the water from the mill pond turned the mill's power wheel by flowing in a confined channel against the bottom of the wheel and not by flowing against and over the top of the wheel.

Some footings of the dam, consisting of logs, can be seen to this day at the site where the old mill stood. They can be seen also in a photograph which is displayed in the Briggs section of the Jackson County Historical Museum. The location of the mill site was marked also by a suitable monument constructed and erected on the bank of the stream, where the mill stood. The work was done by the same four men when they were engaged in the task of erecting the historical marker for the Briggs home. This marker can no longer be seen. It has fallen into the bed of the stream. This unfortunate incident occurred when flood waters of Brush Creek washed away the bank of the stream upon which the marker had been placed. It is the writer's opinion that this happened in the decade prior to 1955.

SAWMILL, PROOF OF EXISTENCE

There is a fascinating story about a very important document. The subject of the document is the Briggs mill on Brush Creek. It involves the writer of this report and it will be told in the first person. I met Timothy N. Hyde for the first time when he came to our home at Maquoketa, Iowa, to talk about Ansel Briggs. He explained that he was doing research work for the State Historical Society on a report which would be published about the life of Briggs. He had read about my father's interest in Iowa's first governor and he knew that I, too, was greatly interested. He also knew that the title to the land involved in the story remained in the Janssen name. He wanted to know what I knew about Briggs on Brush Creek. I told him everything I knew about the subject, which included what my father had told me. He was interested in the materials I had used for the preparation of talks. I loaned to him my Briggs office file so that he could make copies of papers which were of interest to him. I’m not sure of the number of times we discussed the Briggs story about Brush Creek, but I do know there were phone calls and correspondence by mail.

I had the shock of my life when Mr. Hyde informed me that his exhaustive research on the subject of the life of Briggs on Brush Creek failed to produce any direct evidence that Briggs ever did own a sawmill on Brush Creek or that he had ever lived in the area. He made me feel better, however, when he informed me by letter dated February 17, 1975, that it was his plan to use the evidence I had supplied by letter in the report to show that Briggs probably did run a mill on Brush Creek. It all added up to the fact that Mr. Hyde was willing to publish my hearsay story because it was the only evidence he had on the subject.

Now for the real good news. Mr. Hyde has this to say in his letter to me dated March 11, 1975. "Good news. We have finally discovered a piece of evidence that conclusively shows Ansel Briggs owned a mill on Brush Creek. Miss Catherine Robertson, a great-granddaughter of the Governor, sent us a box of family papers. Included therein is an 'article of agreement' between Ansel Briggs and Jesse Vandolah, dated 13 December 1842. Briggs is selling his undivided half interest to this mill to Vandolah---and you were right on every count. It was a sawmill, and Briggs did not own the land, but squatted on it---.”

The discovery of the original document covering the sale of the sawmill by Briggs was important. It removed all doubt as to the existence of the mill, its ownership, and its location on government property. No longer, was it necessary to rely upon hearsay or secondary evidence to tell the Briggs sawmill story. Proof based upon primary evidence had replaced the weaker proof of secondary evidence.

Mr. Hyde was very thoughtful when he supplied me with a copy of the instrument and a transcription of it. The agreement starts out with the heading "Territory of Iowa Jackson County." It was prepared on legal size paper and it is in manuscript form. It was drafted and signed at Bellevue. This document belongs in the book of photographed papers collected by Mary Elda Schrieber. I shall make a donation to the collection if the instrument can be photographically reduced to letter size.

The sales agreement between Briggs and Vandolah is most interesting. Briggs, by the terms of the instrument, sold his undivided half interest to Vandolah in the mill, buildings and improvements, "two yoke of oxen yokes and chains, wagon and mill tools". It states that the items sold are located "on the claim upon the public lands of the United States." The purchase price was $728.75 in lumber at the mill in monthly payments of $31.00 per month. The payments were to be made in good merchantable lumber and sawed to answer the purposes of Briggs when he placed what amounted to an order. Vandolah was to have a reasonable time to saw the lumber. The instrument contained a forfeiture clause in favor of Briggs if Vandolah failed to make payments as provided in the contract. It is reasonable to assume that Vandolah, prior to the date the instrument was signed, owned the half interest in the property not covered by the terms of the sale between the parties, Briggs and Vandolah.

CONJECTURE, WHY BRIGGS MOVED TO JACKSON COUNTY AND BRUSH CREEK

Since it is now established by strong evidence that Briggs did not settle on Brush Creek after taking an over land route from Bellevue, a question may be answered which has concerned many people who have been interested in the life story of Ansel Briggs. The question has been, why did Briggs settle on Brush Creek and build a sawmill there at a time when very few people lived in the area? We think we have an answer. The answer is suggested by applying certain early historical events of Jackson County to the life which Briggs planned for himself during the same period of time.

We have reported how the Assembly at Burlington in 1837 carved Jackson County out of Dubuque County and established Bellevue as the county seat. We also know that there was growing dissatisfaction over Bellevue being the county seat. It was not centrally located within the county. It had become the center of operation for outlaws and the Bellevue War had been fought. The thought cannot be discredited that Briggs knew that the vast majority of Jackson County settlers favored moving the county seat to a centrally located place in the County. He would acquire this information when operating his stage line, Davenport to Dubuque, which passed through the center of Jackson County where the town of Andrew was to be located. His stage lines in other directions out of Davenport would give him news of events to happen, namely, that the Assembly in 1841 would set up procedures for moving the county seat to the middle of the county.

Briggs, knowing that which did happen was about to happen, made his move in advance toward the center of Jackson County. He landed on Brush Creek in early 1841 and there built his home and a sawmill. The upland in the area in which he settled had an abundance of timber which would produce fine sawlogs. It is a certainty that Briggs was ready to sell sawed lumber to the new settlers of the new town when the time came for them to build. It can be assumed with a considerable degree of accuracy that Briggs knew the location of the approximate center of Jackson County and possibly the area in which the town would be built.

It is all a matter of history now that the Assembly did take action in 1841 by appointing a commission to make the necessary survey; that the town was laid out into blocks which were subdivided; that the name of Andrew was given to the town to be built; that by a small majority the electorate voted to establish the new county seat; that Ansel Briggs and John Francis in partnership bought the entire layout at public auction for the sum of $2,000.00. This action took place in the fall of 1842.

As a part of our conjecture and as a concluding remark on the subject, we believe that the sawmill construction and the purchase of an interest in Andrew lots was a business adventure planned by Briggs before he left Davenport. Briggs would have lots and lumber to sell to each new settler of the county seat when the time came for it to be built.

THE, OLD LOG HOUSE AT BLUFF MILL

We have written about the Briggs home on Brush Creek and the monument which was erected to mark the site where it stood. A second log house was built some 125 yards south and east of where the Briggs home was located. We do not know at this time when and by whom it was built. This writer recalls, however, walking with his mother down the valley from the Janssen home when she went to pay her neighbor friend, Mrs. Spencer, who lived in the log house, a social visit. The walk occurred prior to 1910 when he became five years of age. It is one of the few occasions he remembers being able to walk a considerable distance without the use of crutches.

A photograph of the second log house, taken at Bluff Mill, is exhibited at the Jackson County Historical Museum. It also appears in the Mary Elda Schreiber collection of photographed copies of newspaper writings and pictures dealing with the life of Mr. Briggs. The photograph is identified as the home of Governor Briggs at Bluff Mill, Andrew, Iowa. There may be some truth as to the identification but it is not entirely true. The home of Ansel Briggs stood on a different location. Even though the log house shown in the photograph cannot be the Briggs home, there is the possibility that some of the logs used in its construction may have come from the log house built and occupied by Briggs and his family.

The writer recalls the occasion when a committee of Bellevue citizens approached his father for the purpose of purchasing the log house shown in the photograph. It was their desire to move the structure from Brush Creek and relocate it in the newly dedicated Bellevue State Park. It was to be identified as being the old Brush Creek home of Iowa’s first governor. His father refused to sell. He contended it was not the old home of Governor Briggs. Committee members tried to get his father to change his mind and they advanced the idea that some of the logs of the old Briggs home may have been used in the construction of the newer log house. His father refused to change his mind.

This writer thought for years that the decision made by his father was correct. He wanted the old house to remain in its natural setting because it nostalgically reminded him of those days in the past when Iowa's first governor lived near the site with its beautiful view of the valley where he could hear the delightful sounds of nature's own, the cool refreshing sound of the creek's waters tumbling over rocks, the hoot of horned owls calling to their mates, the alerting shrieks of high-flying red tailed hawks, the ever welcome whistle of bob whites, the nightly buzzing flights of night hawks, the evening call of whippoorwills and the melodic tunes from choirs of song birds which inhabited the area. However, as time passed, he began to question the wisdom of his father's decision. It was apparent that it would be just a matter of time until the process of decaying of timbers and the weathering of foundation walls would cause the building to collapse. Finally, he witnessed a scene which completely reversed his opinion as to his father's decision, the scene was that of a pile of ashes. One or more vandals committed her to death by fire. It could have happened in the park at Bellevue.

BRIGGS MOVES FAMILY TO ANDREW. WHEN?

We are aware that a statement appears in the Briggs Report that Briggs moved to Andrew in the summer or fall of 1842. There is no primary evidence to sustain this statement. We do not agree with it. We believe that the move was made in the summer or fall of 1843. There is a possibility that it was made at a later date. It must be remembered that the lots for the town were not sold until the fall of 1842, October 8th. We should remember also that after the sale Briggs owned half of the town. He, undoubtedly, was giving his full attention and time helping to get roads, streets and commercial buildings built. Court was to be held in the fall of 1842 at the new county seat. Considering all that had to be done, including the building of a court house and a jail, and with the winter season a couple of months away, we think it unreasonable to conclude that Ansel had time to build a new log home for his family and to move them from their home on Brush Creek to the unsettled town of Andrew until after 1842.

It appears from the index for town lot conveyances that there was little activity in the sale of lots in the new town until after 1845. The index lists five deeds dated in 1842. Three of these deeds named the same grantee, James Murphy, and they were not recorded until 1845. The other two deeds were recorded in 1846. The index also shows only one conveyance in 1844 and eight in 1846.

If we knew for certain the time table when Ansel moved his family from Brush Creek to Andrew, we could be certain of the situs of at least three events which occurred at this time in the life of Mr. Briggs. A son, Ansel, Junior, was born on June 30, 1842. Ansel, Senior, was elected for a term, 1842-43, as a Democrat to represent the people of Jackson County as their representative in the Fifth Territorial Assembly which was to meet that fall for the first time at Iowa City. A son, Marcus, was born on August 13, 1843. He was the sixth male child to be born to the union of Ansel and Nancy. Our comment on the three occasions is that each probably occurred while Briggs lived with his family on Brush Creek.

We must report, before we proceed with the story of our first governor's life, that we will be unable to report in detail what may be written about the last 32 years of his life. This is because space for the Governor's story in the Andrew book has been limited. We will do our best to cooperate.

(Continued)

Judge Arthur F. Janssen Grave
 

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