Briggs, Benjamin

Born: 1783-04-08 Virginia

Died: 1844-02-17 Tremont, Illinois

Flourished:

A native of Virginia, Benjamin Briggs spent his early years in Kentucky. In 1810, he married Susan Hubbard. Briggs served with the Kentucky Mounted Volunteers during the War of 1812. After the war, he returned to Kentucky. In 1822, Briggs moved with his family from Kentucky to Sangamon County, Illinois. He was one of the original settlers of what would become Tazewell County, arriving in 1826 and settling in Pleasant Grove, Elm Grove Township. When the Illinois General Assembly organized Tazewell County in 1827, voters elected Briggs as county commissioner. He served as county commissioner, 1827-30; as county coroner, 1831; as county treasurer, 1835-36, and as sheriff, 1840-44. During his tenure as sheriff, Briggs retained Abraham Lincoln on six actions of trespass on the case for neglecting his duty. During the Black Hawk War, Briggs was a first lieutenant in a company organized in Pekin.

Minnie S. Wilder, comp., Kentucky Soldiers of the War of 1812, rep. ed. (Baltimore: Genealogical, 1969), 147; Dolorus Briggs Mansfield, History of the Briggs-Bridge Family, Since its Settlement in America (Virginia) in 1752, with Genealogy as Found in Early Church Records, Government Documents, Wills, and Family Correspondence (Edmonds, WA: unknown, 1960), 30-31; Gravestone, Tennessee Point Cemetery, Tremont, IL; History of Tazewell County Illinois (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman, 1879), 207, 209, 224, 461, 515, 712, 713; Evans v. Briggs, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136386; Frothingham v. Briggs, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136192; Hall v. Briggs, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136388; Hillman v. Briggs, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136197; Labargo v. Briggs, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136389; Salisbury v. Briggs, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136387.