Charles Briggs

As printed in 1902

CHARLES BRIGGS,

Charles Briggs is a well known farmer and stock-raiser of Madison township, Clark county, and was born on the farm where he now lives. He has here four hundred acres of valuable land and his realty possessions altogether aggregate eleven hundred acres lying in Clark, Madison and Greene counties and ten hundred and fifty acres in Jackson county, Ohio. As Mr. Briggs has a wide acquaintance in this portion of the state, his friends will receive his life record with interest and it is therefore with pleasure that we present his history to our readers.

He was born September 25, 1832, and is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Hempleman) Briggs. The father came ta Ohio from Virginia when but a boy, in company with his parents John and Catherine (Peterson) Briggs. The grandfather at that time settled near where the subject of this review now lives and became the owner of a large tract of land. He made his home in the county at a time when Indians were encamped near by and when primitive condition existed, all being wild and unimproved in this section of the state. He lived to be over ninety years of age. Samuel Briggs, then a boy, would frequently play and wrestle with the Indian boys. He was reared amid the wild scenes of frontier life, sharing with the family in the hardships and trials incident to frontier existence, and eventually he began farming on his own account, carrying on that pursuit throughout his active business career. The mother of our subject came to Ohio from Pennsylvania with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Hempleman. Her mother died when she was quite young and the father afterward married Miss Fletcher, and George Hempleman, now of Clark county, is her half-brother. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Briggs was celebrated in Clark County, May 10, 1821. The grandfather had given to each of his children a farm and Samuel Briggs became the owner of the tract upon which our subject now lives. His home was a hewed log cabin and therein he reared his family. Unto him and his wife were born seven children, six of whom reached years of maturity. Lucinda became the wife of John Selsor and died in Illinois. Mary became the wife of Martin Luther Carr and is now a widow living in White county, Indiana. She has four children. Matilda is the wife of Clement ia ne y

As printed in A Biographical Record of Clark County Ohio (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.