My Genealogy Hound

FRANK O. BRIGGS is a well educated, bright, energetic and active young business man, who is appreciated for his worth in the community. He is an only son of George W. and Sallie A. (Tarbox) Briggs and was born in Arkwright, Chautauqua county, New York, September 21, 1863. His grandfather, Joseph R. Briggs, was born in Massachusetts, July 24, 1795, and owned quite a large farm, which he sold, and came to this county in 1830, where he bought a farm of fifty acres in Arkwright and carried on a dairy business, manufacturing large quantities of butter up to the time of his death, which occurred November 25, 1876. In religion he was a member of the Christian church, and politically he was a republican. Joseph R. Briggs was married January 1, 1817 to Rhoda Sabin and by her had eight children, two sons and six daughters: Olive, born July 11, 1818, married to Palmer Dennison; George W. (father); Dorcas B. born May 10, 1822, married Wilder Fisher; Louis J., born June 20, 1824, married Hannah Lewis; Susan, born October 8, 1826, married John Griswold; Rhoda F., born November 26, 1829, married Abner Mattoon; Mary I., born April 27, 1832, married Joel Parker; Anna M., born July 25, 1834, married Myron Dewey. The maternal grandfather of F. O. Briggs, Dudley Tarbox, was born in Hebron, Connecticut, January 9, 1785, where he owned a farm and cultivated it until 1835, (except when he was serving as a soldier in the war of 1812), when he sold it and moved to this county, settling in the town of Arkwright, where he bought a farm of sixty acres and pursued the vocation of an agriculturist until his death, which summons came to him in Stockton, this county, June 3, 1851. His wife died April 10, 1857. Religiously, he was a member of the Christian church in Arkwright, and politically he was a republican. Dudley Tarbox was married March 16, 1812, to Polly Waters and by her had ten children, six sons and four daughters: Mary S., married Leonard Dalrymple; Phebe S., born September 8, 1813, married Benjamin House; William W., born December 28, 1816, married Sarah A. Wood; Henry C., born November 18, 1818, died young; Harry M., born March 19, 1820, married Cornelia Rebbels; Augustus C., born March 9, 1822, died young; Sallie A. (mother) born July 4, 1824; Albert G., born December 3, 1826, married Hercy Rebbels; Hannah J., born February 6, 1829, married Ranster Luce; Salina, born May 6, 1831, died young. It is a singular coincidence that grandfather and grandmother Tarbox, grandmother Briggs and George W. Briggs died aged sixty-six years each. George W. Briggs (father) was born in Massachusetts June 19, 1820, and became a farmer, owning two hundred and fifty acres of land at the old homestead. He came to the county in 1835, settling in Arkwright, where he bought land, until at one time he owned seven hundred acres. In 1875 he sold all his Arkwright land except three hundred and eighty acres, moved to Fredonia and in 1876 bought a property on Temple street and retired from active life. The land he owned in Arkwright was unimproved, nearly all woods, and he improved it. The first year he was married he worked for a man named Strong at Sinclairville for one hundred and twenty dollars a year and house rent. At the time of his death he was worth thirty thousand dollars, showing what an indomitable will, added to Yankee shrewdness and pluck, will accomplish. During the war he had charge of filling the quota of the town of Arkwright, but was never in the army. In religion he was a member of the Christian church in Arkwright, of which he was also deacon and trustee. After coming to Fredonia, he joined the Disciple church, of which he was afterward a trustee or minister and was a very active church worker. In politics he was a republican and an active party man. He was assessor and supervisor of Arkwright in 1875, 1876, 1877.

George W. Briggs was married to Sallie A. Tarbox January 1, 1843, and the union was productive of four children, one son and three daughters: Ellen J., married C. W. Cardott, a mechanic in Jamestown; Katherine P. married C. B. Wilson, a farmer in Charlotte, this county; Ida B., dead; and Frank O. The father died November 23, 1886. His death was caused by a hurt in the hand, which he had received seven years previous and which had resulted in blood poisoning. The best physicians were consulted and he was taken to the hospital at Ann Arbor, Michigan, but his life could not be saved. His widow is still living, in her sixty-seventh year, having been born in 1824.

Frank O. Briggs was educated at the district school in Arkwright and at the union school in Jamestown, which latter he had attended four terms when his parents moved to Fredonia and he attended the State normal school six terms, taking the regular normal course, but did not graduate. He then went to clerking for D. L. Shepard in the hardware business, where he remained three years, and then bought a fruit farm of twenty acres in Pomfret, which he occupied two years, being very successful. Then he returned to Fredonia and resumed his place in Mr. Shepard’s store, still owning the farm, remained here about sixteen mouths and then traded the farm and bought out Mr. Shepard in connection with Case & Zahn in 1882. In October 1886 he sold out his interest and started in the shoe business at No. 53 Main street, Fredonia, where he carried a stock of eight thousand dollars worth of all varieties of boots, shoes and rubber goods, and did a business of sixteen thousand dollars a year until April 11, 1890, when he sold out his boot and shoe business and embarked in the hardware trade, associating with Fred R. Ford; they purchased the west end of what is known as the Park House and by January 1, 1892, expect to have the finest line of hardware in stock to be found at Fredonia. In religion he is a member of the Presbyterian church of Fredonia, and in politics is an active working republican. He is secretary of Forest Lodge, No. 166, F. A. M., a member of Grapevine Tent, No. 81, Knights of the Maccabees, and of Fredonia Grange, No. 1. Frank O. Briggs was married June 4, 1879 to Sophie M. Lee, a daughter of Uriah and Eliza Lee of Fredonia, and has two children, a son and a daughter: May L. and George W.