23 Facts About Ansel Briggs

Ansel Briggs was an American pioneer who rose from a stagecoach driver to a member of the Iowa Territorial House of Representatives and the first Governor of Iowa.

Ansel Briggs was born in Shoreham, Vermont, to farmer Benjamin Ingley Briggs and Electa Trippman Briggs.

Ansel Briggs married Nancy M Dunlap on November 11,1830.

Ansel Briggs served as Township Constable, Deputy Sheriff, and Jailor of Guernsey County; he ran, as a Whig party candidate, unsuccessfully for the office of County Auditor for the Guernsey County, Ohio.

Ansel Briggs soon secured contracts with the Post Office Department transporting mail between Dubuque and the cities of Davenport and Iowa City, this led to more routes, expanding his business.

In 1839, Ansel Briggs moved to Andrew, Iowa, a recently mapped-out town, purchasing many of the empty lots and then reselling them.

Ansel Briggs was considered a good citizen making many town improvements, building roads and commercial buildings.

Ansel Briggs's family used to have a home and mill near Brush Creek north of Andrew at a place known as Bluff Mills, which is a popular public fishing area now, even though the house and mill are now gone.

Ansel Briggs served on the Committee on Enrolled Bills and chaired the Committee on Territorial Affairs.

Ansel Briggs served as Jackson County deputy treasurer and was elected a Sheriff of Jackson County in 1844 for a two-year term.

Ansel Briggs's campaign was centered on the promise of no outside businesses, including banks, having influence in his administration.

Ansel Briggs had once made a toast at a political banquet, "No banks but earth, and they well tilled".

The vote for Democratic candidacy for governor resulted in Ansel Briggs getting sixty-two votes, Jesse Williams receiving thirty-two, and William Thompson, thirty-one.

Williams and Thompson withdrew and Ansel Briggs was chosen by acclamation.

The election for Iowa's first governor was held on October 28,1846, with Ansel Briggs winning with 7,626 votes over his opponent Thomas McKnight, a Dubuque lawyer running on a Whig ticket, who received 7,379 votes.

Ansel Briggs's administration laid the groundwork of Iowa transportation infrastructure: planning and building roads, bridges, and railroads.

When his term ended in 1850, Ansel Briggs retired from state politics.

In 1854, Ansel Briggs became an early investor in the Florence Land Company of the Nebraska Territory and was one of the founders of the town of Florence, Nebraska.

Ansel Briggs became involved in parts farther west in the country: in 1860, he made a trip to Colorado during the mining excitement of the time and in 1863, Briggs with his son John Shannon Briggs and a large group went to the state of Montana, where he remained involved in mining until 1865 when he returned to Iowa.

In 1881 after a very brief illness Ansel Briggs died at his son John's residence in Omaha, Nebraska, due to ulceration of the stomach.

On October 27,1849, he married a widow, who died in 1859; together they had no children but Ansel Briggs took her three children from previous marriage into his household.

Ansel Briggs farmed with his father, was a stagecoach driver, became engaged in mining and land developing.

Ansel Briggs early realized importance of public service and held different public offices, from sheriff to a member of the Iowa Territorial House of Representatives eventually becoming the first Governor of Iowa.