Butte County
Biographies
EMILY S. WITHINGTON BRISCOE
EMILY S. WITHINGTON BRISCOE.--This
country is so rapidly becoming settled with foreigners that it will not be many
years before it will be considered a great honor to be a descendant of a family
which has been in the United States
since the Colonial period. Fifty years ago it would have been an easy matter to
have looked up some historical facts which we now so much desire in preparing
data for this history, as persons were then living who were conversant with them.
Every year members of families are passing away and fifty years hence it will
be very difficult to secure such data as we now have. The genealogy of the
family of Mrs. Briscoe is traced to English forebears. Her great-grandfather,
James Withington, was a native of England,
who came to Baltimore, Md., and
from there migrated to St. Louis,
Mo., where he became the owner of a thousand acres of
land, some of which is now a part of the city of St. Louis. He was heir to a
very valuable estate in England,
which included lands and a castle, the value of which amounts to millions of
dollars. The case, after many years in chancery, was finally decided favorably
to the Withington family, but through some
technicality it went back into the Chancery Court, where it is still pending.
One of the sons of James Withington was named Thomas,
the grandfather of Emily Withington Briscoe. He
married Tabitha Cariceau, a native of Baltimore,
of French descent. They resided in Maryland for some
time, then migrated to Kentucky,
making the trip on horseback. On the journey Mrs. Withington
gave birth to twins. At a later date, the family moved to St. Louis
County, Mo., and settled at Bridgeton,
where Mr. Withington became a large landowner and
tobacco-grower, owning many negroes, and in time
becoming one of the wealthiest men of the county. He built a magnificent home
and his country estate extended for miles between St. Louis
and St. Charles.
Jacques
Withington, father of Mrs. Briscoe, was the oldest of
the children and was born at Baltimore, Md.
He came with his parents to Missouri, becoming a large
and sucdessful farmer and stockman; he also raised
hemp, cotton and tobacco at Pacific, Franklin
County. He laid out the town of Pacific,
sold town lots, erected a general store, tannery, distillery
and tobacco warehouses. For years the Catholic services of that parish were
held in the chapel in his house. The late Archbishop Kendrick of St.
Louis administered confirmation services twice a year.
Mr. Withington married Sarah Twitty,
whose great-grandfather, Ambrose Twitty, was a native
of Holland, and was a scholarly man
and college professor in his native country. His son, Russell Twitty, migrated to the United States
and located in North Carolina,
where he was married to Anna Mills, daughter of Colonel Mills, prominently
identified with that section in early days. Sarah Twitty
was but six years old when her parents settled in Missouri.
Jacques Withington served in the War of 1812, and in
the Mexican War, in which he held a captain's commission. In 1849 there was a
severe stringency in the money market, and as Mr. Withington
had overreached in his investments, he decided he would come to California
to try to recoup his fortune. He crossed the plains and was captain of the
train of which George Hearst was a member. These two men had always been warm
friends. Jacques Withington and George Hearst's
father were near neighbors and both had stumped the state in behalf of the Whig
Party, prior to the formation of the Democratic Party. As he was prominent in
national affairs Mr. Withington was in touch with
Andrew Jackson and James Monroe, and he had their autographs on parchment that
is now in the possession of Emily Withington Briscoe.
In the Withington train were two of Mr. Withington's sons, J. R. and Stephen, the former only
sixteen years of age. Patrick O'Brien of Glenn
County was also a member of the
party. Arriving safely at Placerville, the party separated
and Mr. Withington and his son Stephen continued on
to Oregon, but Mr. Withingtong soon returned East via
San Francisco and the Isthmus. On the way he was taken ill with Panama
fever and died soon after reaching his home; he was buried in the Withington Cemetery
at Rock Church,
on the banks of the Little Merrimac River, thirty miles from St.
Louis. The widow continued to live at the old home,
and there she reared her children, educating them at St. Louis
and St. Charles. She died at
Pacific, Mo., in 1895, aged
eighty-four.
Emily
was the sixth child in the family of eight, and is now the only survivor. She
was born at Pacific, Mo., January 11, 1849, and was
educated in Sacred Heart Convent, at St. Charles,
Mo. Her first husband was Joseph Greffet, born in St. Louis, while his
father, also named Joseph, was born in France.
His mother, Mary Tayon, born in St.
Louis, came from a wealthy family and was godmother to
the Old Cathedral bells in that city. The great-grandfather, John Tayon, was governor of Missouri
under the French regime and owned much of what is now the site of St.
Louis. Five months after their marriage Mr. Greffet was accidentally killed by being overcome by gas in
a coal mine at St. Joseph, where he
was working with his uncles. He was buried from the Old Cathedral at St.
Louis. Mrs. Emily E. Greffet
came to White Pine, Nev., to visit her brother, J. R. Withington, who was a large cattle- and mining-man, and she
later came with him to San Francisco.
During her stay in California she met H. P. Briscoe at Chico.
After her return to her eastern home, Mr. Briscoe made a trip to see her, and
as a result of their acquaintance, she married him and came to live in California
in 1872, settling at Chico, where
she has since lived. She owns a valuable ranch of five hundred acres, lying one
and one half miles along Butte Creek west of Nelson, which is leased for
farming purposes and brings in a satisfactory annual income. At her home, at
the corner of Normal Avenue
and Second Street, Chico,
she entertains her friends and dispenses a cordial hospitality. She has had two
children: Winnefred, who died in Nevada,
at two years of age; and a son, John Briscoe, proprietor of the Daily Enterprise
in Chico.
Mrs.
Briscoe is a member of the Chico Art Club; the Chico Civic Club; an honorary
member of the Catholic Ladies' Institute; and the Daughters of the American
Revolution. She was one of the organizers of the old reading room that was kept
up by private subscription, and she served as the first secretary and later as
its president. The effort finally grew into the present city library. She is
charitable and her benevolences are many. She has taken an active part in all
public movements for the building up of Chico and Butte
County and stands for civic
betterment and the raising of the standard of morals.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 500-502, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2007 Sande Beach.
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