Santa
Clara County
Biographies
GEORGE
H. BRIGGS
GEORGE H. BRIGGS. The reliable and conservative western rancher
has a representative of more than average worth in George H. Briggs, owner
of a ninety-acre ranch on Hollenbeck and Fremont avenues, in the Sunnyvale
district, near Mountainview. While this esteemed pioneer was obliged to
start upon his independent career at the bottom round of the ladder, he had
certain advantages over the average man who has made a success of life in the
west, not the least of which was kinship with an old New England family rich in
history and tradition, and centered for generations in the heart of
Massachusetts. Born in Boston, Mass.,
August 21, 1825, he is a son of Robert and Caroline (Morton) Briggs, both
born in Plymouth county, Mass., and both representatives of the mercantile
world of New England. His paternal
grandfather, Elijah, was a shipbuilder in Pembroke for many years, and his
maternal grandfather, Capt. Silas Morton, a merchant of Pembroke, Plymouth
county, won his rank in the Revolutionary war. Robert Briggs engaged in a wholesale crockery
business in Boston during his active life, and in this store his son,
George H., acquired his first business experience, beginning ere he
completed his education in the public schools of Boston. The youth found the confinement of the store
not to his liking, and when the country was agitated over the discovery of gold
on the coast he arranged to take advantage of what seemed a remarkable
opportunity.
Setting sail from New York in February, 1850,
he proceeded to Aspinwall, and after crossing the
Isthmus re-embarked for San Francisco, which he reached in due time and without
particular adventure. His health failing
him, he came to Santa Clara county in 1850, and for a
time clerked in the general store of Captain Rush, the same year going back to
San Francisco, where he clerked in a shoe store. From there he went to Marysville, Cal., and
opened a crockery store. He visited in
Boston, Mass., in 1852, but returned to San Francisco that year. December 22, 1852, he purchased his
present place of eighty acres, and cleared and improved it to grain and general
produce. In 1858 he married Elsie
Hollenbeck, a native of Walnut Prairie, Marshall county,
Ill., and an early settler of California.
His father’s illness necessitated a journey east, and Mr. Briggs
eventually settled down to the management of his father’s crockery store in
Boston. In February, 1863, he sold the
store and returned to California, locating on his ranch, which his
father-in-law had managed in his absence.
When the land was surveyed in 1866 he bought the farm of the government
and has since made it his home, having thirty acres under prunes, pears and
cherries, and the balance under grain and hay.
The Briggs home is a hospitable and cheery one, and the visitor is
impressed with its atmosphere of sincerity and warmth. Here may be found the transplanted healthy
ideas and customs of New England, with a tinge of its caution, Puritanism and
lofty ideals.
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 433-434. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Donna Toole.