George N. Briggs

George Nixon Briggs (April 12, 1796 – September 11, 1861) was a member of the Whig Party and served seven-terms as the 19th Governor of the U.S. state of Massachusetts, serving from 1844 to 1851. Briggs was born in Adams, Massachusetts on April 12, 1796. His parents were Allen Briggs (b. Cranston, Rhode Island, 1756) and Nancy Brown, of Huguenot descent. When seven years of age moved with his parents to Manchester, Vermont, and, two years later, to White Creek, New York. He attended the public schools there. He moved to Lanesboro, Massachusetts in 1814; there he was apprenticed to the hatter’s trade. He studied law, being admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1818, and commenced practice in Lanesboro. At the age of 14, during the Second...