Ansel Briggs

Ansel Briggs ( born February 3, 1806 Shoreham, Vermont, † May 5, 1881 in Omaha, Nebraska ) was an American politician and from 1846 to 1850, the first governor of Iowa.

Early years and political rise

Ansel Briggs attended the local schools of his home in Vermont and Norwich Academy in Connecticut. About Ohio he came into tonight's Iowa. There he worked as a postman and stagecoach drivers. Since 1842, the Democrat Briggs was politically active in Iowa. In that year he was elected to the House of Representatives of the Iowa Territory, in which he remained until 1846. At the same time he was also for a term sheriff in Jackson County. In 1846, Iowa joined as a new state in the United States and Briggs was elected as a candidate of his party for the first governor of that state.

Governor of Iowa

Ansel Briggs took up his new post on December 28, 1846. In his four-year tenure in the new state had to first of all administrative structures are built. This included the government apparatus and the school system with a. Finally, there was at that time still a border dispute with Missouri, which was settled in 1848.

Further CV

Briggs term ended on December 4, 1850. Thereafter, he retired from politics to devote himself to his own affairs. Later, he was temporarily resident in Nebraska. There he was instrumental in the founding of the town Florence, who later became a district of Omaha was. Ansel Briggs died on 5 May 1881 in Omaha and was initially buried there as well. In 1909 his remains were transferred to Andrew in Iowa and reburied in the cemetery there. Ansel Briggs was married twice and had eight children.