Thomas Riggs, Jr.

Thomas Christmas Riggs Jr. ( born October 17, 1873 in Ilchester, Howard County, Maryland, † January 16, 1945 in Washington, DC). Was an American politician and governor of the Alaska Territory 1918-1921 He was a member the Democratic Party and was a member of the Episcopal Church.

Career

Thomas Riggs, son of Thomas Riggs and Catherine Winter ( Gilbert ) Riggs, was born on October 17, 1873 in Ilchester. He graduated from Princeton University. He then worked 1897-1901 in timber business in the District of Alaska and from 1903 to 1905 at the Boundary Survey. He then worked as an engineer of the Alaskan Boundary Survey 1906-1913. On April 30, 1913, he married Renee Marie Coudert. He was later appointed Governor of the Alaska Territory, an office which he held until 1921. He was also a delegate to the 1920 Alaska Territory at the Democratic National Convention. Later he was 1936-1945 a United States Commissioner of the IBC. Besides, he had presided over the Fairbanks Division, which held the powers of the locations and the construction of the government railways in Alaska before the Office of the Governor of Alaska was created.

He died on January 16, 1945 in Washington, DC and was buried in Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore.

Honors

The American Geographical Society named 1947 the Riggs Glacier to honor him.