USA > Iowa > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I > Part 73
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Governor Briggs recognized the family and home as the foundation of society and the highest civilization. He was married three times, his first wife living but a short time. To the second marriage eight children were born, all of whom died in infancy except two, and one of the latter died at the age of twenty-one, leav- ing his son, John S., the only surviving child. His second wife died in the year 1847, while he was governor of the state. He subsequently married Mrs. Frances Carpenter, a widow of this town, who departed this life August 20, 1859. He practically retired from leadership and active political work at the close of his term of office as governor.
Yielding to the spirit of unrest and longing to enter new fields and take up new enterprises which generally lingers in the heart of the pioneer, he went to Nebraska in the year 1856 and became one of the founders of the town of Florence, a short distance from Omaha, and which for a time was its vigorous rival. He also went to Colorado and later to Montana, returning occasionally to this locality which he still considered his home, until 1878, when he went to Omaha to make his home with his son and where he remained up to the time of his death, which occurred on the 5th day of May, 1881. He was buried in the ceme- tery at that place.
Great in his public life and character he was no less so in his private life and home virtues. He was genial and affable to all ; dignified and commanding, without austerity ; loyal to his party, but not dogmatic; true to his family, loyal to his friends, kind to his neighbors, a lover of children, a noble man.
The Historical Society of Jackson County in recognition of his public life and service and of that sentiment which is written, as it were, by the finger of God on the human heart, for one to want to go back to the old home as life begins to wane and the daystar of hope can no longer be seen, or if that should be im- possible, when they have crossed the bar that their remains may be taken and buried beside their kindred, and long delayed justice demanding that his remains should repose in the soil of his adopted state which he had served so well, and in the cemetery he had so generously provided for others, in which his mother, wife and loved ones were buried, took up the work of the removal of his remains and of securing an appropriation from the state to erect a monument befitting his life and services, at his grave.
The undertaking has been accomplished, and here the monument stands, a mas- sive granite shaft from his native state, which will stand forever like a sentinel through sunshine and in storm, saluting the coming of the King of Day as the seasons come and go and challenge the passerby to halt, and pay respect to the memory of a pioneer lawmaker, the first Governor of the State of Iowa.
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT G. L. MITCHELL, OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY, PRESENTING MONU-
MENT TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
This has been an inspiring moment, when to the cheers of the people and the stirring strains of the "Star Spangled Banner" there has been unveiled this mon- ument to the memory of the first governor of the State of Iowa. It has been in- spired by patriotism, love of country and her institutions, and a just pride in our own fair state, her beauty, her glory, her development, and her history.
Monuments are erected to mark historic spots, the scenes of great events in the world's history, to perpetuate the memory of men great in literature, statecraft
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and war, and sometimes to a thought, an idea, or a sentiment, and today we ded- icate this monument to the memory of Ansel Briggs, not alone because he was great, but because with him is identified, and in him is personified, the beginning of the making of a great commonwealth, our own magnificent State of Iowa.
Of him or his career I need not speak, for you have just listened to a very in- teresting and eloquent memorial address setting forth his services to the people and the new state which he had helped to create. 1846, 1909, sixty-three years, less than man's allotted span of three score and ten, and what a transformation scene, the most wonderful which the eye of man ever beheld. In 1846 a scattered population of one hundred thousand people, a vast expanse of unbroken prairie stretching on and on beyond the western horizon, with here and there a spot where some hardy pioneer had built his cabin home and first turned the furrows of that virgin soil which from that day until this, has been contributing so bountifully to the wealth of the world.
Today a great state of a great union of states, one of the great states of a great nation that has become a leader among the powers of the earth. The prairies covered with happy homes, with grazing herds and smiling harvests, with villages, towns and populous cities, a veritable empire of more than two millions of people, happy, prosperous, loyal to country and her institutions ; a people great not only in their number, but greater still in their spirit, their culture, their morality, and their intelligence.
Standing here today and looking away toward the distant horizon we gaze upon the scene of rarest beauty, and over fields of wondrous fertility. I have looked upon the peaks of the Rocky Mountains rearing their snowcapped crests toward heaven, veritable storehouses of copper and silver and gold, and have stood entranced by their grandeur and filled with awe and reverence as I contem- plated the wondrous works of the Creator, but for a scene of quiet, restful beauty, give me these fields of Iowa, with their ripening harvests waiting to be garnered, a veritable cornucopia of plenty, and in whose alluvial depths is wealth incom- parably greater than the gold and silver of mine and mountain.
As Tell loved the peaks and crags of Switzerland, so as a native born son of Iowa, do I love these peaceful scenes about us.
You ask what land I love the best, Iowa, 'tis Iowa. The fairest state in all the west, Iowa, oh Iowa. From yonder Mississippi's stream, To where Missouri's waters gleam, Oh, fair it is as poet's dream, In Iowa, in Iowa. See yonder fields of tasseled corn, Where plenty fills her golden horn, In Iowa, in Iowa. See how her wondrous prairies shine, To yonder sunset's purpling line, Oh happy land, oh land of mine, Iowa, oh Iowa.
These fields were bought from the Indians for seven cents an acre ; the exact amount paid was two million, eight hundred and seventy-seven thousand, five hundred and seventy-four dollars. They have multiplied in value a thousand fold, and during the lifetime of many in this audience they will yet multiply again, and let me say to you men of Iowa, that if you own an acre of Iowa land or an Iowa farm, keep it ; and let me say to you young men within the hearing of my voice, stay on the farm, there is no occupation more honorable, I believe on the whole none more lucrative, and no place where you are more needed and can better serve your time and generation.
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It has been officially estimated that the true value of all real and personal property of the state reaches the tremendous total of two billion, four hundred and forty-six million dollars. I will not weary you with figures and the story of our physical greatness, for you are familiar with it, and there are matters of growth and development of greater import to you, to me, and to the world, for while we have been making such tremendous strides along the lines of physical growth and development, we have been making a civilization of the highest order, a land of schoolhouses, a land of churches, a people whose influence for right and truth is being felt from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the lakes to the gulf.
We are giving to the world men and women of education and culture, women noble and pure, men upright and honest, men of character, men of force, men of honor, men of courage.
For more than a quarter of a century the mortal remains of our first governor had lain in the soil of a sister commonwealth, the grave unmarked, unhonored, and almost unknown. At the last session of the legislature a bill was introduced, passed, and received the approval of the governor, providing for the appropria- tion of one thousand dollars for the purpose of removing his body from Omaha, Nebraska, to his former home at Andrew, Jackson county, Iowa, and there erect- ing a suitable monument to his memory.
The bill was introduced by our worthy representative, the Hon. J. W. Ellis, and in its behalf he was untiring in his zeal, unceasing in his effort, and to the many details in connection with the work culminating in these exercises today, he has given freely of his time, his efforts and his means.
By the provisions of the bill the duty of removing the body, the selection of a design, and the erection of a monument, was placed upon the Jackson County Historical Society. The work has been done, the body has been removed, and now rests beneath this sod, his ashes mingling with those of kindred and friends of long ago. The monument has been erected, plain, simple, majestic, emblematic of the life, the times, and the character of him whose memory it will perpetuate, and if, honored sir, we can receive from your lips those words of commendation, "well done," we will be more than satisfied, and it, standing here, a silent testi- monial of the appreciation of a great people, it shall be an influence creating a truer realization of the blessings we enjoy, a broader and deeper concentration to the public service, a more exalted patriotism, our efforts have not been in vain.
And sir, I now wish to present to you, as the chief executive of the state and the representative of her people, this monument to the memory of her first gov- ernor, for dedication.
"Long may our land be bright. With Freedom's holy light, Protect us by thy might, Great God above."
ADDRESS BY GOVERNOR B. F. CARROLL.
I assure you that it is with a great deal of pleasure and gratification that I come among you today under these circumstances. I am confident that if all the people of this great State of Iowa could be present with us today to witness your exercises and to view this beautiful monument that you are dedicating, that you would not only receive a word of approbation from me, but from the great people of a great state. The marvel is, to me, that you have been able to erect so beau- tiful a monument with the appropriation that has been made. The great State of Iowa can well afford to thus honor its distinguished dead. You nor I will miss its significant cost. I feel that I am highly honored in being permitted to come to these dedication exercises, and to do honor to the memory of the first governor of our state. I am delighted also that we are honored by the presence here of one of the grandest men, one of the greatest governors the State of Iowa has ever had-Governor Larrabee.
EMAIL:
BRIGGS MONUMENT Descendants of Governor Briggs at left of monument
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GOVERNOR CARROLL AND EX-GOVERNOR LARRABEE Addressing eight hundred school children at Maquoketa
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I am glad because of the erection of this monument of granite. I have won- dered long why the state of Iowa has waited so long to do fitting honor to the memory of Governor Briggs by bringing his remains from their resting place in Omaha, to the state in which he resided, to the place he made his home, there to rest throughout the ages. But many things come to us slowly. The State of Iowa has had her problems, her trials and her perplexities. And now the paltry sum of one thousand dollars has brought back to Iowa and to Andrew the re- mains of one of our most honored citizens. Your representative, Mr. Ellis, de- serves great credit for securing the passage of his bill for that appropriation. I have signed many bills, but I can remember no bill, the signing of which has given me greater pleasure than did the approving of this bill. I trust, too, that the time may soon come when we shall have at our capital at Des Moines, a sort of Hall of Fame much the same as they have in Washington, where the portraits of our distinguished sons may help to perpetuate their memory.
But the beautiful means little to me and to you. It simply marks the resting place of the distinguished dead. It is fitting, but, my friends, his real monument is the great State of Iowa itself-built upon a foundation he worked to lay. A state is more than railroads, telephones, modern methods and facilities, more than great fields of ripening crops of untold wealth, it is principle, sturdy loyalty, love of liberty and institutions, justice, right. In the laying of the foundation of our now great state, its first governor, Ansel Briggs, had much to do. Think what change has occurred in less than two thirds of a century. He fought for the education and betterment of Iowa's people. Today we have seventeen great state institutions. They are good but we want them better. We want the best and will have the best.
We have the best people-I have no hesitation in saying that we have the best people in the world-best in education, in intelligence. Why, when only one state outstrips us in literacy, why except the one when we are so near the top? Gov- ernor Briggs did much for the common schools system in Iowa. He did much in other ways. He has left to you and to me a heritage that. cannot be chiseled in stone, but only on the tablets of the hearts of men.
In sixty-three years, what a change. The State of Iowa during his administra- tion embraced only twenty-seven counties, and now there are ninety-nine. The total valuation of the state for taxable purposes at that time was only about eleven millions of dollars. I didn't have time to inquire just what you would take for Jackson county, but I imagine you wouldn't sell it for that. If you do, I should like to borrow the money and buy it.
When Governor Briggs was chief executive there was not in Iowa a mile of railroad. No wonder that he fought to have the Des Moines River, and the Cedar, and the Skunk, and yes, the Maquoketa, made navigable. That was the only way to travel in those days, unless you took an ox cart or went on foot. His were pioneer days. Governor Briggs worked, too, for good roads, and he planned a highway from Keokuk to the Missouri River, by way of Des Moines. At that time the greater portion of the state was supposed to be uninhabitable. That then was "Iowa, Beautiful Land."
We are proud of our great farms. In the time of Governor Briggs' adminis- tration the bank issue was a great political question. He stumped the state, it is said, with the slogan-"No banks but Iowa soil, and that well tilled."
They were a sturdy people in those days, and it is in a great measure due to the spirit of 1846 all the years down to 1909, that has given us this great state. They were burdensome times, and the more burdens you could throw onto a true man the better he comes up purified and strengthened.
Here Governor Carroll digressed from his topic to tell of the trials of the men of the Union in 1861 and 1865, and continuing with a splendid tribute to them he said :
But war is not necessary to try men's souls. We of today have our trials, and it takes as much courage, sometimes, to stand for the duties of everyday life as it
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does to bare your bosom to the bullets of the enemy. Governor Briggs was that kind of a man himself. He accomplished much. We are doing much but there is yet much to be done. Governor Larrabee, this is a better state than it was when you were governor, and twenty-four years hence it will be incomparably bet- ter than it is today. You will farm better, your farm will raise better corn, more corn to the acre, than it is doing now. Your schools will be better, your meth- ods, your facilities, all will be better. Don't say we will not. Get that pessimistic idea out of your head. It doesn't belong there.
The governor closed with a tribute to the work of the Jackson County Histori- cal Society and a stronger one for Representative Ellis in his untiring efforts to secure the recognition of Iowa for Governor Briggs that Iowa's first governor deserves.
POINTS FROM EX-GOVERNOR LARRABEE'S ADDRESS.
Ex-Governor William Larrabee was next introduced. The old governor has reached the four score mark but his vigor is that of the average well preserved man of sixty. The ex-governor dwelt on the remarkable foresight of Governor Briggs. The school system Briggs urged in his message stands today ; he was a pioneer in the normal school field, in scientific agriculture, and his conception of the need of transportation and to secure which end he urged the government to make land grants in furtherance of steam roads, are evidences of his broad mind. It required a big man, a constructive statesman to grasp the necessities set forth in these projects. Referring to Iowa's greatness it was declared the state radiates greatness. It has it to spare. "There are eighty thousand Iowans in Nebraska; eighty thousand in Missouri, and other states share in less proportion-mission- aries of intelligence. More than this, Iowa produced national characters and is still producing them. Iowa is due to produce presidents. Virginia was first, then New York had a monopoly, and Ohio seems now the most prolific in presidential timber, but the drift is west and Iowa is due." (There were those in the audience who believed the ex-governor had taken his cue from the facts behind the icy re- ception given President Taft at Des Moines on Monday. Larrabee is on record as refusing to be read out of the republican party even by the president on the tariff issue. )
"Our educational facilities are unexcelled," declared Mr. Larrabee, "but our education is far from complete. It must progress in one very vital particular. The greatest menace civilization has today is the saloon. It must be voted out of the state and the public must be educated to this point. It was once driven out but the legislature brought it back. But it will be voted upon again and it will have to go."
The speaker then took up national questions and deplored the power that men and corporate interests are exerting in national legislation. With a score of men in Wall street controlling the major portion of the country's enterprises, a condi- tion exists which must be remedied and remedied at once. "When you people," declared Mr. Larrabee, "vote for a Wall street candidate you vote for the abdica- tion of the people's authority at Washington."
It is not surprising that the West should begin to have some feeling against the East, from the fact that we have so long paid tribute to the eastern power that controls national legislation. This great corporate power of a few rich men must be combatted by the people.
There were some things in the remarkable address of ex-Governor Larrabee that may prove a wise prophecy. The governor displayed a courage which few younger men would lay claim to, but the governor has a right to talk. Twenty- four years ago when Mr. Larrabee first became governor of this state, the rail- road interests which were then at the zenith of their power dominated the poli- tics of the state. It seems not very long ago when we-all of we democrats and . republicans alike-rode to the state convention on free asses. That railroad cor- porations in this state are now subject to stricter and more just laws is largely
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due to the Larrabee administration. And it is not strange that Mr. Larrabee objects to seeing that control frittered away by the national government. The ex-governor in discussing the recent attempt of the national administration to divide the powers of the interstate commerce commission, went so far as to men- tion President Taft by name and hold him up to censure.
With the recent Boston speech in which President Taft accused the late Gov- ernor John G. Johnson of teaching sectionalism between the East and West, Gov- ernor Larrabee took issue. The ex-governor asserted flatly and with much warmth that Governor Johnson was right and that Mr. Taft was wrong. It was contended in a general way that recent national legislation was operating to dis- criminate against the West and favor the East, and it was argued in a more specific way that the industrial property of the country largely owned in the East had been the recipient and beneficiary of favoring legislation.
HON. WILLIAM GRAHAM, OF DUBUQUE.
Nearly two generations have passed since the man in whose memory yon- der shaft has been erected, laid down the cares and insignia of office, and re- sumed his station among the common people of this commonwealth, and one generation has passed away from these busy scenes of life since he took up his abode in the house appointed for all living.
Very few are now living who were citizens of Iowa when Ansel Briggs was its governor. Very few, if any, survive who cast their ballots for him for that exalted position, probably not one who has this day attended the unveiling of the monument erected to his memory, and only a few who enjoyed personal acquaintance with him, or who can recall his personal characteristics.
I suppose that as I am one, who after his retirement from office, acted for him in a professional capacity, I am called upon to make a few remarks concerning the personality of the man to do honor to whose memory this concourse is called together. My acquaintance with him, though extended over twenty years, was not intimate, but I knew enough of him to respect his many virtues and to admire his sturdy independence of character, the integrity of his prin- ciples, and the simplicity of his life. Ansel Briggs was not a great man. He never thought of being great. He never imagined that he was great. He was not one of those to whom the poet speaks when he wrote:
"The men of mind are mountains, and their heads Are sunned long ere the rest of earth."
He had no pride of intellect, no pride of position, or pride of purse. He was one whose highest aim was to discharge the duties that lay before him to the best of his ability for the best interests of those he served. He never sought for position or for power, but when position was conferred upon him and power was placed in his hands, he brought to the discharge of his duties a clear un- derstanding, an honesty of purpose, and an integrity that nothing could swerve from what he conceived to be the right.
The principles instilled in his mind in the early years by the rigid old puri- tans of his native state, bore their legitimate fruitage in his mature life among. the free surroundings and the clearer atmosphere of his western home.
As was well said by him who delivered the memorial address, it is the homely virtues of the man that we delight to dwell upon, and the people of Jackson county will recall more vividly and with keener pleasure the manner of his life among them as he pursued his avocation as mail carrier, stage line proprietor, merchant, editor and farmer, and the discharge of his duties as sheriff, than his career as legislator or as chief executive of the state. His acts as lawmaker or as governor they, knew of only by report. His life in the other positions had been lived before their eyes, and while the legislation he
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supported or recommended gave satisfaction to his constituents and conferred lasting benefits upon the state, his life at home among his neighbors won for him their respect and affection.
If time allowed, we might grow reminiscent `and recall some of the tradi- tions connected with his life illustrating his own humor, and those among whom he lived, of his attachments to his party and his zeal for its success, or the jokes he perpetrated on others, and of those which recoiled on himselt. As for instance, how in order to escape the solicitations of a certain Methodist preacher, he jocosely challenged the preacher to play a game of "old sledge" with him, the stakes being that if the governor won, he was to go free from further solicitations, but if the preacher won, the contribution should be double the amount asked, and of his astonishment at the prompt acceptance of his challenge by the preacher, and of his still greater astonishment a few minutes later by finding himself cleaned out by his clerical antagonist. I think the governor would rather have payed five times the amount than to have the story told on him.
Governor Briggs was fortunate in his political associates and advisers. I had not been long in the state before hearing of the "Andrew clique," meaning the political intimates of the former governor, who were understood to have had a controlling interest in the politics of Iowa so far as the democratic party was concerned, though it had then passed into history by the departure of its most influential member to Minnesota in 1852, and the death of another in 1855.
I never could learn the exact composition of this junto, but there was beside the governor, Dr. M. H. Clark, whom I have heard spoken of as the ablest and shrewdest politician of his time in Iowa, and Iowa at that time had some very able politicians (as she has had at all times since). Had he not removed to Minnesota when he did, Dr. Clark would have been a power for many years afterward. There too, was a Virginian, Judge Dyer, soon after appointed United States district judge of Iowa, and who is said to have first proposed the name of Governor Briggs in the convention which nominated him. And there was genial Phillip B. Bradley, an accomplished gentleman from Connecticut, who had been educated under the supervision of Dr. Nott, the famous presi- dent of Union college, and whose whole after life was passed in the village of Andrew, where as a politician he became as astute as his preceptor. Whether the late Colonel Wyckoff and senators Green and Goodenow, whose names will linger long in the annals of Jackson county, could be called members of the "Andrew clique" or not, I cannot say, but they were closely associated with those before named.
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