Lucina Briggs
| Date of Interment or Death | 02/11/1947 |
|---|---|
| Location | Old Fairview |
| Section | D |
| Block-Lot-Grave | 3-3-2 |
Obituary
Miss L C Briggs Dies Saturday At Home on North Sixth Street
Came to Wahpeton in 1880 With $150 to Enter Millinery Business; Retired From Shop 25 Years Ago
Miss Lucina C. Briggs, who came to Wahpeton 1880 with $150 borrowed from her father to enter the millinery business, a quarter of a century ago, died at her home Saturday afternoon after long suffering from an incurable malady. She marked her 88th birthday, July 14th when she was able to receive the congratulates of her many friends.
With her during her last illness was her niece, Mrs. Julie R. Kusinske, of Wild Rose, Wis., who assisted in caring for her.
Funeral services will be held from the Wahpeton Congregational church of which Miss Briggs had been a member and active leader and worker for many years. The service will be conducted Tuesday afternoon at two o’clock by Rev. J. H. Rees. Interment will be in Fairview cemetery. The body will lie in state at Schmitt and Olson’s chapel until 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Miss Briggs first attended the Wahpeton church as a young woman of 23 when she accompanied the late Judge and Ms. Folsom Dow and heard a sermon by the late Rev. Geo. Barnes. She taught in the church school for many years, having a large class of boys and through the years teaching many men who are now community leaders her and elsewhere.
Late she organized the church’s first cradle roll and took charge of this work for many years, working in the church and Sunday school more than sixty years. Lucina Cornelia Briggs was born July 14, 1858, in Lowell, Wis., and spent her childhood there, receiving her education in district school, the first one she attended being two and a half miles from her home. Later she spent a few months at Baptist college at Beaver Dam and entered musical instruction.
After childhood Miss Briggs was instructed in household arts by her mother and by the aunt for whom she was named. At the age of ten, she learned to crochet, and by the time she was 14 years of age she had become an efficient seamstress. Knitting was learned as a matter course, but first the wool was sheared from the sheep, carded and spun into yarn.
Miss Briggs home has housed a large collection of family and pioneer relics and among them is a tiny blouse which she sewed as a girl of ten. Every stitch is by hand and her early talent is clearly shown. Quilts of quaint pattern with tiny rows of hand-quilting show her home industry.
Her lifetime profession as a milliner developed as a result of her natural artistic and creative abilities.
Miss Briggs came to Wahpeton in 1880. At that time her father was carpentering at Campbell, a boom town larger than Wahpeton Breckenridge although the railroad had reached Breckenridge by then.
They came to Wahpeton to visit a friend from Wisconsin who had a dressmaking business here and Miss Biggs remained with her later entering a partnership with her and starting a millinery department. A year later she bought out her partner and embarked on her business career.
Her first business location was where Olson Motors is now located then she moved to a building across from St. John’s. A little later she built across from Hintgen-Karst. This building she moved to the present site of the Seifert Jewelry and covered with brick veneer.
However, the building had no foundation and in 1906 she had it razed and went into debt $12,000 to erect a modern structure which she later sold to Mr. Seifert. She then built a combined store and home on a leased site back of the Stern building.
In 1921 she decided to retire and had her building moved to a location on North Sixth Street near the Science School and remodeled into a modern home where she had since resided. After her retirement from active business she purchased a car and spent a portion of her time on trips, continuing to drive until last summer. During the years Miss Briggs had over a hundred girls with her at various times as trimmers and salesladies and it was a source of pride to her that all of them became good housewives and mothers when they left her.
Living in Wahpeton with Miss Briggs for 20 years was her father, John F. Briggs, who loaned his daughter $150 to enter business here. Mr. Briggs was a Civil War veteran and one of Miss Brigg’s early recollections was of the baby sister born while her father was in the army and who died before his return. In later years Miss Briggs often accompanied him to GAR encampments. She was a member of the local WRC.
Her mother spent her declining years in her daughter’s home, passing away in 1918 at the age of _______after long illness through which she was nursed by Miss Briggs.
It was during her mother’s illness that Miss Briggs became owner of the first of a succession of parrots which she kept in her shop and later in her home. Her mother was fond of kittens, but they caused a skin ailment and a bird was substituted for her amusement. Several of them, under Miss Briggs guidance developed amusing lingual ability
For the past several years Miss Briggs has devoted her time to her home, building up a fine property and to taking her friends about in her car. She continued her interest in church matters after giving up her Sunday school work and often enjoyed calls from young people and children, with whom she was a great favorite.
Headstone photograph(s)
Location
Old Fairview is located on the southern half of the cemetery grounds.