Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Preferred Citation
Acquisition
Processing Note
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Dr. Benjamin Bennett Briggs family papers
Creator:
Briggs, Abby Crane
Creator:
Briggs, Benjamin
Creator:
Briggs, Caroline Crane
Identifier/Call Number: 0394
Identifier/Call Number: 1511
Physical Description:
4.92 Linear Feet
8 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1836-2020
Date (bulk): 1850-1920
Abstract: Dr. Benjamin Bennett Briggs was a horticulturist and medical doctor who originally came to California from Ohio during the
Gold Rush but returned to Ohio where he married and established a medical practice. He later returned to California to continue
with horticultural pursuits and was one of the founders of La Crescenta, where he hoped to establish a health resort. Though
he died before he could accomplish all his dreams, today's Crescenta-Canada valley was home to many sanitariums and health
resorts owing to its excellent quality of air. Briggs is also remembered for having started the first school in the valley,
the first church, the first public park, and the first full-time medical practice in the area. The Briggs family papers
contain correspondence to and from various family members, photographs of family members spanning multiple generations, Dr.
Benjamin Bennett Briggs' 1849 diary, ephemera, collected publications, and realia. Shedding light on the daily lives of one
of Southern California's pioneer families, the Briggs family papers is a small but historically important resource.
Language of Material:
English
.
Biographical Note
In 1986, Sally Ward, the wife of Dr. Chester L. Ward, M.D., wrote a short description of Benjamin Bennett Briggs' life and
his descendents based upon information compiled earlier by Irene Ward Kennedy, the sister of Benjamin Briggs Ward, Sr. The
document that Sally Ward created is the first folder in the collection and helps to identify various family members through
the generations as well as summarize the life of Benjamin Bennett Briggs specifically.
Benjamin Bennett Briggs was born on June 2, 1827 in Bristol, New York. The seventh of at least nine children born to Thomas
Briggs and Abigail Gregg, Benjamin and his family moved to Ohio in 1835 where they farmed and where the children learned about
horticulture.
In the spring of 1849, Benjamin and two of his brothers as well as a neighbor, set out for California (from Missouri) across
the plains with an ox team. Benjamin was 22 years old; the youngest brother on the journey, John, was only 18. It took the
group nine months to make the trip, during which time Benjamin was accidentally injured by a bullet which affected his health
for the rest of his life. When the men arrived in California, two of them went to the mines as planned; Benjamin and his
brother George became successful gardeners. Eventually, however, Benjamin's poor health led him to return to his Ohio home
while George continued to plant orchards in Knights Landing, Oroville, and Marysville, California. Unfortunately the floods
of 1861-62 destroyed the 300 acres of his Marysville orchard which was eventually completely covered by mining deposits.
Upon returning to Ohio, Benjamin married Abby Crane in 1852; their only child Irene was born in 1853 in Wadsworth, Ohio.
Benjamin and his family later spent time in California again looking at property and prospects; Abby died of tuberculosis
in Santa Paula in 1863. Benjamin and his daughter returned to Ohio where, at age 35, Benjamin enrolled in medical school.
Continuing his medical studies in 1865, Benjamin traveled to Heidelberg, Germany and Paris, France, accompanied by his daughter
Irene and her cousin Louise N. Crane, daughter of his oldest sister, Louise Briggs Crane.
After their return to the United States, Benjamin had a medical practice in Crawfordsville, Indiana for about 13 years. In
1870, Benjamin married Caroline A. Crane -- his first wife Abby's sister. Benjamin's daughter Irene married Reverend Samuel
Lawrence Ward in 1873 and they went to Persia as missionaries of the Presbyterian Church for over twenty years.
In the early 1880s, Benjamin returned to California to continue with horticultural pursuits and was one of the founders of
La Crescenta, where he hoped to establish a health resort. (Briggs coined the name "Crescenta" to indicate the crescent-shaped
valley nestled between the Sierra Madre mountains and the Verdugo Hills.) Though he died before he could accomplish all his
dreams, today's Crescenta-Cañada valley was home to many sanitariums and health resorts owing to its excellent air quality.
Briggs is also remembered for having started the first school in the valley, the first church, the first public park, and
the first full-time medical practice in the area. Dr. Benjamin Bennett Briggs died in 1893 at the age of 65.
Scope and Content
This small collection of family papers centers around Dr. Benjamin Bennett Briggs (1827-1893) whose 1849 diary chronicles
his account of moving from Ohio to California by covered wagon. Briggs was the great-great-grandfather of the collection's
donor, Dr. Chester Ward. In addition to the diary, the collection includes a small account book/diary from 1862--also kept
by Briggs--as well as a number of letters to and from family members and photographs of family members across multiple generations.
There are also a few Presbyterian missionary materials because Benjamin's daughter, Irene, married Samuel Lawrence Ward; they
went to Persia as missionaries of the Presbyterian Church from 1876 to 1897. Other noteworthy items in the collection include
a very small (and fragile) Arabic prayer book and an 1896 book of "pressed flowers from the Holy Land" in excellent condition.
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder# or item name], Dr. Benjamin Bennett Briggs Family Papers, Collection no. 0394, Regional History Collection, Special
Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Acquisition
The collection was presented to USC Libraries by Benjamin Briggs' great-great-grandson, Dr. Chester Ward, and his wife, Sally
Ward. In 2019, Lynda Ward Pierce donated additional family papers, which have been added and described as part of this collection.
Processing Note
Assistance in processing the Briggs papers was provided by Tiffany Chu.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
La Cañada (Calif.) -- History -- Archival resources
La Cañada Flintridge (Calif.) -- History -- Archival resources
La Crescenta (Calif.) -- History -- Archival resources
United States -- History -- 1849-1877 -- Archival resources
Pioneers -- California -- Biography
Overland journeys to the Pacific -- Archival resources
Pioneers -- West (U.S.) -- Diaries
Panama -- Photographs
Ambrotypes (photographs)
Cased photographs
Daguerreotypes (photographs)
Correspondence
Diaries
Photographs
Briggs family -- Archives
Briggs, Abby Crane -- Archives
Briggs, Benjamin -- Archives
Briggs, Caroline Crane -- Archives
Briggs, Irene Crane -- Archives
Presbyterian Church in the U.S. -- Correspondence
Ward, Samuel Lawrence -- Archives