Posts

Interview with Robert A.W. Briggs

 ROBERT A.W. BRIGGS "My name is Geoff Ellett and on this date, the 26th of February, 1980, I have the pleasure of interviewing Robert Briggs and he is going to tell us about events and experiences in the County of Strathcona in the early pioneer days. This interview is recorded under the auspices of the Senior Citizen's Advisory Committee of the County and its sub-committee for Oral Pioneer History." "I am Robert Briggs and I will give you some of the pioneer history of the Briggs family. My grandfather, Thomas Briggs was born on August 21, 1836, at Headhouse Farm, near Whitby, Yorkshire, and married Isabella Jane Coverdale in 1856. They later farmed the Headhouse Farm where my father, Charles, was born in 1863, the youngest of their four children; the others being Herbert, Jane-Ann and Andrew. They decided to immigrate to Canada and sailed from Liverpool, May 11, 1871, on the mail steamship, Astoria of the Allan Lines that used both steam and sail. They landed...
Post a Comment
Read more

Robert A.W. Briggs Notes

Note assumed to have been written by Robert A.W. Briggs. (typed from note by Peter Briggs 2024-01-01) My great grandfather and his family came to Canada in 1871 from England - the boat they came in used both sails and steam. The voyage took about 6 weeks. They returned to their homeland about 7 years later, but immigrated to Nebraska only a few years after that. He and his sons worked for farmers in order to earn enough for a farm of their own. After some time they rented property but did not buy land. In 1900 they came to Edmonton to find out if it would be a good place to buy a farm as they could have really have some place of their own, they had heard land was cheap and easy to get. He found things to his liking and went back to the U.S.A. to arrange for his family to come - My grandfather was then married with 3 children. They came in a colonist care which was a place to sleep and eat for all in the car, it was very hard to carry enough food and to try to cook it in a railway car f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Births and Deaths

John Colin Briggs - 1943-11-02 Donald Robert Briggs - 1947-04-23 Berta Mary Briggs - 1948-04-13 Charles William Briggs - 1949-07-03 Deaths Charles Briggs - 1953-10-09 Mary Christina Briggs - 1952-02-09 Margaret Roger Armstrong - 1960-11-20 Marriage: James Armstrong, Anne Jane Campbell - 1879-12-19 in Enniskillen (left Ireland January 1880)
Post a Comment
Read more

Armstrong Family History (1983) by Lily Armstrong Spetch and Mary Armstrong Briggs

1983 Armstrong Family History Compiled by Lily Armstrong Spetch and Mary Armstrong Briggs. (Scanned by Peter Briggs, 2024-01-01, with optical character recognition. Text manually edited to remove scan/OCR errors. Text left as per original.) James Armstrong (our Grandfather) was born in Ireland in County Armagh. At about 19 years of age he became gardener at the Tillyone House Estate, owned by Anne Jane Campbell's father. Anne Jane (one of 3 daughters) and James became friends. This was frowned upon by her parents as it was beneath her station to be seen talking to the help. Her father told her she would be disowned if it continued. They met secretly and planned an elopement. She saved enough money for her passage and he signed on to work his passage to Canada. They were married Dec. 19, 1879 at ages 21 and 23 in Enniskillen, staying in hiding for 2 days, then setting sail. It took 12 days to cross and Jane Anne (our Grandmother) was very very ill, as it was a rough winter crossing....
Post a Comment
Read more