Briggs

Briggs One-Name Study

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Study details

Study: Briggs

Variants: Bridge, Brig, Brigg, Brycg, Bryggia, Buggs

Category: 3 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way on a global basis.

Website: briggs.tribalpages.com

Guild hosted website: briggs.one-name.net

DNA website: familytreedna.com/public/Briggs

Contact: Mrs Ann Spiro

About the study

My BRIGGS history is short and sweet thus far. My GG grandfather Thomas BRIGGS, born about 1830, place unknown at this stage; he died in 1854 aged 24 years. I would dearly love to find information on his mother and possible siblings.

Thomas Briggs was a blacksmith. On 8th May 1854 aged 24yrs, he married Maria Richards 22yrs, in Sheerness, Kent (daughter of a blacksmith from Devon). While their marriage certificate shows the names of both parents for Maria; it indicates only Thomas' father (also Thomas Briggs - a gardener). If only his mother's name appeared on Thomas' marriage certificate (even as 'deceased'), I would have a better chance of finding his birth records, siblings, and other information. Three months after the marriage, on 9th August 1854, Thomas died suddenly. His death certificate shows the cause of death as 'purpura/haemorrhage'. No explanation for what caused the purpura.

Maria was a bride, a widow, and 'with child' all within three months. Their son Thomas Francis Richards BRIGGS on 5th April 1855, Blue Town, Sheerness. Maria did not marry again until 1885 when she married the man she had worked for, Dr. Edward Swales, and they lived at 3 Trinity Road, Sheerness.

Maria's son Thomas. F.R. Briggs also died young aged 49yrs, on 11th February 1904, at 41 Fratton Road, Landport, Hampshire. Cause of death, apoplexy. He left a wife Ellen Ann (nee Baskett) and five children.

My grandfather Charles Edward Francis BRIGGS came to Australia in 1912. In 1921, Charles married Elizabeth Summers Laidlaw. They settled in a suburb of Sydney N.S.W where he died in 1971.

Happy to share information with anyone who is interested in BRIGG.

Variant names

Modern variations: Brig, Brigg, , Briggs, Bridge(s).

Census 1841-1911.

Name origin

Northern English form of Bridge, from Old Norse bryggja. I have heard that 'Brigg' is standard Yorkshire dialect and, therefore, interchangeable with the word 'Bridge.' ( eg Briggate in Leeds led from Leeds Bridge up to the town.)

Historical occurrences of the name

The Surname BRIGGS is very common and I am aware that this is a large project to attempt on my own. I will do what I can to make this project viable.

Name frequency

In the 1881 census of England and Wales, there were 16,261 Briggs entries and 6,070 Bridges entries - giving a combined total of more than 22,000.

Distribution of the name

According to the Surname Atlas, in 1881, the largest occurrence for the surname BRIGGS was in Yorkshire; followed by Lancashire; Lincolnshire; Derby. Much smaller numbers occurring in Westmorland; Cumberland; Surrey; Kent and London. Still a work in ptrogress, updates to be added.

Data

In terms of data collection, we calculate that there will be 10 times as many entries from the UK Births, Marriages and Deaths (so around 220,000) and 8 times as many UK census entries (so around 176,000). There are other British sources, similar data for other countries including Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada. This is a very large One-Name Study and

Certificates of births, marriages, deaths, burials; some shipping/travel manifests and a few photographs are in my possession.

Indexing is an ongoing task and so far I have indexed:

Marriages: approximately 600 marriages, of which several hundred can be viewed on the:
- Guild Marriages Index (GMI),
- World Wide Marriages &
- Marriages of the World. Index.
Births, marriages, deaths
Wills; Probates; Immigration to Australia
Convicts transported to Australia

I welcome any input from others researching this surname and its origins.

DNA

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Briggs

Links

Briggs, Baskett & Coppinger Website:

https://briggs.tribalpages.com/

Blacksmiths & Related Occupations:

https://blacksmiths.mygenwebs.com/

Contact Details

Mrs Ann Spiro

General Search Results

Occurrences of the surname Briggs in the Guild Indexes

(Click on the number to view the search results in each index. Indexes marked by * are only accessible by logged in Guild members.)

Global Marriages (public) 1620
Global Marriages (members)* 1658
Inscriptions Index 14
Modern Newspaper Index 18
Probate Index* 305
Datastores (public) 34
Datastores (members)* 15

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