Benjamin Briggs (bef. 1797 - 1846)

Born before 4 Jun 1797 in Ripponden, Yorkshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 28 Jul 1846 after age 49 in Brighton, Van Diemen's Land

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Biography

Benjamin Briggs was born in Yorkshire, England.

Benjamin was born in 1797^[1] According to the Briggs page on the Cocker web site^[2]:

Benjamin Briggs was christened on 4 Jun 1797 in Ripponden, Yorkshire and died on 28 Jul 1846 in Brighton, Tasmania at age 49. Benjamin married Lydey Lee on 18 Jul 1830 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England. Lydey was born in 1806 in England, died on 9 Nov 1842 in Brighton, Tasmania at age 36, and was buried on 9 Nov 1842 in Bagdad Congregational Cemetery. They had seven children: Joseph, Hannah, Jonathon Lee, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary Ann and Lydia Sarah.

And from Sarah Elizabeth Briggs page on the Cocker web site:

Benjamin and family had arrived in VDL on 3 April 1840 on the Marian Watson from Sydney some eight months after (neice) Sarah (Elizabeth Briggs). Lydey Briggs died in childbirth, aged 36, on 8 November 1842 at Brighton. Sarah probably then cared for her younger cousins. Brothers Benjamin and Isaac were fellmongers in the Black Brush district, working on the banks of the Jordan River.

As mentioned above, Benjamin married Lydia Lee on 18 Jul 1830 in Huddersfield parish, Yorkshire^[3]. The couple had (at least) five children:

• Hannah Briggs was born 21 Mar 1831^[4] and baptised 28 Aug 1831^[5]. The Briggs page on the Cocker site^[2] mentions that she died at age 8 but this has not yet been confirmed, and a more suggestive birth record has been found for a burial 20 Aug 1832^[6].
• Jonathan Lee Briggs. The Cocker site^[2] states "Jonathon Lee Briggs was born on 1 Feb 1833 in Ripponden, Halifax, Yorkshire, England, was christened on 9 Jun 1833 in Ripponden, Halifax, Yorkshire, England, died on 27 Feb 1834 in Ripponden, Halifax, Yorkshire, England at age 1, and was buried in 1834 in Rippendon Chapel, Halifax, Yorkshire, England." This has yet to be verified from primary sources.
• Elizabeth Briggs -- christened on 18 Oct 1835 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England^[7]).
• Sarah Briggs was born in quarter 2 of 1838^[8].
• Mary Ann Briggs was born in 1837 and baptized 5 Mar 1837 in Halifax, Yorkshire^[9].

Benjamin Briggs came free to Van Diemen's Land (1826-1856)

Benjamin and family set out for Van Diemen's Land in 1838 aboard Dunlop but the ship was wrecked off the Cape of Good Hope with no loss of life, but with passengers losing all their possessions. The Briggs families (Benjamin also travelled with his sister in law and her daughter) were picked up from the Cape by the James Moran and transported to Port Phillip early in 1839^[10], and Benjamin, his wife and three children arrived in Van Diemen's Land in 1840 aboard the schooner Marian Watson on April 3 1840^[11].

He passed away in 1846.^[12]

Research Notes

Identifying birth details

When and where was Benjamin born? His death record ^[12] has him as 62 years old in July 1846. If this is accurate he was born in 1784 or 1783 and he would have been around 46 when he was married in 1830. But this doesn't seem to match other claimed birth dates.

There is a Benjamin Brigg, son of Joseph Brigg, Weaver, and Grace baptised 4 Jun 1797 at Ripponden with Rishworth, St Bartholomew.^[1]

There is a Benjamin Briggs and twin brother Joseph, sons of Joseph Briggs born 19 Aug bapt. 24 Aug 1803 in Halifax.^[13]

There are several Yorkshire birth records around 1783 or 84 that might mesh with the reported age at birth. These are all for Ben or Benjamin Briggs or Brigg.

• Bapt 12 Sep 1785 son of Richard and Mary, Wakefield
• Bapt 28 Dec 1783 son of Jno, Briers
• Bapt 04 Jan 1784 son of John, Southowram alternatively Halifax

If we take the death record as unreliable there are at least a dozen other potential candidates for his birth. However, the narrative on the Cocker web site^[2] would seem to rule out any of these earlier births. Although this site does not quite its sources it has proven to be quite reliable and it seems likely that the details there are essentially correct.

If we narrow it down to Benjamin son of Joseph, we have to decide between 1797 in Ripponden and 1803 in Halifax. I looked for an infant death between those dates with the thought that the earlier born child may not have survived and another son in the same family given the same name. I found a burial record for 19 Feb 1804 for Ben^j son of Jos^h of Hx, Joiner^[14], but this is both too late and not, it seems, a child's death.

The key may well be brother Isaac with whom Benjamin shared the trade of fellmonger in Van Diemen's Land. The only birth in the right time period that is a match is that of Isaac Brigg in 1789 with baptism 25 Oct 1789^[15] (Isaac seems not so common an 18th or 19th century name for a Briggs as Benjamin.) This seems to tip the balance of probability in favour of the Ripponden birth.

Benjamin Briggs in Van Diemen's Land

There were several men named Benjamin Briggs in Tasmania around the middle of the 19th century, at least three: the topic of this profile; an older man who died in 1846 (supposedly aged 85); and a convict who arrived 1843. 1. Our Benjamin Briggs arrived aboard Marian Watson in 1840 with wife and three children. 2. Another Benjamin Briggs was admitted to New Norfolk Colonial Hospital in 1838. 3. Benjamin Briggs married Ann McCloud in Hobart 03 Dec 1810. This could be the same as number 2. 4. Benjamin Briggs in the 1843 census in Bagdad. Ditto 1842. Likely the same as number 1. 5. Benjamin Briggs died age 85 11 Aug 1843 in Hobart. Cause of death: debility. Likely the same person as number 2. 6. Benjamin Briggs died age 62 (supposedly) 28 Jul 1846 in Brighton, informant John Cocker. Same person as number 1 (Our BB). 7. Benjamin Briggs convict arrived 9 Dec 1843 on Marion. 8. Ben Brigs arrived 28 Nov 1807 from Norfolk Island. Possibly same as number 2.

Details from the Cocker web site

http://www.cocker.id.au/briggs.php Benjamin Briggs was christened on 4 Jun 1797 in Ripponden, Yorkshire and died on 28 Jul 1846 in Brighton, Tasmania at age 49. Benjamin married Lydey Lee on 18 Jul 1830 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England. Lydey was born in 1806 in England, died on 9 Nov 1842 in Brighton, Tasmania at age 36, and was buried on 9 Nov 1842 in Bagdad Congregational Cemetery. They had seven children: Joseph, Hannah, Jonathon Lee, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary Ann and Lydia Sarah.

Benjamin and family had arrived in VDL on 3 April 1840 on the Marian Watson from Sydney some eight months after Sarah. Lydey Briggs died in childbirth, aged 36, on 8 November 1842 at Brighton. Sarah probably then cared for her younger cousins. Brothers Benjamin and Isaac were fellmongers in the Black Brush district, working on the banks of the Jordan River. John Cocker died at Evandale in 1872 after an accident with a steam threshing machine. He was working as a wheat feeder with two of his sons on the Cambock estate at Evandale, then leased by Edward Easton, for a Mr Bryan when his foot was caught in the machine. His last words when they tried to extricate him were, "Don't; let me alone; I'm all right." But the machine had pulled his left leg off and he died at the scene within minutes.

Within three months of his death, Sarah made application for charitable assistance for her four youngest children. Sarah died from a cramped bowel on 30 August 1874, aged 46 at the home of her son John at Barrington, two years after the death of her husband.

The families of Isaac and Alice Briggs and his brother Benjamin and Lydey have grown to include over 2000 people and some 450 unique surnames. Their details may be found at www.cocker.id.au. Isaac, Alice and Sarah Briggs were buried in unmarked graves; the sea, St Marks Pontville and, we believe, Barrington.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Ancestry.com. West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1512-1812 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Yorkshire Parish Records. Leeds, England: West Yorkshire Archive Service. West Yorkshire Archive Service; Wakefield, Yorkshire, England; Yorkshire Parish Records; New Reference Number: WDP21/3
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} John & Sarah Cocker, Briggs Family, http://www.cocker.id.au/briggs.php accessed 14 Oct 2020
3. ↑ Ancestry.com. West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1813-1935 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Yorkshire Parish Records. West Yorkshire Archive Service: Leeds, England. West Yorkshire Archive Service; Leeds, Yorkshire, England; Yorkshire Parish Records; Reference Number: WDP32/30
4. ↑ Yorkshire Baptisms, Hannah Briggs, 1831, Birth date 21 Mar 1831, Baptism date 28 Aug 1831, Baptism place Ripponden, St Bartholomew, Father's first name(s) Benjamin, Father's occupation Comber, Mother's first name(s) Liddy, Residence Barkisland, Entry number 926, County Yorkshire (West Riding), Country England, https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FYORKSHIRE%2FRIPPONDEN%2FBAP%2F014907 accessed 11 Oct 2020
5. ↑ England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975, Hannah Briggs, 28 Aug 1831, Father: Benjamin Briggs, Mother: Liddy, Place: Ripponden, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=R_930997849 accessed 11 Oct 2020.
6. ↑ West Yorkshire Archive Service; Wakefield, Yorkshire, England; New Reference Number: WDP21/13, from Ancestry.com. West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1985 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Yorkshire Parish Records. Leeds, England: West Yorkshire Archive Service. https://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2254&h=5637483&tid=&pid=&queryId=e1023042831ee8b08e7ab0f382128ca8&usePUB=true&_phsrc=rSU145&_phstart=successSource accessed 11 Oct 2020.
7. ↑ Yorkshire Baptisms 1835, Elizabeth Briggs, Baptism date: 16 Oct 1835, Father: Benjamin Briggs, Comber; Mother: Lydia, County: Yorkshire (West Riding), Baptism place: Halifax, St John, Church: St John, Father's residence: Halifax, Registry number: 2317, https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FB%2F131014288%2F1 accessed 11 Oct 2020
8. ↑ England & Wales Births 1837-2006, Sarah Briggs, Birth year 1838, Birth quarter 2, Mother's maiden name Lee; District Halifax, County Yorkshire, Country England, Volume 22, Page 249; https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=BMD%2FB%2F1838%2F2%2FAZ%2F000101%2F011 accessed 14 Oct 2020
9. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NRQM-LXB : 22 March 2020), Mary Ann Briggs, 1837.
10. ↑ James Moran, Immigrants Embarked at the Cape 1st Jan 1839, as reproduced on the Cocker web site accessed 14 Oct 2020.
11. ↑ 1840 'SHIP NEWS.', Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), 7 April, p. 7. , viewed 13 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8750622
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} Tasmanian Government, Tasmanian Names Index. Death of Benjamin Briggs, 28 Jul 1846. https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1193224
13. ↑ England & Wales Non-Conformist Births And Baptisms, 1803, Benjamin Briggs, 19 Aug 1803, Halifax Yorkshire, Denomination: Independent; Father's first name: Joseph; The National Archives reference: TNA/RG/4/3168. YORKSHIRE: Halifax, Square Chapel (Independent): Births & Baptisms, https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=TNA/RG4/BAP/1029533
14. ↑ Yorkshire, Bishop's Transcripts Of Burials, Benj Briggs Burial year 1804 County Yorkshire (West Riding) Country England Burial place Halifax Father's first name(s) Josh Burial date 19 Feb 1804 Archive Borthwick Institute for Archives Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records Subcategory Parish Burials, https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS/YORKSHIRE/BUR/3729052 accessed 22 Nov 2020
15. ↑ Yorkshire Baptisms, 1789. Isaac Brigg, Baptism date: 25 Oct 1789; Baptism place: Ripponden, St Bartholomew; Father's first name: Joseph; Father's occupation: Weaver; Residence: Bars'd; Entry number: 12; County: Yorkshire (West Riding). https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FYORKSHIRE%2FRIPPONDEN%2FBAP%2F007991 accessed 24 Nov 2020.

• Briggs, Benjamin

Name: Briggs, Benjamin Record Type: Arrivals Arrival date: 3 Apr 1840 Ship: Marian Watson Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:408544

Briggs, Benjamin Name: Briggs, Benjamin Record Type: Deaths Gender: Male Age: 62 Date of death: 28 Jul 1846 Registered: Brighton Registration year: 1846 Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1193224