BRIGGS, David

Notes:

1 NAME Clement /Briggs/
2 SOUR S003676
3 DATA
4 TEXT Date of Import: Dec 24, 2003




From the book, "The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers", by Charles Edward Banks, page 109:

Clement Briggs
He was a fellmonger, and in 1616 resided in Southwark, co. Surrey, with Robert Hicks, a fellow-passenger, as appears in a deposition dated 29 August, 1638. He was unmarried on arrival and having only one acre granted in 1623 shows that he was still single at that date. His name does not appear in the subsidy of Southwark for 1620 but parish registers of St. Saviour or St. George will probably disclose information of his family there. Perhaps the adjoining parish of Bermondsey may furnish facts.

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From the book, "Genealogical Guide to the Early Settlers of America", by Henry Whittemore:

Clement Briggs, of Plymouth, came in the "Fortune," 1621; probably young; removed to Dorchester and then married, 1630 or 31, Joan Allen. Thomas Stoughton, constable, who officiated at the ceremony, was fined for the same 5(Pounds) at the March term of the Court 1631. Briggs removed to Weymouth 1633, and had Thomas 1633, Jonathan 1635, John, David 1640, Clement 1643

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From the book, "Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New Englang, 1620-33:

"CLEMENT BRIGGS

ORIGIN: Southwark, Surrey
MIGRATION: 1621 in Fortune
FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth
REMOVES: Weymouth by 1630
OCCUPATION: Fellmonger.
EDUCATION: Made his mark to his deed of 8 October 1637 and deposition of 29 August 1638. Inventory included books valued at 6s.
ESTATE: In the 1623 Plymouth land division, "Clemente Brigges" was granted one acre "beyond the first brook to the wood westward" as a passenger on the Fortune [PCR 12:5]. In the 1627 Plymouth cattle division, "Clemont Briggs" was included in the company of John Howland [PCR 12:10].

On 8 October 1637 "Clement Briggs of Wessaguscus" sold to "John Browne of Plymouth ... four acres of land of the upper end of that lot of land that appertaineth unto me the said Clement Briggs and that the said John Browne doth also agree that the said Clement Briggs shall have for him & his heirs forever the like quantity of four acres of land out of the land of the said John Browne lying at the lower end and adjoining to the residue of the land of the aforesaid Clement Briggs at Joanes River" [PCR 12:22]. On 29 August 1639 Clement Briggs sold to "Mr. Rob[er]te Heeks one acre of land in the upper fall near the Second Brook" [PCR 12:34].

In a compilation of Weymouth landholding, probably prepared about 1643, Clement Briggs held two parcels of land: "ten acres in the easter neck first granted to him" and "two acres upon the neck at the ferry" [Weymouth Hist 1:190].

In his undated will, probated 24 October 1650, "Clemant Brigs of Waymouth" bequeathed to "my son Thomas my home lot at Plimouth 20 acres ... and my biggest iron pot"; to "my son Jonathan 3 acres of my land joining to John Rees land that is not broke up and to enter it when he is of the age of 18 years and when he is of the age of 21 years to have so much as will make the portion 3 acres one fourth part of all my lands in Waymouth and after the decease of my wife it is my will he shall have one fourth part more"; to "my son Clemat my housing and the other half of my land in Waymouth and to enter it when he is of the age of 21 years"; to "my sons Thom[as], David, John, Rememb[er] my other land at Plimouth or in Plimouth jointly and equally amongst them; "one year after Clem[en]t do enter to the foresaid land he shall give his brother Rememb[er] 20s. and John 10s. and ... Jonathan shall give 10s. to his brother David and to brother Thom[as] 10s. in one year after he do enter to half my land"; wife to be executor and John Rogers and Robert Tucker overseers [SPR Case #101]. (This will was not recorded until the nineteenth century, at which time the copyist misread Remember as Edmund [SPR NS 1:456].)

The inventory of the estate of Clement Briggs, taken on 23 February 1648[/9?] and presented to court on 28 July 1659, totalled £65 7s., of which £36 was real estate: "one dwelling house and old barn," £4; "17 acres of planting land adjoining to the said house," £18; "one share of upland upon the eastward neck," £5; "3 acres near James Smith's house," £2; "one acre of salt marsh upon the westward neck near the ferry," £4; "about an acre of marsh more on the eastward neck," 2; and "land in Plimouth and Plimoth Pattent," £1 [SPR 3:151-52, Case #101].

On 7 June 1659 Plymouth court granted to "Thomas Briggs, son of Clement Briggs, deceased," one hundred fifty acres of land and twenty acres of meadow "in the way to Deadum from Taunton" [PCR 3:164].

On 8 June 1664 "Phineas Pratte and the Elder Bates, in the behalf of the children of Clement Briggs," not having "had their proportions of land with others of this jurisdiction formerly called purchasers or old comers," asking for consideration, Plymouth court granted "unto the said Phineas Pratt and unto two of the said Clement Briggs his sons, viz:, David Briggs and Remember Briggs, three hundred and fifty acres" of land in Plymouth Colony near the Massachusetts Bay line "near unto Waymouth," assigning two-thirds of the grant to Pratt and the other third to the sons of Clement Briggs [PCR 4:68].

On 19 March 1671 twelve acres of marsh land were laid out to "the children of Clement Briggs," by order of court 29 October 1668, adjoining "their Great Lot" [PCLR 3:214; PCR 5:5].

In her will of 13 November 1683, probated 11 August 1691, "Elizabeth Briggs of Weymouth" bequeathed to "my son David" (£10, brass kettle, brass pot, and great Bible), to "my grandchild Clement Briggs" (£15, if he renounces further claims on estate), to "my son Remember Briggs" (remainder of estate, he to be executor); in a codicil of 11 November 1685 Elizabeth Briggs noted that her son David had died since the making of her will, and reassigned David's bequest of £10 to her grandson Clement Briggs, and the rest of David's legacy to Remember Briggs [SPR Case #1873].
BIRTH: By about 1600 (the deposition of 1638 implies that in 1616 Briggs had already been a servant of Mr. Samuel Latham for a few years).

DEATH: Weymouth by 23 February 1648[/9?] (date of inventory).
MARRIAGE: (1) By 1 March 1630/1 Joan Allen (1 March 1630/1: "Mr. Tho: Stoughton, constable of Dorchester, is fined £5 for taking upon him to marry Clement Briggs & Joane Allen ..." [MBCR 1:83]); she died by 1640. (On 6 March 1637/8 at a Quarter Court at Cambridge Clement Briggs gave a bond of £10 for the appearance of his wife at the next court; at the same court Arthur Warren was presented "for keeping company with Clement Briggs's wife, [which] was found to be true" [MBCR 1:219]. At a Quarter Court on 5 June 1638 Clement Brigg's wife was "enjoined not to come into the company of Arthur Warren" [MBCR 1:233].)
(2) By 1640 Elizabeth _____; she died between 11 November 1685 (date of codicil) and 11 August 1691 (probate of will), probably at Weymouth.
CHILDREN (all born Weymouth):
With first wife
i THOMAS, b. 14 June 1633 [NEHGR 8:348]; m. Ann _____ [BrPR 2:65].
ii JONATHAN, b. 14 June 1635 [NEHGR 8:348]; m. by about 1664 Experience _____ [TAG 33:83-86].

With second wife
iii DAVID, b. 23 August 1640 [NEHGR 8:348]; d. between 13 November 1683 (date of mother's will) and 11 November 1685 (codicil to that will), apparently without issue.

iv CLEMENT, b. 1 January 1642[/3] [NEHGR 8:348]; m. by 1669 Hannah Packard [SPR 7:1-2].
v REMEMBER, b. say 1645; m. by 1686 Mary _____ (eldest child of "Remember and Mary" b. Weymouth 4 November 1686).
vi JOHN, b. say 1647; named in his father's will; no further record. (He is not named in the will of Elizabeth Briggs, which might be evidence that he was not her son, but he was almost certainly dead before she wrote her will; if he had ben a son of Clement Briggs by his first wife, he should have appeared in the Weymouth vital records for the 1630s and early 1640s. There is no evidence that he is any one of the men by the name of John Briggs later appearing in New England.)

ASSOCIATIONS: On 29 August 1638 "Clement Briggs of Weymouth fellmonger" deposed that "about two and twenty years since this deponent then dwelling with one Mr. Samuel Lathame in Barmundsey Street in Southwarke, a fellmonger, and one Thomas Harlow then also dwelling with Mr. Rob[er]te Heeks in the same street, a fellmonger, the said Harlow and this deponent had often conference together how many pelts each of their masters pulled a week." Briggs goes on to tell in detail how many pelts had been handled a week "for the space of three or four years," possibly implying that he had in 1616 been servant to Samuel Latham since about 1612. The deposition was apparently taken at the request of ROBERT HICKS, who may have been involved in a lawsuit in England [PCR 12:34-35].

COMMENTS: In a letter of 6 February 1631/2 from the governor and assistants of Plymouth to the governor and assistants of Massachusetts, Clement Briggs is included in a list of men who had "gone from hence, to dwell and inhabit with you" [WP 3:65]. Savage thought that Briggs first went to Dorchester and then Weymouth, based probably on the fact that Thomas Stoughton, who married Clement Briggs and Joan Allen, was a resident of Dorchester. However, at this time Weymouth (still Wessaguscus) was for administrative purposes considered a part of Dorchester, and it is more likely that Briggs went directly from Plymouth to Weymouth.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: In 1966 Edna Anne Hannibal, with the assistance of Claude W. Barlow, published a solid genealogy of the descendants of Clement Briggs, as part of a series on Briggs families of New England [Clement Briggs of Plymouth Colony and His Descendants, 1621-1965 (n.p., 1966)]. This volume presents evidence supporting the interesting hypothesis that the widow of Clement Briggs was the "widow Briggs" residing in the early 1650s at Southampton [p. 4]. "
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Clement married Elizabeth Bef 1640. Elizabeth died Between 11 Nov 1685 and Aug 1691, Weymouth Norfold County, Ma (Probably). [Group Sheet]