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CECIL ALVIN BRIGGS. By his close observance of fundamental rules of business, based upon honesty, rectitude and fidelity to trusts and confidences reposed in him, Cecil Alvin Briggs, secretary and general manager of the George Briggs Lumber Company, of Springfield, has achieved success while yet young in years, won the public esteem and fixed his star in the ascendant. In all relations of life he is courteous and cordial in his friendships, cautious, temperate, ambitious, zealous, consistent, moral and circumspect in his daily existence, and punctuality is one of his maxims.
Mr. Briggs was born July 19, 1887, at Verona, Lawrence county, Missouri. He is a son of Sylvester A. Briggs, who was born September 26, 1847, in Fountain county, Indiana, and was of French-English descent. He grew to manhood in Illinois and received his education in the common schools near the city of Danville. He began life for himself as a school teacher and followed this profession for a period of upwards of fifteen years, in Douglas county, Illinois, where his services were in large demand and he became known as one of the leading educators of the county. Leaving the Prairie State in 1885, he located at Verona, Missouri, where he engaged in the lumber business until 1910, also maintained his home for a time during that period at Siloam Springs, Benton county, Arkansas, where he has retail lumber interests. About five years ago he retired from active life, having accumulated a competency for his old age, and is now living quietly with his son, our subject, in the Briggs residence on West Commercial street, Springfield. The firm of Briggs & Wilks, with which he was connected in southern Missouri so long, became well known. He is now in his seventy-seventh year. Politically he is a Republican, always took an active interest in public affairs was justice of the peace for a period of eight years, and was also secretary of the school board at Verona for a period of eleven years, filling these offices in a manner that reflected credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of the public. He is a devout member of the Christian church and for many years was an elder in, the same at Verona. , The mother of the subject of this sketch was known in her maidenhood as Frances Cannon, a daughter of G. N. and Elizabeth Cannon. She was a woman of many praiseworthy characteristics. Her death occurred October 2, 1909, at Siloam Springs, Arkansas. To these parents seven children were born, only two of whom are living at this writing, namely: Cecil A., of this sketch; and Floyd E., who lives at Pittsburg, Kansas, is a brakeman on the Kansas City Southern Railroad, and is unmarried. Our subject's paternal grandparents were Augustus and Ruth (West) Briggs, natives of New York and Kentucky, respectively.
Cecil A. Briggs was educated in the common schools, graduated from the Verona high school, took a course in a St. Louis business college, and he began his business career in 1907, in the lumber firm of his father at Verona, where he remained until 1910, as office manager for the firm of Briggs & Wilks. He then came to Springfield as bookkeeper for the D. J. Landis Lumber Company, with which he remained until 1912, then went to Lamar, Oklahoma, as assistant cashier of the Bank of Lamar, remaining there until March 4, 1914, when he returned to Springfield and assumed his present connection with the George-Briggs Lumber Company, his previous experience having made him familiar with every phase of the lumber business and rendering him entirely capable of assuming the responsible position he now occupies.
The George-Briggs Lumber Company is located at 425 West Commercial street. It was incorporated under the laws of Missouri, February 4, 1914, with a capital stock of fifteen thousand dollars, and the business was started on that date, with J. H. George, president; B., H. George, treasurer; and Cecil A. Briggs, manager and secretary. Their yard is three hundred by one hundred and seventy-five feet and they have a neat office.
A full stock of well-selected lumber of all kinds, such as is to be found in any up-to-date lumber yard in this part of the country, is carried, and the business has been a success from the start. Their business is confined mostly to Greene county. Four assistants are required in the yards. Besides lumber they handle sashes, doors, cement, plaster, sand, brick, etc.
Politically Mr. Briggs is a Republican. He is a member of the Christian church, and was formerly a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Mr. Briggs was married, first, in 1909, to Elsie Browning, a daughter of George W. and Jane Browning. Her death occurred August 28, 1913, leaving two children, Genevieve and Jane. Our subject was married again in 1914 to Flossie May Warden, a daughter of James L. and Dora (Blackman) Warden.
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