Briggs' family 1939 Illinois. Edith Eleanor Briggs

Updated 10/26/2019(CLM): Find A Grave# 97015686. Photo from Ms.C. Mathews-Hull. Photo may have been taken in 1915.

  My Grandmother Harrison(1919-1986) would speak about how her Mother had to work odd jobs to pay off her Husband's V.B.Briggs(1889-1962) gambling debt and get food on the table. 

    In the 1940 Census both Edith and V.B. are living separate. According to her Death Certificate they were Divorced( though ,I (CLM) have never found any Divorce Papers or Decree). I have been told that when Edith died Grandmother Harrison had V.B. (Her Father)walk in the pouring rain  beside the funeral train across the Mississippi River toward Payson Adams Co, Ill.Edith Eleanor(Peck)Briggs was the Mother of three which included my Grandmother Catherine Minerva(Briggs) Harrison(1919-1986).She was also Grandmother to Catherine(Harrison)Mathews (1944-2012).She worked all her life and in her final years worked at the Periodical Publishing Co. Her death was due to Pernicious Anemia which there is a decrease in red blood, and the intestines cannot absorb Vitamin B12. In the picture provide by Susan Mechum.Edith is on the second row standing in a broad collar dress.She looks like my mother.I wish to thank Ms.Susan Mechum Washburn for the photos. I also wish to thank Ms. Lisa K.Epping for the Headstone photos.The following is excerpts of Edith's Obit from the Hannibal Courier-Post Pg 3 Tuesday ,November 17,1942. I wish to thank Mr.Gary Maize for his help. "Mrs.Edith Eleanor Peck Briggs passed away at her home,... She was born in Champaign county,Ill,October 20,1886, a daughter of Charles Wilson Peck and Sophronia Ketchum Peck , and was the youngest of nine children....Mrs.Briggs was reared and educated in the vincinities of Hull and Payson,Ill., and had been a resident of Hannibal for the past 21 years.She was a member of Trinity Episcopal church. She was the past president of the Ladies'Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of railway Trainmen and was a member of the Delphian Society.For nine years previous to her illness she was representative of the Periodical Publishing company..."