Ansel Briggs

About

American politician who was the first governor of Iowa. He served from 1846 to 1850.

Before Fame

He attended Norwich Academy in Connecticut and later moved to Ohio where he started a stagecoach business.

Trivia

After his governorship, he helped to found the town of Florence, Nebraska.

Family Life

He was briefly married to Florence Carpenter but later married Nancy M. Dunlap, with whom he had eight children.

Associated With

James K. Polk was the U.S. President who admitted Iowa into the union as a state, two months after Briggs became governor of the territory.