from Kentucky Genealogy and Biography, Volume V

Andrew Briggs was born September 20, 1853.  His father, Thomas H. Briggs, was born in Nelson County, September 10, 1823.  His wife was Miss Elizabeth McMakin.  Their family consisted of four sons:  Peyton, Andrew, John and Alexander; and one daughter, Katie.  He has, since attaining manhood, followed farming with uniform success and has held the office of magistrate of the county for over forty years.  His father, Andrew Briggs, was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland.  He came to the United States a short time after the Revolutionary War, and settle in Nelson County, of which county he became one of its most successful and extensive farmers.  He was a true and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and died at the age of sixty-four in the year 1857.  He was twice married, first to Miss Nancy Robinson, by whom he was the father of nine children; his next marriage was to Miss Mary Ferguson; to their union five children were born.  Two of his sons were members of the Confederate Army.  Peyton McMakin, maternal grandfather of our subject, was a native Kentuckian, born in Oldham County in the year 1800; he also became a very extensive farmer of Nelson County, and owned a large number of slaves.  He married a Miss Katie Bane and they reared a family of nine children; three of his sons fought on the Confederate side in the late war.  In politics he was a stanch Democrat; was a member of the Methodist Church.  He died in 1864.  Andrew Briggs, a native of Nelson County, has all his life followed the pursuits of the farm.  His early education was good, partially obtained at Lynnland College in Hardin County.  His wife, who he married September 19, 1878, was Miss Elizabeth Muir; they have only one child, a son named Elmo.  Mr. Briggs devotes his entire attention to his vocation of farming and takes a great interest in anything which will be to the advantage of his co-workers in that field; he is an active member of the Nelson County Agricultural Association, in which he holds the position of director, and is the proprietor of a fine, well improved farm of 166 acres, situated on the Bardstown and Bloomfield Pike, about two and one-half miles from the latter place.  He and wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.  His political views are Democratic.