Obituary for Mrs. Jane Riggs (1792-1873)
The Troy Herald (Troy, Lincoln Co, MO), October 29, 1873.
From the collection of Patty (Jamerson) Archer.

Obituary of Mrs. Jane RIGGS

Died on the 8th day of October, 1873, at the residence of her son-in-law, Mr. Daniel DRAPER, Louisiana, Mo., Mrs. Jane RIGGS, relict of the late Gen. Jonathan RIGGS, of Lincoln county, aged 86 years, 7 months and 28 days.

The late husband of Mrs. RIGGS was distinguished and among the early pioneers of Missouri, and among the earliest American settlers, having removed with his wife from Kentucky to the territory of Missouri, then a part of Louisiana, in the year 1811, and settled in St. Charles county, among the earliest settled parts of Missouri.

In the year 1812, the war between the United States and Great Britain and her Indian allies commenced, and immediately alarm spread all through the frontier, requiring all the able-bodied men to fly to the defense of their country and homes. Among the very first was Mr. RIGGS, who was at once elected a lieutenant of the corps of rangers for defense from the attacks of the Indians, there being only British soldiers within the borders of the territory. In that service Mr. RIGGS distinguished himself by his zeal, ability and bravery, which after the war, and up to the time of his death in 1834 were rewarded by his fellow citizens with many public trusts, among which were those of colonel and general of militia, sheriff of the county of Lincoln, and the confidence of the whole community.

As the public journals of the country, at the time of his death, gave ample testimony to his distinguished worth and patriotism, this brief reference to him is made now, merely for the purpose of reviewing recollections of him who was the loved companion of the aged matron who has just left the shores of time, to be reunited to her husband and other loved ones in the land where there are no more wars and no more suffering.

Mrs. RIGGS was not a woman who set up claims for high literary attainments, or brilliancy of fashionable circle of life, and yet she was a woman distinguished for many high qualities that adorn female life and character, which gained for her the esteem of all who knew her, and she numbered in years gone by hundreds of the first men and women of the country as her friends and acquaintances, besides scores and hundreds of wayfaring men who formerly stopped at her hospitable home on the banks of the Cuivre. This was noted as a house of entertainment, not kept as a matter of choice, perhaps, but as matter of necessity to accommodate the thousands who formerly traveled the public thoroughfare from St. Charles to Salt river and beyond, who gladly availed themselves of the privilege of a warm welcome and abundant cheer at her house.

Mrs. RIGGS was ever distinguished for her frankness and disposition, the strictest integrity and truthfulness, and, when not suffering from affliction, which she endured with the greatest fortitude and patience, for an overflow of spirits and cheerfulness, together with an untiring industry that imparted their effects to her children and to all around her. Among her children were belles of great fascination, among whose various accomplishments in early life were the manufacturing at home of the most elegant plaids and flannels, for their own wear, as noted for their durability as for their beauty. Alas, that in these later days so little of this class of accomplishments of young ladies should be known.

My earliest recollections of Mrs. RIGGS, myself an early emigrant to Missouri, paint her as a young and elegant woman, of fair complexion; comely, indeed beautiful, features the perfect picture of health, of untiring industry; her whole being glowing with animation of spirits and of energy of character that made her home and its surroundings like a little Eden. Though then the mother of three children, and twenty-nine years of age, she seemed to my youthful imagination but little beyond her teens. But soon a sad change came over her high spirits and bright prospects. A terrible white swelling prostrated her on a bed of long and painful suffering, leaving her an invalid and cripple for life. I do not willingly allude to these sufferings, so painful to the memory of her relatives, but for the purpose of illustrating her great energy of character, for after a partial recovery of health and strength, her industry and ambition revived, and she lived to raise and educate a large family of sons and daughters to adorn the walks of life.

It is not my design to write a biography of the deceased, but merely to note a few items to indicate the leading traits of a beautiful character, whose life commences away back before the United States constitution, before steamboats, railroads or telegraphs were thought of, and who lived to witness with her own eyes the triumphs of all these great discoveries and inventions that have so astonished the civilized world.

One incident of the war times of 1812 will close this hasty sketch. Immediately after the war commenced, all the scattered settlers of the frontier fled, for safety from the Indians, to the stockades or log-forts in the country, one of which was a few miles from the home of the deceased, and there she went with her two children, her husband being in the active military service of the country. All the families of the neighborhood were crowded into the log cabins consisting the fort, some of which were occupied by two or three families for the want of room. Very soon Mrs. RIGGS found the population was as she said, too thick to thrive, and otherwise altogether uncongenial to her habits and tastes, and she concluded she would rather risk the dangers of the Indians than the pleasures of fort life under the circumstances. She declared her intention to return to her home, and despite all remonstrances against it, home she went with her two little children, and there remained till the return of peace. Luckily, she was unmolested by savage or wild beast, though often alarmed at real or imaginary dangers. The last two years of her life she was in receipt of a pension from the government, as the widow of Gen. RIGGS, a fit compliment, and a small recompense for their services in the war of 1812.

Mrs. RIGGS was the mother of eleven children, of whom six, besides many grand-children, survive to bless her memory and mourn her loss. Though they are widely scattered abroad in different states, they rest assured that the last days of their mother were those of peace and quiet; all her temporal wants supplied, and her sufferings only those which worn out nature required to sever the vital cord of life. - A Friend

File submitted to HERITAGE PAGES of LINCOLN COUNTY, MISSOURI by Patty (Jamerson) Archer, 8 October, 2004.

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