1851 - 1919

Manuscript Collection: MC093

Size: 52 items

Boxes: n/a

OCLC No: 50131725

Acquisition: Mr. and Mrs. George A. Hill, Jr., Houston Public Library, Annie Hume, 1939 - 1940

Restrictions on Access: None

Terms Governing Use: Open for research by appointment.

Processed by: Sarah Canby Jackson, 2002.

Publication Rights:   Copyright has not been assigned to the San Jacinto Museum of History. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Jacinto Museum of History as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Citation: [Identification of Item], Andrew Birdsall Briscoe Family Papers, MC093, San Jacinto Museum of History, Houston, Texas.

Creator Sketch:

Andrew Birdsall Briscoe “Brits” was born in Harrisburg, Texas, in 1841, the second son of Andrew Briscoe and Mary Jane Harris. After his father’s death in 1849, he lived with his mother and siblings for a time on his grandfather’s plantation near Port Gibson, Mississippi. In 1852 Mary Jane and her children returned to Texas, living in Anderson, Galveston, and Harrisburg. During the Civil War, Briscoe saw action as a member of Terry’s Texas Rangers. In 1871 he married Annie Payne and they had four children: Carrie (1871), Mary Payne “Mamie” (1874), Birdsall Parmenas (1876 – 1971), and Payne (1881). The Briscoes kept a store in Harrisburg then moved to a ranch near Goliad. Annie died in 1891, probably of consumption. Briscoe sold the ranch ca. 1890 and moved into San Antonio. In 1895 he remarried “Zaidee” and moved to Floresville where he established himself in banking. A 1902 run on the bank resulted in his financial failure. Briscoe lived in San Antonio in his later years. He was interested in Confederate Veterans organizations and the work of his family in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.  He died in 1912.

Scope and Content Note:

Correspondence, financial documents, and printed materials document the family of Andrew Birdsall Briscoe.   Correspondence received by Briscoe concern business related to land held by the children of Andrew Briscoe (3) or is from relatives.  A letter from Mary to her parents reveals a homesick girl away at school.  A letter written by Briscoe to his Cousin Lucie while stationed in northern Georgia in 1864 is a discourse on love, sentimentality, and marriage.  Four letters received by Birdsall Parmenas Briscoe were written while he was on duty in France in World War I.  The bulk of the envelopes, 23 of 25, were sent to Birdsall Parmenas and returned as undeliverable. Statements of account and receipts (1877 – 1879) from Thomas R. Franklin, Dry Goods, in Houston comprise the bulk of the financial documents.  Printed materials consist of an invitation and admission ticket to the K. K. Soiree in 1867.

Archivist’s Note:

Andrew Birdsall Briscoe was a prolific correspondent. His letters and those of his family members can also be in found in the Mary Jane Harris Briscoe Papers, the Parmenas Briscoe Papers, the Adele Briscoe Looscan Papers and the Jessie Wade Briscoe Howe Papers. Mary Briscoe’s service as the Secretary General of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas 1907 – 1909 is documented in the Adele Briscoe Looscan Papers, Box 128, Folders 1 - 6.

Photographs are in the Adele Briscoe Looscan Collection.

ANDREW BIRDSALL BRISCOE FAMLY PAPERS, 1851 - 1919

Manuscript Collection: MC093