HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS, E. Polk Johnson, three volumes, Lewis
Publishing Co., New York & Chicago, 1912. Common version, 
Vol. III, pp. 1287-88-89.   [Harrison County]

B. T. RIGGS--As manager of the Crown Jewel Milling Company, at Cynthiana,
Kentucky, Capt. B. T. Riggs holds prestige as one of the leading business
men in Harrison county, having resided in this city for nearly two score
years.  He was a valiant soldier in the Civil war and is a man whose
veracity and altruistic tendencies make him a prominent and influential
citizen.  He was born at Paris, Bourbon county, Kentucky, on the 25th of
February, 1839, and is a son of Benjamin and Agnes M. (Wilson) Riggs, the
former of whom was born on the eastern shore of Maryland, in 1799, and
the latter claimed Falmouth, Pendleton county, Kentucky, as the place of
her nativity, the date of her birth being January, 1801.  The father was
summoned to the life eternal in November, 1839, and the mother died at
Falmouth, Kentucky, in 1875, at the age of seventy-four years.  As a youth
Benjamin M. Riggs learned the trade of silver smith and jeweler, at
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, whence he came to Kentucky about the year 1820
or 1822.  In 1823 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Agnes M. Wilson,
and immediately after that event location was made at Millersburg, Bourbon
county.  Subsequently the family home was established at Paris, where Mr.
Riggs passed the residue of his life and where he was identified with the
work of his trade until his death, in 1839, at the age of forty years. Of
the eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Riggs, but four are now living,
namely--Julia, who is the widow of Robert Scott, of Falmouth, Kentucky;
W. B., who was a Union sympathizer during the Civil war and a gallant
soldier in that sanguinary struggle, as a member of the Fourth Kentucky
Infantry; he now resides at Covington, Kentucky; Agnes, who is the wife of
N. S. Dickerson, of Falmouth, Kentucky; and Captain B. T., the immediate
subject of this review.
     In 1841, shortly after the death of her honored husband, Mrs. Riggs
removed from Paris to Falmouth, her old girlhood home, and there she
continued to reside until her death.  She was a daughter of James and
Agnes (Pickett) Wilson, both of whom were natives of Culpeper county,
Virginia, when they came to Kentucky in the early pioneer days, location
being made near Falmouth, where they became eminently well-to-do farmers.
James Wilson and a brother saw service in the war of the Revolution and
Samuel Wilson was an active participant in the War of 1812.
     Captain Riggs was a child of some two years of age at the time of his
mother's removal to Falmouth, Kentucky, where he availed himself of such
advantages as were afforded in the common schools and where he grew to
maturity.  In 1858, when nineteen years of age, he went to Williamstown,
Kentucky, where he procured a position as a clerk in a general stores. At
the time of the inception of the Civil war he was fired with enthusiasm
for the cause of the Union and enlisted as a soldier in Company G,
Eighteenth Kentucky Infantry, on the 10th of November, 1861.  As a private
he began service under Captain H. W. Eggleston.  December 23, 1861, he was
promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant and on the 16th of January, 1863,
he was made first lieutenant, becoming captain on the 18th of March, 1863.
He was taken prisoner by the Confederate forces at Chickamauga, on the 20th
of September, 1863, and was held in duress at Libby prison for a period of
seven months, at the expiration of which he was transferred to Danville,
Virginia, then to Macon, Georgia, later to Charleston, South Carolina, and
finally to Columbia, South Carolina.  On the 29th of November, 1864, he
escaped from the latter place and made his way to the Union army, joining
his regiment at Goldsboro, North Carolina, in the latter part of December,
1864.  In making his escape from prison he traveled steadily for twenty-two
nights out of twenty-three.  He participated in the battle of Richmond,
Kentucky, Hoover Gap, Tennessee, and Chickamauga, in all of which he saw
hard service.  He had his clothing cut by bullets many times but was never
seriously wounded.  At the close of the war he received his honorable
discharge, being mustered out of service at Louisville on the 18th of July,
1865.  When peace had again been established he returned to Williamstown,
Kentucky, where he remained until the spring of 1870, when he came to
Cynthiana, where he was appointed government gauger, retaining that
position until January 1, 1882.
     In the year last mentioned Captain Riggs, in company with W. C.
Musselman, purchased the Licking Valley Milling Company, which concern was
operated for a short time by the firm of Riggs & Musselman.  Messrs. Riggs
& Musselman conducted the institution until 1888 and upon the death of
Capt. Musselman the firm was changed to Riggs, Garnett & Co., concerning
the history of which the following extracts are taken from an article
which appeared in the souvenir supplement of a local paper, under date of
November 11, 1905.
     "One of Cynthiana's earliest industries was the business conducted in
the large and substantial building now occupied by the Crown Jewel
Milling Company. * * * This splendid milling plant, owned and operated by
the firm of Riggs, Garnett & Company, includes a large grain elevator,
coal yard and public scales.
     "The mill has an interesting history.  In 1809 the mill building was
erected by a company for a woolen factory, and it was so used until 1818,
when General Josephus Perrin moved his cotton mill into it and thus
occupied it until 1825.  During these years one story was frequently
rented for public meetings and entertainments, it having the largest rooms
in Cynthiana.  It was used for storage for some years and in 1845 John
Harmon Frazer bought it for use as a whiskey warehouse.  Gray & Cox next
purchased the property, then J. A. Cook & Woolford, then C. B. Cook, in
1865, then Peck & Van Hook, in 1866.  Ben Potts entered the firm but he
soon sold his interest to J. W. Peck & Company; after the firm had
established a flouring mill, Messrs. Riggs & Musselman purchased the mill,
in 1883; and in 1888, after Mr. Musselman's death, the firm became Riggs,
Garnett & Company.
     The property was purchased July, 1905, by a stock company,
incorporated as the `Crown Jewel Milling' and the directors selected as
Treasurer and Manager, Captain B. T. Riggs, who has been a member of the
firm since 1882.  Mr. Lark Garnett is president of the company, and J. F.
McDaniel, secretary.  Messrs. C. D. Linley and John McDaniel, Jr., are
bookkeepers, and Mr. C. F. Eichhorn, an experienced man, is head miller."
     In addition to his business interests Captain Riggs is president of
the board of education, of which he has been a member since 1893.  He is
an elder in the Presbyterian church, in whose faith he was reared, and in
a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
and with the Masonic order, in which he holds membership in the lodge,
chapter and commandery of the York Rite branch.  In politics he has been a
staunch Republican ever since his earliest voting days and as a loyal and
public-spirited citizen he has done much to advance the general welfare of
the community, in which he has elected to maintain his home.  He is a man
of broad information and deep human sympathy, a man who is generous in his
impulses, genial and kindly disposed toward all in trouble or distress.
     On the 26th of April, 1866, Captain Riggs was united in marriage to
Miss Kate Kerr, who was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, on the 31st of
October, 1841, and who is a daughter of John and Rachel (Fry) Kerr, both
of whom were likewise born in Fayette county and both of whom are now
deceased.  Captain and Mrs. Riggs have four children, concerning whom the
following brief data are here incorporated: Edna remains at the paternal
home; Kerr T. is lieutenant of the Fourteenth Cavalry at West Point;
Catherine Theo remains at home; and one died in infancy.

Riggs Wilson Scott Dickerson Pickett Musselman Perrin Frazer Cook
Potts Garnett McDaniel Linley Kerr Fry Peck Eichhorn
=
Paris-Bourbon-KY Falmouth-Pendleton-KY Williamstown-Grant-KY Fayette-KY
Philadelphia-Philadelphia-PA Culpeper-VA MD

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/harrison/riggs.bt.txt