John Fletcher DRIGGS, Congress, MI (1813-1877)

DRIGGS, John Fletcher, a Representative from Michigan; born in Kinderhook, N.Y., March 8, 1813; completed preparatory studies; moved with his parents to Tarrytown, N.Y., in 1825; moved to New York City in 1827; apprentice, journeyman, and master mechanic in the trade of sash, door, and blind manufacturing 1829-1856; superintendent of the New York penitentiary and public institutions on Blackwells Island in 1844; moved to Michigan in 1856; engaged in the real-estate business and salt manufacturing; president of the common council of East Saginaw, Mich., in 1858; member of the State house of representatives in 1859 and 1860; was tendered an appointment as colonel during the Civil War; organized the Twenty-ninth Michigan Infantry July 29, 1864; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1869); unsuccessful candidate for election in 1870 to the Forty-second Congress; one of the committee appointed to accompany the body of President Lincoln to Springfield, Ill., for interment; injured by a fall on the ice in the winter of 1875-1876, as a result of which he died in East Saginaw, Mich., December 17, 1877; interment in Brady Hill Cemetery, Saginaw, Mich.; reinterment in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present