Charles S. Briggs, proprietor of the Oak Grove Farm and Dairy on Plainfield avenue, one- half mile from the city of Grand Rapids, Mich., was born in Washtenaw county, near Ann Arbor, December 31, 1842, and is a son of Barber and Mary (Swan) Briggs, both now deceased. The name Briggs is either Welsh or English origin, but the American branch of the family has not taken any special pains to trace the name to its source. The Swan Family is of Irish extraction. Barber Briggs and his family came from Orange county, N. Y., in 1834, and located in Washtenaw county, Mich., near Ann Arbor, and in March 1850, came to Kent county and settled on a farm in Grand Rapids township, a short distance north of the city. This farm was all wild land, on which a furrow had never been turned, but the family succeeded in converting it into one of the best in the state, and it has never since passed from the possession of the family. Charles S. Briggs was but seven years of age when the family came to Kent county, and here he passed his boyhood on the farm he still occupies; his education was acquired at the district school. The farm comprises eighty acres, and the site of the old home was, the same as that on which the subject’s house now stands. The family consisted of two sons and two daughters, and of these, one daughter was married to Abel T. Page, but died while still young in years, Clara is the wife of Frank Collins and lives in Grand Rapids; Edward L. is a resident of Oakland, Cal., and Charles S. is the subject of this sketch. Charles S. Briggs had taken the management of the farm before he had reached his majority, and at the age if twenty-three years arranged for an ownership of a half interest in the place, on condition that he continue to manage it, and later he bought out the interest of the other heirs. He still conducts the farm, but also operates outside, and for the past twenty-five years has carried on a milk trade in Grand Rapids. He keeps a large herd of Jersey cattle on the farm, and likewise grows peaches, pears, plums and other fruits. Probably no other man in the township understands dairying better than him. His milk-house is spacious and convenient in all its arrangements, and fitted up with the most modern appliances for handling, cooling and bottling milk, which is aerated and sold in bottles. His barn is roomy and completely fitted up, and his cows are stabled in a well lighted basement, from which all ordure is promptly removed and all offensive odors absorbed or destroyed by a liberal and judicious use of land plaster, one of the best disinfectants or deodorizers known.

This barn is also supplied with l00-ton silo, which cost $225, and which adds materially to the value of the dairy. He is a member of the Horticultural society, and is as successful in handling his fruit as in his dairy products. Mr. Briggs was united in marriage November 1, 1880, to Miss Adell F. Ackerman, daughter of William Ackerman, of Allendale, Ottawa county, and to this union have been born four children, named, William E., Raymond A., Florence A. and C. Sanford. The family attend the Second Congregational church on Plainfield avenue, and in politics Mr. Briggs sympathizes with the democratic party, as his father had done before him, but has never been active in politics, preferring to give attention to his constantly increasing business; nor does he care for city life and its amusements, but holds himself right down to his dairying and farming. As a boy, Mr. Briggs did a great deal of hard labor in clearing up the homestead, and knows how and when each field was improved and how all the fields were brought together into one harmonious whole. He has made many modern improvements, and has as fine a place as any of its dimensions in the county of Kent. He and the family enjoy the respect of their neighbors, who esteem him for his industry and his quiet methods of doing business without interfering or inter-meddling with that of others.