(17) Louis Newton Briggs

Born:  26Aug1902 on a farm in Richmond Twp., Tioga Co., PA.  Son of Omer Briggs and Saphrona.

Died:  30Jul1962

Married:  Vera Muriel Maude Redman  (20Feb1898-1970) on 09Jan1924 in Colombo District of the Western Province, Ceylon.

Children:  Keith (b. 1928), Elbert Glenn, Melva Jean, Lionel "Bruce", Iris Mae

Louis attended a village school until he was 14, then he went to a big town (Towanda, Bradford County, PA) for secondary schooling.  He boarded with a doctor.  In return he looked after the horses and stables.  In 1918 he went to New York City to attend college.  In October 1921 at the age of 19, Louis joined the Salvation Army as an officer and boarded an ocean liner bound for India.  After a short stop in England he sailed for Bombay, India.  Here he discarded his American clothes and put on robes, turban, and sandals.  He was even given a new name which in the Indian language meant "Strong and Victorius".  It was not on the mainland of India that he was to do most of his work.  It was on the island of Ceylon (then a part of India) that he was to work and teach young people.  After a few months of study and experience with an older man, Louis took charge of an industrial school for boys and young men who had been in trouble with the police.  Louis learned to speak "Sinhalese" and learned the manners and customs of those people.  In Ceylon he met a lovely Australian girl (Vera Muriel Maude Redman) who was doing the same kind of work among the girls of Ceylon that he was doing with the boys.  She was also a Salvation Army officer.  She was having difficulty learning the language so he helped her with it.  Louis and Vera were married in 1924.  At aged 24 a bad attack of malaria ended his career in Ceylon.  Doctors told him that to make a complete recovery he must leave the island.  They decided to emigrate to her homeland, Australia.  They went to the country where hard work and good food put him back in good shape.  They then took jobs with the Aborigines Protection Board  to run a station at Carowra Tank , New South Wales and work among the Aborigines people.  Carowra Tank was a dry, desolate part of the state.  At this time they had a three year old son and a two year old daughter.  There were houses of galvanised iron for the dark people of the station but his home for two and a half years was a camp made of two large tents facing each other, with a galvanized cooking galley between them.  Their nearest neighbor (a bachelor) lived 16 miles away.  When the two elder children became of school age, Louis applied for a position as teacher at the aboriginal school at Condobolin.  From there Louis went to Taree Station as manager.  Together Louis and Vera worked for 35 years in the service of the least favored of the aboriginal people.

Return to:  BRIGGS FAMILY HOME PAGE

Left photo taken in Bombay, India.

Right photo taken the day that he died (30Jul1962)