MS 580
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Collection Summary | |
| Creator: | Riggs, John Casey, 1874-1943. |
| Collection Name: | Riggs Family Papers |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1878-1998 |
| Bulk Dates: | (1900-1942) |
| Physical Description: | 9 linear feet |
| Abstract: | This collection contains materials documenting the Riggs pioneer family history from the time Brannick Riggs married Mary Elizabeth Robbins in Texas in 1856, their first wagon train move to Colorado in 1871, and several years later relocating again to southeastern Arizona, arriving and settling in Sulphur Springs Valley in 1879. Their eighth child, John Casey Riggs (1874-1943), was the family’s historian and creator of the bulk of the papers. The collection includes Our El Dorado, a biographical book written by John C. Riggs and his daughter, Jeanette Riggs Roll. Also included in the collection are biographical manuscripts; diaries and journals; business and personal correspondence; business records and ledgers; printed materials, including pamphlets, catalogs, newspapers and clippings; homestead land and mine patents; political papers of John Casey Riggs; maps; and photographs and negatives. |
| Collection Number: | MS 580 |
| Language: | Materials are in English. |
| Repository: |
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections University of Arizona PO Box 210055 Tucson, AZ 85721-0055 Phone: 520-621-6423 Fax: 520-621-9733 URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/ E-Mail: LBRY-askspcoll@email.arizona.edu |
John Casey Riggs (1874-1943) was the eighth of ten children born to Brannick Riggs (1828-1907) and Mary Robbins Riggs (1838-1935), pioneer homesteaders from Texas who arrived in the Sulphur Springs Valley area of southeastern Arizona (Cochise County) in 1879. John Casey Riggs was born in Los Animas County, Colorado in 1874 and traveled by oxen and wagon with his family in 1877 to join other Riggs relatives in the Dos Cabezas gold mining district of Arizona with a herd of horses and about eight head of cattle. The Riggs family established themselves in the area as ranchers, bankers, and state and local politicians, as well as attorneys, teachers, miners and loggers in this part of southeastern Arizona where many of their offspring continue to live and work. They established the Riggs Cattle Company in 1904 and the Riggs Bank of Willcox, AZ in 1920. Family stories in the collection tell of the tragic deaths of Brannick Riggs’ brother John and his wife, Jane, in Bell County, Texas by Comanches in 1857, the final years of the Chiricahua Apache Wars and raids on neighboring homesteads, and the earthquake of 1887 that shook southern Arizona, to name a few.
John Casey Riggs graduated from Valparaiso University in Indiana in 1894 and obtained his law degree in 1906. He practiced law in Tombstone, Arizona until 1911. He then became general manager for the Riggs Cattle Company until 1917. He helped organize the Riggs Bank in 1920, and after it closed in 1933, he was elected to the Senate of the Eleventh State Legislature. He married Jeanette (Nettie) Mary Brauns of Upper Sandusky, Ohio in 1910, and together they built the John Riggs Ranch. They had four children, Paul William Riggs (1911-1990), John Stark Riggs (1912-1998), Ellerbe Brauns Riggs (1915-2007), and Jeanette Mary Riggs (1916-2004), who continued to marry and settle on ranches in the same area where their family has resided since 1879. The Riggs family celebrated their centennial in Arizona with a family reunion in 1979 in Willcox, AZ.
Papers, 1878-1998 (bulk: 1900-1942). This collection contains the papers of John Casey Riggs and various other family members. The collection was donated by John Casey Riggs’ grandson, Chris M. Roll, in 2007. The Riggs family Bible, and the diaries of Mary Robbins Riggs from 1896 to 1929 were donated by Nancy Sloan and added to the collection in 2011. John Casey Riggs, was the family historian, therefore, the bulk of the papers are his. The collection includes Our El Dorado, a biographical book written by John C. Riggs and his daughter, Jeanette Riggs Roll, and the Riggs Centennial Reunion, 1879-1979 book. Also included in the collection are biographical manuscripts, Valparaiso University certificates of diploma; diaries, notebooks, and journals; business and personal correspondence, including a handwritten letter to John Riggs from Albert F. Potter, first Chief of Grazing for the U. S. Forest Service, dated 1902; business records and ledgers; printed materials, including pamphlets, catalogs, newspapers and clippings, homestead land and mine patents, and an original 1910 mining claim signed by President William H. Taft; the political papers of John Casey Riggs, Arizona State Senator; maps; photographs and negatives.
There are no restrictions on this collection.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Riggs Family Papers (MS 580). Special Collections, University of Arizona Libraries.
Processed by Susan L. Mergenthal.
| Biographical Materials and Family Records, 1878-1998 | |||||||||||
| This series contains the Riggs family genealogy back to Maryland in 1663, the research notes of John Casey Riggs on the Arizona branch of Riggs starting with Brannick Riggs born in 1828, diaries, ledgers, notebooks, and estate documents of Riggs family members. This series is arranged chronologically. | |||||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | John C. Riggs, family history and genealogy, 1663-1942 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | John C. Riggs and Jeanette Riggs Roll, research papers on family history, 1891-1990 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Riggs family history,Our El Dorado, manuscript copy, 1951 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Riggs family history, Our El Dorado, manuscript, 1951 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Riggs family history, Our El Dorado, manuscript with notes and preface by Jeanette Riggs Roll, 1951 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Riggs family history, Our El Dorado, 4 copies of published books with handwritten notes by the author, 1958 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Our El Dorado, correspondence, 1951-1959 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Riggs Centennial Reunion,1879-1979, book, reunion committee papers and clippings, 1979 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Brannick Riggs, biography, 1828-1907 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Mary Elizabeth Robbins Riggs, biography 1838-1935 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Thomas Jefferson Riggs, biography, 1857-1926 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Rhoda Riggs, biography, 1859-1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | William Monroe Riggs, biography, 1861-1949 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Martha Riggs Stark, biography, 1865-1949 | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Brannick Benjamin Riggs, biography, 1867-1913 | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | James Jay Riggs, biography, 1870-1911 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Mary Frances Riggs Stark, biography, 1872-1961 | |||||||||
| 1 | 18 | John Casey Riggs, biography, 1874-1943 | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | John Casey Riggs, Valparaiso University, 1893-1906 | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | John Casey Riggs, Valparaiso University, 1893-1906, 1930 | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | John Casey Riggs, writings, undated, 1940 | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 | John Casey Riggs, drawings and notes, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | Lucy Elizabeth Riggs Moore, biography, 1876-1965 | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Barney Kemp Riggs, biography, 1879-1963 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | Edward Murray Riggs, biography, 1885-1950 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | William Carroll Riggs, biography, 1856-1924 | |||||||||
| 1 | 27 | Jeanette Riggs Roll, personal papers, 1934-1998 | |||||||||
| 1 | 28 | Brannick Riggs, estate documents, 1908-1909 | |||||||||
| 1 | 29 | Mary Elizabeth Robbins Riggs, estate documents, 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 30 | Thomas Jefferson Riggs, estate documents, 1923, 1927 | |||||||||
| 1 | 31 | Rhoda Riggs, estate documents, 1929, 1935 | |||||||||
| 1 | 32 | William Monroe Riggs, estate documents, 1935 | |||||||||
| 1 | 33 | Martha Riggs Stark, estate documents, 1929, 1936, 1949 | |||||||||
| 1 | 34 | John Casey Riggs, estate documents, 1942-1945, 1954 | |||||||||
| 1 | 35 | Barney Kemp Riggs, estate documents, 1927 | |||||||||
| 1 | 36 | F. P. Armstrong, estate document, 1927 | |||||||||
| 1 | 37 | Clara E. Brauns, estate documents, 1955 | |||||||||
| 1 | 38 | Mary Dumm, estate document, 1916 | |||||||||
| 1 | 39 | James L. Hudson, estate document, 1931 | |||||||||
| 1 | 40 | Thomas A. Stafford, estate document, 1926 | |||||||||
| 1 | 41 | William A. Stark, estate documents, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 42 | John G. and Margaret Stephens, estate documents, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 43 | Harett Elizabeth Waughtal, estate documents, 1907-1909 | |||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Mary Elizabeth Robbins Riggs, diary, 1896-1912 | |||||||||
| 2 | 2 | Mary Elizabeth Robbins Riggs, diary, 1913-1924, 1926, 1929 | |||||||||
| 2 | 3 | John Casey Riggs, diary, 1916-1937 | |||||||||
| 2 | 4 | John Casey Riggs, diary, 1938-1942 | |||||||||
| 2 | 5 | John Casey Riggs, ledger, 1900-1912 | |||||||||
| 2 | 6 | John Casey Riggs, lumber set, 1906 | |||||||||
| 2 | 7 | John Casey Riggs, notarial record books, 1908-1924, 1931-1934 | |||||||||
| 2 | 8 | John Casey Riggs, notebook/scrapbook, 1900-1931 | |||||||||
| 2 | 9 | John Casey Riggs, pocket notebooks, 1886-1935 | |||||||||
| 2 | 10 | John Casey Riggs, pocket notebooks, 1930-1942 | |||||||||
| 2 | 11 | Nettie Brauns Riggs, journal of rainfall and one page with grandchildren’s birthdays, 1943-1957 | |||||||||
| 2 | 12 | Nettie Brauns Riggs, household account books, 1943-1958 | |||||||||
| Activity Files, 1886-1957 | |||||||||||
| Includes ranching records, banking and financial records, and mining and logging records arranged chronologically. | |||||||||||
| Homesteading and ranching papers, 1902-1952 | |||||||||||
| This subseries includes land transactions, abstracts of titles, cattle breeding and shipping records, and various other ranch-related documents. | |||||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | Riggs Cattle Company, 1904-1922 | |||||||||
| 3 | 2 | Riggs Cattle Company, grazing permits, 1909-1920 | |||||||||
| 3 | 3 | John Casey Riggs, Pump Invention Patents, 1929-1930 | |||||||||
| 3 | 4 | John Casey Riggs, homestead papers, 1910-1942 | |||||||||
| 3 | 5 | John Casey Riggs, ranching business, 1923-1929 | |||||||||
| 3 | 6 | John Casey Riggs, ranching business, 1930-1939 | |||||||||
| 3 | 7 | John Casey Riggs, ranching business, 1940-1943 | |||||||||
| 3 | 8 | John Casey Riggs, registered Polled Herefords, 1930-1942 | |||||||||
| 3 | 9 | John Casey Riggs, American Hereford registrations, 1928-1941 | |||||||||
| 3 | 10 | John Casey Riggs, American Hereford records, 1930-1941 | |||||||||
| 3 | 11 | John Casey Riggs, Cattle Growers Association memberships, 1924-1943 | |||||||||
| 3 | 12 | John Casey Riggs, land leases, 1920-1929 | |||||||||
| 3 | 13 | John Casey Riggs, land leases, 1930-1939 | |||||||||
| 3 | 14 | John Casey Riggs, land leases, 1930-1939 | |||||||||
| 3 | 15 | John Casey Riggs and Nettie B. Riggs, land leases, 1940-42, 1952 | |||||||||
| 3 | 16 | John Casey Riggs, property deeds, 1900-1919 | |||||||||
| 3 | 17 | John Casey Riggs, property deeds, 1920-1929 | |||||||||
| 3 | 18 | John Casey Riggs, property deeds, 1930-1939 | |||||||||
| 3 | 19 | John Casey Riggs and family, property deeds, 1940-1946 | |||||||||
| 3 | 20 | John Casey Riggs, State Land purchases, 1940-1942 | |||||||||
| 3 | 21 | John Casey Riggs, property lists and maps, undated, 1936-1942 | |||||||||
| 3 | 22 | U.S. Forest Service maps and information, Chiricahua National Forest, undated, 1910, 1924, 1942 | |||||||||
| 3 | 23 | John Casey Riggs, Abstracts, 1902-1941 | |||||||||
| 3 | 24 | John Casey Riggs, agreements and contracts, 1906-1935 | |||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 3a | 1 | Riggs Cattle Company, account ledger, 1909-1924 | |||||||||
| 3a | 2 | John C. Riggs, Cattle sales and shipping record book, 1936-1942 | |||||||||
| Banking and Financial Records, 1899-1957 | |||||||||||
| This subseries includes records of the Riggs Bank of Willcox, tax and insurance documents, banking and purchase receipts of John Casey and Nettie B. Riggs. This series is arranged chronologically. | |||||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 4 | 1 | Riggs Bank, Willcox, Arizona, 1920-1925 | |||||||||
| 4 | 2 | Riggs Bank, Willcox, Arizona, 1926-1927 | |||||||||
| 4 | 3 | Riggs Bank, Willcox, Arizona, 1928-1929 | |||||||||
| 4 | 4 | Riggs Bank, Willcox, Arizona, 1930-1932 | |||||||||
| 4 | 5 | Riggs Bank, Willcox, Arizona, 1933-1939 | |||||||||
| 4 | 6 | Riggs Bank, loans, 1925-1935 | |||||||||
| 4 | 7 | John Casey and Nettie B. Riggs, banking documents, 1909-1943 | |||||||||
| 4 | 8 | John Casey Riggs, tax documents, 1898, 1900-1909 | |||||||||
| 4 | 9 | John Casey Riggs, tax documents, 1910-1919 | |||||||||
| 4 | 10 | John Casey Riggs, tax documents, 1920-1929 | |||||||||
| 4 | 11 | John Casey Riggs, tax documents, 1930-1939 | |||||||||
| 4 | 12 | John Casey Riggs, tax documents, 1930-1939 | |||||||||
| 4 | 13 | John Casey Riggs, tax documents, 1930-1939 | |||||||||
| 4 | 14 | John Casey Riggs, tax documents, 1940-1943 | |||||||||
| 4 | 15 | John Casey Riggs, Arizona Tax Research Association papers, 1932-1942 | |||||||||
| 4 | 16 | Nettie B. Riggs, tax documents, 1943-1957 | |||||||||
| 4 | 17 | John Casey Riggs, receipts, 1899-1909 | |||||||||
| 4 | 18 | John Casey Riggs, receipts, undated, 1917-1939 | |||||||||
| 4 | 19 | John Casey and Nettie B. Riggs, receipts, undated, 1940-1957 | |||||||||
| 4 | 20 | John Casey and Nettie B. Riggs, insurance documents, 1938-1954 | |||||||||
| 4 | 21 | John C. and Nettie B. Riggs, bank books, 1906-1920 | |||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 10 | 1 | “Compliments of Riggs Bank, Willcox-Bowie, Arizona” calendar, 1933 | |||||||||
| Mining and Logging Records, 1886-1943 | |||||||||||
| Includes mining claims, deeds, and location records, as well as maps, and John Casey Riggs’ research on mining. Subseries is arranged chronologically. | |||||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 5 | 1 | Riggs Family Bowie Marble Placer Mining Claim signed by President William H. Taft, 1910, 1912 | |||||||||
| 5 | 2 | John Casey Riggs, mining claims, deeds, and locations, undated, 1886-1928 | |||||||||
| 5 | 3 | John Casey Riggs, mining documents, undated, 1926-1938 | |||||||||
| 5 | 4 | John Casey Riggs, mining documents, 1940-1943 | |||||||||
| 5 | 5 | John Casey Riggs, mining research papers, undated, 1902-1926 | |||||||||
| 5 | 6 | John Casey Riggs, mining claims and rights forms, undated | |||||||||
| 5 | 7 | Map of Mascot Copper Company townsite, Cochise County, Arizona, 1915 | |||||||||
| John Casey Riggs, Political Papers, 1911-1942 | |||||||||||
| Includes the letters and records of John Casey Riggs as a member of the Democratic Party and State Senator in the Arizona legislature from Cochise County, Arizona. This series is arranged chronologically. | |||||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 6 | 1 | John Casey Riggs, Arizona State Senator, undated, 1933-1934 | |||||||||
| 6 | 2 | John Casey Riggs, papers on the impeachment of Charles R. Howe, Arizona Corporation Commissioner, 1933 | |||||||||
| 6 | 3 | John Casey Riggs, Arizona State Senator, political papers, 1935-1939 | |||||||||
| 6 | 4 | John Casey Riggs, political correspondence, undated, 1932-1942 | |||||||||
| 6 | 5 | John Casey Riggs, Democratic Party papers, undated, 1911-1940 | |||||||||
| Correspondence of John Casey and Nettie B. Riggs, 1900-1956 | |||||||||||
| Includes personal correspondence from family and friends, business correspondence concerning cattle ranching, banking, and mining activities. Arrangement is chronological. | |||||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 6 | 6 | John Casey Riggs, family correspondence, undated, 1900-1942 | |||||||||
| 6 | 7 | John Casey Riggs, letter from Albert F. Potter, U.S. Forest Service Chief of Grazing, 1902 | |||||||||
| 6 | 8 | John Casey Riggs, general correspondence, undated, 1900-1918 | |||||||||
| 6 | 9 | John Casey Riggs, general correspondence, 1920-1927 | |||||||||
| 6 | 10 | John Casey Riggs, general correspondence, 1930-1935 | |||||||||
| 6 | 11 | John Casey Riggs, general correspondence, 1936-1939 | |||||||||
| 6 | 12 | John Casey Riggs, general correspondence, 1940-1942 | |||||||||
| 6 | 13 | John Casey Riggs, business correspondence, undated, 1900-1919 | |||||||||
| 6 | 14 | John Casey Riggs, business correspondence, undated, 1920-1929 | |||||||||
| 6 | 15 | John Casey Riggs, Barfoot Park Road, right-of-way dispute, 1926 | |||||||||
| 6 | 16 | John Casey Riggs, business correspondence, undated, 1930-1935 | |||||||||
| 6 | 17 | John Casey Riggs, business correspondence, 1936 | |||||||||
| 6 | 18 | John Casey Riggs, business correspondence, 1937 | |||||||||
| 6 | 19 | John Casey Riggs, Chiricahua National Monument Highway, right-of-way, 1938 | |||||||||
| 6 | 20 | John Casey Riggs, business correspondence, 1938-1939 | |||||||||
| 6 | 21 | John Casey Riggs, business correspondence, 1940-1942 | |||||||||
| 6 | 22 | Jeanette (Nettie) B. Riggs, business correspondence, 1943-1955 | |||||||||
| 6 | 23 | Jeanette (Nettie) B. Riggs, personal correspondence, 1944 | |||||||||
| 6 | 24 | Jeanette (Nettie) B. Riggs, personal correspondence, undated, 1943-1956 | |||||||||
| 6 | 25 | John Casey Riggs, business and membership cards, undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 26 | John Casey Riggs, letterhead stationery, postcards, undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 27 | John Casey Riggs, business forms, undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 28 | John Casey Riggs, newspaper clippings, undated, 1894-1942 | |||||||||
| Oversized Materials, Photographs, and Memorabilia, 1894-1929 | |||||||||||
| Includes photographs, advertising brochures, Riggs family Bible, diplomas, certificates, and maps. This series is arranged by item type. | |||||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 7 | 1 | Riggs Family Photographs and Negatives, circa 1890-1940 | |||||||||
| 7 | Item A, photograph, Willcox Union High School, graduating class of 1928, 1928 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Item B, photograph, Annual Convention of Cochise-Graham Cattle Growers Association, Willcox, Arizona, April 20, 1929, 1929 | ||||||||||
| box | |||||||||||
| 8 | Riggs Family Bible and eyeglasses, 1866 | ||||||||||
| box | |||||||||||
| 9 | Miscellaneous brochures, stamps, and advertizing button, undated, 1901-1953 | ||||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 10 | 2 | John Casey Riggs, 4 certificates for practicing law, 1906 | |||||||||
| 10 | Map A, Cochise County, Arizona with markings of Riggs properties, undated | ||||||||||
| 10 | Map B, Mines of the Chiricahua Developement Co. in the California Mining District, Cochise County A. T. Surveyed August 1903 by John A. Rockfellow, U.S. Dep. Mineral Surveyor, 1903 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Map C, Topography--Arizona--Cochise County--Pearce Quadrangle, 1916 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Map D, Camp Bowie Abandoned Military Reservation, undated | ||||||||||
| 10 | Item E, Diploma, John Casey Riggs, Bachelor of Science, Valparaiso University, 1894 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Item F, Diploma, John Casey Riggs, Bachelor of Law, Valparaiso University, 1906 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Item G, Photograph, Valparaiso School of Law, Graduating class, 1906 | ||||||||||