Parmenas Briscoe Explained

Office:President Pro Tempore of the Mississippi State Senate
Order:2nd
Term Start1:January 1844
Term End1:January 1850
Termstart3:January 1830
Termend3:January 1833
Termstart4:January 1828
Termend4:January 1830
State Senate1:Mississippi State
State House4:Mississippi
District4:Claiborne County
District1:Claiborne County
Termstart2:January 1834
Termend2:January 1836
Term Start:January 1834
Term End:January 1836
Birth Date:23 January 1784
Birth Place:Virginia, U.S.
Party:Democratic
Predecessor:Charles Lynch
Successor:W. Van Norman
Successor1:George Torrey
Successor2:James H. Maury
Predecessor1:Benjamin G. Humphreys
Predecessor2:Adam Gordon
Successor3:Adam Gordon
Predecessor3:Thomas Freeland
Death Place:At sea, near Acapulco, Mexico
Children:12, including Andrew

Parmenas Briscoe (January 23, 1784 - November 29, 1850) was an American planter and longtime state legislator in Mississippi. He represented Claiborne County in the Mississippi House of Representatives and Mississippi Senate on and off between 1828 and 1850. He also was the second President of the Mississippi State Senate, serving from 1834 to 1836.[1]

Early life

Parmenas Briscoe was born on January 23, 1784, in Virginia.[2] [3] He was the son of William Briscoe and Elizabeth Wallace Briscoe. His family lived in Madison County, Kentucky, but Parmenas moved to Mississippi at the turn of the 19th century. He served as a captain[4] in the Creek War and in July 1812 was the general in the Mississippi State Militia.[5] Briscoe was a planter.

Political career

Briscoe served as county tax assessor and collector from 1816 to 1821. In 1828 and 1829, Briscoe represented Claiborne County in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He was then elected to represent the same county in the Mississippi State Senate in the 1830 and 1831 sessions. He then served in the 1835 session. From 1834 to 1836, Briscoe was the President of the Mississippi State Senate.[6] Briscoe was elected to the Senate again as a Democrat and served in the 1844, 1846, and 1848 sessions. In 1850 Briscoe decided to temporarily move to California for the purpose of making money. Briscoe died at sea on the way home on November 29, 1850, on the steamer Montezuma near Acapulco, Mexico. Briscoe was buried at sea.

Personal life

Briscoe married twice. He and his first wife had one son, John. He married his second wife, Mary "Polly" Montgomery (1794-1845) on December 18, 1809. They had five sons and six daughters together. One of their sons, Andrew (born 1810), moved to Texas and became prominent there, later having a county named after him.

Notes and References

  1. Book: A History of Mississippi: From the Discovery of the Great River by Hernando DeSoto, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French Under Iberville, to the Death of Jefferson Davis. Robert. Lowry. William H.. McCardle. July 2, 1891. AMS Press. 9780404046101. Google Books.
  2. News: 1846-02-09 . Mississippi Legislature Names & Ages 1846 . 2024-06-25 . Southern Reformer . 2.
  3. Book: Davis, Jefferson . The Papers of Jefferson Davis: June 1841–July 1846 . 1975-02-01 . LSU Press . 978-0-8071-0082-0 . 81 . en.
  4. Book: A History of Mississippi: From the Discovery of the Great River by Hernando DeSoto, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French Under Iberville, to the Death of Jefferson Davis. Robert. Lowry. William H.. McCardle. July 2, 1891. AMS Press. 9780404046101. Google Books.
  5. Web site: News-letter. July 2, 1949. The Society. Google Books.
  6. Book: Watson, Michael . 2020-2024 Statistical Register . Mississippi Secretary of State . 2021 . Historical and Statistical Information . https://www.sos.ms.gov/content/documents/ed_pubs/pubs/BlueBook20-24/14%20Historical%20and%20Statistical%20Info.pdf.