Frank A. Briggs
From the 1897 atlasNorth Dakota and Richland County Chart
5th Governor of North Dakota
In office January 6, 1897 – August 9, 1898
Lieutenant	Joseph M. Devine
Preceded by	Roger Allin
Succeeded by	Joseph M. Devine
Auditor of North Dakota
In office 1895–1896
Governor	Roger Allin
Preceded by	Arthur W. Porter
Succeeded by	Nathan B. Hannum
Personal details
Born	(1858-09-15)September 15, 1858 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	August 9, 1898(1898-08-09) (aged 39) Bismarck, North Dakota, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Nannie Rachel Meek
Children	2
Profession	Politician

Frank Arlington Briggs (September 15, 1858 – August 9, 1898) was an AmericanRepublican elected official who served as the fifthgovernor of North Dakota from January 6, 1897 until his death nineteen months later.

Frank A. Briggs was born in the town ofMinneapolis, Minnesota, and was variously employed as a printer and journalist. He married Nannie Rachel Meek on July 12, 1877 and they had two daughters, Stella and Bessie. Twenty-three years old in 1881, he moved to the city ofMandan, the county seat of North Dakota'sMorton County, where he dealt in real estate. At that time the area was stillDakota Territory.^[1][2][3]

Campaigning for public office, he was elected county treasurer, serving from 1885 to 1887, gained the statewide post of auditor in 1894 and, finally, in November 1896, prevailed in the gubernatorial election. An activist executive, he participated in discussions of laws being drafted by the state legislature, including passage of the revenue bill as well as a general railway law which regulated movement of freight and passengers.^[2][3]

Having struggled withtuberculosis, Governor Briggs lost the battle in Bismarck five weeks before his 40th birthday. Lieutenant GovernorJoseph M. Devine served the remaining four-and-a-half months of the governor's two-year term. He was buried in Howard Lake Cemetery,Howard Lake, MN. Briggs was the first North Dakota Governor to die while in office.^[1][4]

• Governor of North Dakota
• List of governors of North Dakota

• Frank A. Briggs Papers at theState Historical Society of North Dakota (File no. 20914): scrapbook contains death notices and obituaries for the governor from various newspapers in North Dakota and the United States. Among the contents are eulogies, a description of Briggs' nomination for governor in 1896, copies of campaign speeches and details of his inaugural ceremony, as well as notices of the death of his daughter which occurred in Minnesota, buried at Howard Lake, MN, while he was inBismarck, taking the oath of office. Included are newspaper clippings describing the Republican convention in 1894 when Briggs was nominated for State Auditor, followed by clippings about that campaign. There are also letters of recommendation about Briggs' ability as a printer, a picture of the Briggs cemetery monument in Howard Lake, MN, Wright County, in the governor's native Minnesota, where he was buried. Appended are social notes concerning Mrs. Briggs' life in Bismarck after the governor's death and a marriage announcement of her 1905 remarriage.

• 1858 births
• 1898 deaths
• Republican Party governors of North Dakota
• North Dakota state auditors
• People from Dakota Territory
• Tuberculosis deaths in North Dakota
• 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis
• People from Mandan, North Dakota
• 19th-century North Dakota politicians
• Politicians from Minneapolis

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2017