| Notes |
- George is the son of Jane Elliot b1823.7.26 Fermanaugh Co., Ireland -1913.6.15, ND, & Joseph Briggs, b1822.9.23, N. Frodingham, England-1894.8.20, ND.
. Surrogate Court of County of Wellington, in the goods of John Sibbald Walker, deceased.
We Loftus George Briggs of the Twp. of Arran in the County of Grey, Blacksmith, &
Robert Walker of the same place, Jeweller,
severally make Oath that we are the proposed Sureties on behalf of the intended Administer of the Personal Estate & Effects of John Sibbald Walker, deceased. I the said Loftus George Briggs for myself make Oath & say that I am possessed of the Estate of the value of $1,000 & worth $1,000 .
. I Robert Walker for myself make Oath & say that I am posses of Estate of the value of $1,000 & am worth $1,000 all my debts being first paid.
Signed, Loftus George Briggs & Robt. Walker, 22 Dec, AD 1879, Orangeville.
[Robert is Loftus G.'s brother-in-law.]
. 1876 Bruce Country Directory
The village of Arran has its first post office in 1853 on the 7th concession, a mile south of the village of Tara. Tara in the Twp. of Arran on the new gravel road, 16 miles from Own Sound. Population 500. The name was changed to Invermay. Tara had saw & grist mills, a foundry producing agricultural implements, wagon works & a tannery. There is also a woollen factory, steam saw mill, fanning mill, agricultural implement mfg., sash & door factory, cradle factory 2 cabinet factories, a pottery, a large brick yard, 4 general stores, one hardware store, a good photographic gallery, ONE BLACKSMITH & WAGON SHOP, 2 town halls & 2 hotels.
. 1876 & 1880 - Village of TARA, Briggs, Loftus G, blacksmith.
. 1881 The Stratford & Huron Railway first arrived in Tara.
. 1887 Jul 14 - The Crime Premeditated - The Murderer attempts to Commit Suicide - He is Arrested & Placed in Gaol - A strong Feeling Against him.
Tara, July 10. - The section of country around Allenford has been shocked repeatedly during the past few years by crimes of poisoning cattle, incendiarism, robbery, rape, etc., but on Friday last the most terrible event that has ever disgraced the history of the Bruce Peninsula was enacted in the Township of Amabel, about 1 mile & a half north of that village, which resulted in - The death of Mrs. Archibald McDougall - a fine, handsome widow about 35 years old. Your correspondent visited the scene of the tragedy in company with Constable Briggs of Tara, & below is a history of the occurrence, as near as could be gathered from friends & neighbors.
Mr. A. McDougall died about 5 years ago, leaving his widow with 4 children, aged from 1 to 7 years, & in fairly comfortable circumstances. Fully a year or more after his decease a neighbor named Samuel, a man of rather shady reputation in the community, who has a wife living in this village who could not live with him because of his ill treatment of her, began to evince great interest in the welfare of McDougall's widow, assisting her in various ways, by cutting her wood, etc. in the winter & saving her small chop of hay in the summer. His attentions became more marked year by year until during the past winter he is said to have lived at the home of Mrs. McDougall almost entirely. Some of her friends & neighbors felt this was hardly right & took the liberty of pointing out to her the errors of such a thing & drawing attention to Hughes' character. Her replies were that Hughes had always used her kindly, that she loved him & would marry him if she could.
Recently Hughes made overtures to his Tara wife to release him from the bonds that held him to her, offering her $100 if she would consent to a separation & agree to let him marry again, Mrs. Hughes declined all such overtures, although very willing to be rid of her unloved spouse in a legal & proper manner. This was the condition of affairs two months ago, when a second man appeared upon the scene in the person of Alexander Dempster of [Algoma Co.,] a former hotelkeeper of Allenford, who had known Mrs. McDougall as a girl. He lost his wife some years ago, wanted another & he made up his mind to win Mrs. McDougall if he could. He pressed his suit with vigor, was accepted, & they were to have been married some day this week. It is generally believed that as soon as Mrs. McDougall engaged herself to Dempster she gave Hughes to understand that his visit to her must cease at once. He objected to this of course & repeatedly came to the house during the past few weeks. He never received any encouragement, however, do far as can be learned from the statements of the children who reported that their mother sent him away again & again. This treatment made him desperate, & on Thursday he made a will, dividing his property between his two sons by his first wife. At the same time he got a friend to telegraph his son at Duluth to come home at once as he was not going to live many days.
On Friday afternoon he went to Mrs. McDougall's. She was preparing her 3 eldest children to attend a picnic in the neighborhood, & they report that their mother & Hughes had some angry words before they left, but no violence was attempted. He remained around the premises & took dinner with the doomed woman and her youngest child, a little toddler of 6 years, & his presence there was remarked by a couple of neighbors who came about one o'clock to get a horseback. It is evident Mrs. McDougall anticipated no trouble or she would have applied to those for assistance. They were the last people that saw her alive.
The little child states that his mother went outside shortly after they departed, & Hughes followed her & spoke to her. She made some reply, & then he drew a little short gun from his pocket & shot her twice, & she fell over. Hughes turned to the little fellow & told him to run over & tell his grandfather, an old man named Eberts, Mrs. McDougall's father, who lives in a small house about 150 yards from that occupied by her, that his mother was dead. The little fellow delivered the message, & when Mr. Eberts arrived at the house of his daughter, he found her stretched on the floor of the kitchen, dead with a pillow under her head. The sight was a terrible blow to the aged father but he quickly secured assistance, & Mr. Taylor was promptly called. Nothing could be done for the poor woman, however, as a short examination revealed 2 gaping bullet wounds in her breast, & death must have been almost instantaneous. The news of the tragedy spread rapidly & an immense crowd of neighbors & villagers soon gathered. The capture of Hughes was their first object, & a search being started his coat & hat were found in one of the rooms of the house & his boots in another, but he was nowhere around. Constable Barclay then started for his own house, about one mile away, & there he found him stretched on a straw stack with a bullet wound in his back ended by a couple of neighbors. There is no doubt he intended committing suicide, likely at the home of his victim, whom he dragged into the house after shooting, but after removing a portion of his clothes, he probably changed his mind & started for home across the fields. Arrived there he fired one shot into his miserable carcass but the bullet struck one of his ribs, & failed to reach a vital spot. It appears he had not courage to try again, but went over to the house of Mr. Boon, on the next farm, taking off his pants on the way & hanging them on the fence, & appearing in the presence of Mr. Boon with nothing on his person but a shirt. He was greatly excited & said he had shot Mrs. McDougall & that he was going to die, & asked for a drink of water. Boon complied with his request & then assisted him home, where the constable found him, as stated, & arrested him & removed him to Allenford where the bullet was extracted from his back & his wound dressed.
Ref: Markdale Standard Newspaper.
. 1901 Census Village of Tara, Lofus G Briggs. - - -
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1851 - 1914 (62 years)