Daughter of Evadne Withers and Stephen Baldridge Riggs. Married to James K. Finley on 05 Aug 1884. On a 1918 map, she owned 40 acres of land approximately where Memorial Lawn Cemetery is now, about from 18th to 21st Streets.
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The Emporia Gazette, 15 Sep 1911, Friday
Mrs. Alma Finley is moving into her new house at 1127 Neosho Street.
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The Emporia Gazette, 02 Nov 1937, Tuesday
MRS. ALMA FINLEY DEAD
Emporian, 83 Years Old, Dies This Morning in Hospital
Mrs. Alma Riggs Finley, 1127 Neosho, 83 years old, died this morning at 12:01 o'clock in the Newman Memorial County hospital. Mrs. Finley had been in poor health for about a month. She was taken to the hospital last Wednesday.
Funeral arrangements have not been made.
BORN IN OHIO IN 1854
Alma Withers Riggs, daughter of the late Stephen Baldridge and Evadne Withers Riggs, was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, July 18, 1854, the first child of her parents. With them she came to Emporia, in 1869, and Emporia ever after was her home. She was married to James K. Finley, of Emporia, August 5, 1884. After the death of Mr. Finley, August 24, 1894, Mrs. Finley lived in the Riggs home. She was the last survivor of the six children of Mr. and Mrs. Riggs, four of whom grew to maturity and were residents of Emporia much of their lives. Two young daughters died in Ohio. Miss Frances Agnew Riggs, many years a teacher in the Emporia schools, died March 30, 1915. The only son, Charles Newton Riggs, died May 6, 1926, and the youngest daughter, Anne Washington--Mrs. W. A. Gardner, of Chicago--died December 31, 1925. Stephen B. Riggs died March 18, 1909, and Mrs. Riggs died January 30, 1916.
Six Nieces Survive
The nearest surviving relatives of Mrs. Finley are six nieces: Mrs. Luther Thomas, Detroit, Mich., who was Gladys Riggs, and Mrs. F. J. Freeman, also of Detroit, who was Clora Riggs, daughter of Charles N. Riggs and Mrs. Clora Simpson Riggs; and the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Gardner, who are: Charlotte, Mrs. Sumner McCall, Greenwich, Conn.; Ansonette, Mrs. Maurice Leigh; Olive, Mrs. Lawrence Onderdonk; and Wilimine, Mrs. Everett Cook, all of Winnetka, Ill. Mrs. Finley is survived also by a cousin, Mrs. Earl Lord, of Emporia, whose Grandmother Dunlap was a Riggs, and a sister-in-law, Mrs. May Haines Riggs, of Emporia, who married Charles N. Riggs in 1924.
Taught Music in Emporia
After the death of her husband, Mrs. Finley taught music, and scores of Emporia children got their start in music, with an ever increasing love and appreciation for it, through the careful, painstaking instruction of Mrs. Finley. She loved music, as did all the Riggses, and her teaching was inspired by that love. During two or three decades, in the First Presbyterian church, the Riggs quartet much of the time furnished music for the church services. Mrs. Finley sang soprano, Miss Frances Riggs, alto, Charles Riggs, tenor, and the father, S. B. Riggs, bass. Mrs. May Haines Riggs recalls that, one summer in the eighties, she substituted for the organist in this church, when the Riggs quartet was singing there.
Aided Many Organizations
Mrs. Finley later became a member of the First Congregational church, and taught class after class of young girls in the Sunday school for years. She was an early member of the Literary league, one of the oldest of the women's study clubs, and one of its most interested members. She was a member of the Emporia Women's City club from the time of its organization. She was interested in every phase of the town's cultural development, and her encouragement added weight to any project. Mrs. Frank Nash, 613 Exchange, has a photograph of Mrs. Finley, with seven girls who composed her Sunday school class, made in the nineties. The girls are Mrs. Nash, who was Anna Squires; Mamie Thomas, now Mrs. Raymond Dart, Washington, D.C.; Ethel Brooks, now Mrs. Earl Becker, Emporia; Miss Lucile Owen, Topeka; Ethel Stone, now Mrs. Oscar Stauffer, Arkansas City; and Maggie Painter and Adele Maston, whose addresses are unknown.
Bought the White Property
When the Riggs family came to Emporia, in 1869, they bought of Dr. Allen White his family home, southeast corner of Seventh and Merchant [628 Merchant], the birthplace of W. A. White. At that time the Allen Whites moved to El Dorado. The Riggses added several rooms to the house and made it a commodious residence, a home known for its hospitality, its piety, its general culture and its music. Mr. Riggs was for many years an elder in the First Presbyterian church, was superintendent of its Sunday school, was active in the councils of the organization in whatever capacity he could serve. He died in the home he had built for his family. Within the next few years, however, as the business district of the town enlarged, Mrs. Riggs, with her daughters, built the beautiful home at Twelfth and Neosho [1127 Neosho] which ever since has been the family home and in which she and her daughter, Frances, died.
Mrs. Riggs was a descendant of the Washington family, her mother having been Anne Washington Withers. She was born in Georgetown, D.C., and was a woman of superior mind and much sweetness of character.
Family Histories Written
Two genealogies of the Riggs families tell much of its achievements through many generations. One of these, "A Genealogy of the Riggs Family, 1901," had belonged to S. B. Riggs, and was compiled by John H. Wallace, whose grandmother was Elizabeth Riggs Hankins, of the seventh generation in America. "The History of Our Ancestors," compiled by Henry Earle Riggs, of Ann Arbor, Mich., is dated 1915. He is the son of the late Samuel A. Riggs, a pioneer of Lawrence, who was well known in Emporia. This genealogy includes also the Baldridge and Agnew families. It belonged originally to the late Howard Dunlap, and now is in possession of his daughter, Mrs. Earl Lord.
Trace Back to 1590
The Riggs family in America dates back to Edward Riggs, who was born about 1590, in England, and who landed in Boston, Mass., early in the summer of 1633, with his family, consisting of his wife, Elizabeth, two sons and four daughters. From Edward and Elizabeth Riggs are descended many branches of the family, scattered all over the United States. In the Wallace genealogy the names of 281 heads of families named Riggs, or of women of this name whose names were changed by marriage, are mentioned of descendants of Edward Riggs. The children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Stephen B. Riggs constitute the tenth, eleventh and twelfth generations.
Many Religious Leaders
A prominent characteristic of the family, through successive generations, was the large percentage of its members who were governed by strong religious convictions and were active in religious thought and work. The number of Presbyterians is much larger than those of other denominations, and next are the Baptists, Methodists and Christians, in the order named. The number of highly educated and effective ministers bearing the Riggs name on the rolls of the Presbyterian church, past and present, is large. It is probable that no family ever has been more thoroughly imbued with the true spirit of missions. Many of the daughters in the family married Presbyterian ministers, and became the mothers of Presbyterian ministers.
Elias Riggs, D. D., LL.D., of the eighth generation, was graduated from Amherst College in 1829, from Andover Theological seminary in 1832, and soon thereafter was ordained as a missionary, and went abroad under the care of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He served in several countries of Southern Europe and in Asia, he became expert in more than 25 languages, and translated the Bible into Hungarian, Turkish, Armenian and Bulgarian languages, as well as about twenty others. He stands first among all the Oriental scholars this country has produced. He died in Constantinople, in 1901.
Worked Among Indians
Stephen Return Riggs, D. D., LL.D., also of the eighth generation, devoted most of his life to the bettering of the warlike Sioux Indians, in Minnesota. His field was altogether different and more dangerous than thst of his kinsmen in the Orient, but his faith and will carried him to victory. He left to the Indians a written language, and a Bible, grammar and a dictionary in their own tongue. He was with them 40 years, and his son took up the work where he left off.
Among the many public services of early generations of the Riggs family mentioned in the genealogies were holders of commissions of the Colonial government, with the military rank of Captain; deacons, trustees and ruling elders of the church; members of the first church organization in Orange, N.J., selectmen, members of committees of safety; more than a dozen soldiers in the Revolutionary war, born in three states--New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Gen. David Humphreys, son of Daniel and Sarah Riggs Humphreys, a graduate of Yale, was aide-de-camp and private secretary to George Washington, during the Revolution. Humphreys received the British colors from Cornwallis at Yorktown and carried them to congress, for which, and other services, he was voted an elegant sword. As secretary to the legation, in Spain, he shipped to the United States the first Merino sheep ever brought to this country. President Jefferson's inaugural suit was made from Merino wool, presented to him by General Humphreys. He commanded the Connecticut militia in 1812. Phillip Riggs, born in 1744, married and buried five wives. He had settled in Pennsylvania, and was known among others of the Riggs clan as "The Widower from Pennsylvania."
Maintain Round Robin Letter
During the ninth generation of the Riggs family in America, one of its number, Samuel Agnew Riggs, a brother of S. B Riggs, started a round robin family letter. It was sent from one family to another, in many states, each adding his family news before starting the letter again on its journey, until long ago it had become a bulky piece of mail. The letter still goes the rounds, and in Emporia is in charge of Mrs. Earl Lord. Since the death of S. A. Riggs the letter has been kept going largely through the efforts of his son, Harry Earle Riggs, who was the only child of his parents. He married Miss Emma King Hynes, of Lawrence, and they have three daughters and four sons. Mr. Riggs is dean of the engineering school of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and is a national authority on engineering and recently was elected president of the National Society of Engineers. Another brother of S. B. Riggs was Joseph Edmund Riggs, also a pioneer of Lawrence. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Riggs are well known in Emporia, and are Miss Kate Riggs, a member of the faculty of the Lawrence high school; Miss May, secretary to the head of the placement bureau, University of Kansas, and Miss Lucy Riggs, long a national Y.W.C.A. secretary, now a city secretary of the Y.W.C.A. at Jackson, Mich.
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The Emporia Gazette, 15 Sep 1911, Friday
Mrs. Alma Finley is moving into her new house at 1127 Neosho Street.
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The Emporia Gazette, 02 Nov 1937, Tuesday
MRS. ALMA FINLEY DEAD
Emporian, 83 Years Old, Dies This Morning in Hospital
Mrs. Alma Riggs Finley, 1127 Neosho, 83 years old, died this morning at 12:01 o'clock in the Newman Memorial County hospital. Mrs. Finley had been in poor health for about a month. She was taken to the hospital last Wednesday.
Funeral arrangements have not been made.
BORN IN OHIO IN 1854
Alma Withers Riggs, daughter of the late Stephen Baldridge and Evadne Withers Riggs, was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, July 18, 1854, the first child of her parents. With them she came to Emporia, in 1869, and Emporia ever after was her home. She was married to James K. Finley, of Emporia, August 5, 1884. After the death of Mr. Finley, August 24, 1894, Mrs. Finley lived in the Riggs home. She was the last survivor of the six children of Mr. and Mrs. Riggs, four of whom grew to maturity and were residents of Emporia much of their lives. Two young daughters died in Ohio. Miss Frances Agnew Riggs, many years a teacher in the Emporia schools, died March 30, 1915. The only son, Charles Newton Riggs, died May 6, 1926, and the youngest daughter, Anne Washington--Mrs. W. A. Gardner, of Chicago--died December 31, 1925. Stephen B. Riggs died March 18, 1909, and Mrs. Riggs died January 30, 1916.
Six Nieces Survive
The nearest surviving relatives of Mrs. Finley are six nieces: Mrs. Luther Thomas, Detroit, Mich., who was Gladys Riggs, and Mrs. F. J. Freeman, also of Detroit, who was Clora Riggs, daughter of Charles N. Riggs and Mrs. Clora Simpson Riggs; and the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Gardner, who are: Charlotte, Mrs. Sumner McCall, Greenwich, Conn.; Ansonette, Mrs. Maurice Leigh; Olive, Mrs. Lawrence Onderdonk; and Wilimine, Mrs. Everett Cook, all of Winnetka, Ill. Mrs. Finley is survived also by a cousin, Mrs. Earl Lord, of Emporia, whose Grandmother Dunlap was a Riggs, and a sister-in-law, Mrs. May Haines Riggs, of Emporia, who married Charles N. Riggs in 1924.
Taught Music in Emporia
After the death of her husband, Mrs. Finley taught music, and scores of Emporia children got their start in music, with an ever increasing love and appreciation for it, through the careful, painstaking instruction of Mrs. Finley. She loved music, as did all the Riggses, and her teaching was inspired by that love. During two or three decades, in the First Presbyterian church, the Riggs quartet much of the time furnished music for the church services. Mrs. Finley sang soprano, Miss Frances Riggs, alto, Charles Riggs, tenor, and the father, S. B. Riggs, bass. Mrs. May Haines Riggs recalls that, one summer in the eighties, she substituted for the organist in this church, when the Riggs quartet was singing there.
Aided Many Organizations
Mrs. Finley later became a member of the First Congregational church, and taught class after class of young girls in the Sunday school for years. She was an early member of the Literary league, one of the oldest of the women's study clubs, and one of its most interested members. She was a member of the Emporia Women's City club from the time of its organization. She was interested in every phase of the town's cultural development, and her encouragement added weight to any project. Mrs. Frank Nash, 613 Exchange, has a photograph of Mrs. Finley, with seven girls who composed her Sunday school class, made in the nineties. The girls are Mrs. Nash, who was Anna Squires; Mamie Thomas, now Mrs. Raymond Dart, Washington, D.C.; Ethel Brooks, now Mrs. Earl Becker, Emporia; Miss Lucile Owen, Topeka; Ethel Stone, now Mrs. Oscar Stauffer, Arkansas City; and Maggie Painter and Adele Maston, whose addresses are unknown.
Bought the White Property
When the Riggs family came to Emporia, in 1869, they bought of Dr. Allen White his family home, southeast corner of Seventh and Merchant [628 Merchant], the birthplace of W. A. White. At that time the Allen Whites moved to El Dorado. The Riggses added several rooms to the house and made it a commodious residence, a home known for its hospitality, its piety, its general culture and its music. Mr. Riggs was for many years an elder in the First Presbyterian church, was superintendent of its Sunday school, was active in the councils of the organization in whatever capacity he could serve. He died in the home he had built for his family. Within the next few years, however, as the business district of the town enlarged, Mrs. Riggs, with her daughters, built the beautiful home at Twelfth and Neosho [1127 Neosho] which ever since has been the family home and in which she and her daughter, Frances, died.
Mrs. Riggs was a descendant of the Washington family, her mother having been Anne Washington Withers. She was born in Georgetown, D.C., and was a woman of superior mind and much sweetness of character.
Family Histories Written
Two genealogies of the Riggs families tell much of its achievements through many generations. One of these, "A Genealogy of the Riggs Family, 1901," had belonged to S. B. Riggs, and was compiled by John H. Wallace, whose grandmother was Elizabeth Riggs Hankins, of the seventh generation in America. "The History of Our Ancestors," compiled by Henry Earle Riggs, of Ann Arbor, Mich., is dated 1915. He is the son of the late Samuel A. Riggs, a pioneer of Lawrence, who was well known in Emporia. This genealogy includes also the Baldridge and Agnew families. It belonged originally to the late Howard Dunlap, and now is in possession of his daughter, Mrs. Earl Lord.
Trace Back to 1590
The Riggs family in America dates back to Edward Riggs, who was born about 1590, in England, and who landed in Boston, Mass., early in the summer of 1633, with his family, consisting of his wife, Elizabeth, two sons and four daughters. From Edward and Elizabeth Riggs are descended many branches of the family, scattered all over the United States. In the Wallace genealogy the names of 281 heads of families named Riggs, or of women of this name whose names were changed by marriage, are mentioned of descendants of Edward Riggs. The children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Stephen B. Riggs constitute the tenth, eleventh and twelfth generations.
Many Religious Leaders
A prominent characteristic of the family, through successive generations, was the large percentage of its members who were governed by strong religious convictions and were active in religious thought and work. The number of Presbyterians is much larger than those of other denominations, and next are the Baptists, Methodists and Christians, in the order named. The number of highly educated and effective ministers bearing the Riggs name on the rolls of the Presbyterian church, past and present, is large. It is probable that no family ever has been more thoroughly imbued with the true spirit of missions. Many of the daughters in the family married Presbyterian ministers, and became the mothers of Presbyterian ministers.
Elias Riggs, D. D., LL.D., of the eighth generation, was graduated from Amherst College in 1829, from Andover Theological seminary in 1832, and soon thereafter was ordained as a missionary, and went abroad under the care of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He served in several countries of Southern Europe and in Asia, he became expert in more than 25 languages, and translated the Bible into Hungarian, Turkish, Armenian and Bulgarian languages, as well as about twenty others. He stands first among all the Oriental scholars this country has produced. He died in Constantinople, in 1901.
Worked Among Indians
Stephen Return Riggs, D. D., LL.D., also of the eighth generation, devoted most of his life to the bettering of the warlike Sioux Indians, in Minnesota. His field was altogether different and more dangerous than thst of his kinsmen in the Orient, but his faith and will carried him to victory. He left to the Indians a written language, and a Bible, grammar and a dictionary in their own tongue. He was with them 40 years, and his son took up the work where he left off.
Among the many public services of early generations of the Riggs family mentioned in the genealogies were holders of commissions of the Colonial government, with the military rank of Captain; deacons, trustees and ruling elders of the church; members of the first church organization in Orange, N.J., selectmen, members of committees of safety; more than a dozen soldiers in the Revolutionary war, born in three states--New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Gen. David Humphreys, son of Daniel and Sarah Riggs Humphreys, a graduate of Yale, was aide-de-camp and private secretary to George Washington, during the Revolution. Humphreys received the British colors from Cornwallis at Yorktown and carried them to congress, for which, and other services, he was voted an elegant sword. As secretary to the legation, in Spain, he shipped to the United States the first Merino sheep ever brought to this country. President Jefferson's inaugural suit was made from Merino wool, presented to him by General Humphreys. He commanded the Connecticut militia in 1812. Phillip Riggs, born in 1744, married and buried five wives. He had settled in Pennsylvania, and was known among others of the Riggs clan as "The Widower from Pennsylvania."
Maintain Round Robin Letter
During the ninth generation of the Riggs family in America, one of its number, Samuel Agnew Riggs, a brother of S. B Riggs, started a round robin family letter. It was sent from one family to another, in many states, each adding his family news before starting the letter again on its journey, until long ago it had become a bulky piece of mail. The letter still goes the rounds, and in Emporia is in charge of Mrs. Earl Lord. Since the death of S. A. Riggs the letter has been kept going largely through the efforts of his son, Harry Earle Riggs, who was the only child of his parents. He married Miss Emma King Hynes, of Lawrence, and they have three daughters and four sons. Mr. Riggs is dean of the engineering school of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and is a national authority on engineering and recently was elected president of the National Society of Engineers. Another brother of S. B. Riggs was Joseph Edmund Riggs, also a pioneer of Lawrence. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Riggs are well known in Emporia, and are Miss Kate Riggs, a member of the faculty of the Lawrence high school; Miss May, secretary to the head of the placement bureau, University of Kansas, and Miss Lucy Riggs, long a national Y.W.C.A. secretary, now a city secretary of the Y.W.C.A. at Jackson, Mich.
Daughter of Evadne Withers and Stephen Baldridge Riggs. Married to James K. Finley on 05 Aug 1884. On a 1918 map, she owned 40 acres of land approximately where Memorial Lawn Cemetery is now, about from 18th to 21st Streets.
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The Emporia Gazette, 15 Sep 1911, Friday
Mrs. Alma Finley is moving into her new house at 1127 Neosho Street.
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The Emporia Gazette, 02 Nov 1937, Tuesday
MRS. ALMA FINLEY DEAD
Emporian, 83 Years Old, Dies This Morning in Hospital
Mrs. Alma Riggs Finley, 1127 Neosho, 83 years old, died this morning at 12:01 o'clock in the Newman Memorial County hospital. Mrs. Finley had been in poor health for about a month. She was taken to the hospital last Wednesday.
Funeral arrangements have not been made.
BORN IN OHIO IN 1854
Alma Withers Riggs, daughter of the late Stephen Baldridge and Evadne Withers Riggs, was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, July 18, 1854, the first child of her parents. With them she came to Emporia, in 1869, and Emporia ever after was her home. She was married to James K. Finley, of Emporia, August 5, 1884. After the death of Mr. Finley, August 24, 1894, Mrs. Finley lived in the Riggs home. She was the last survivor of the six children of Mr. and Mrs. Riggs, four of whom grew to maturity and were residents of Emporia much of their lives. Two young daughters died in Ohio. Miss Frances Agnew Riggs, many years a teacher in the Emporia schools, died March 30, 1915. The only son, Charles Newton Riggs, died May 6, 1926, and the youngest daughter, Anne Washington--Mrs. W. A. Gardner, of Chicago--died December 31, 1925. Stephen B. Riggs died March 18, 1909, and Mrs. Riggs died January 30, 1916.
Six Nieces Survive
The nearest surviving relatives of Mrs. Finley are six nieces: Mrs. Luther Thomas, Detroit, Mich., who was Gladys Riggs, and Mrs. F. J. Freeman, also of Detroit, who was Clora Riggs, daughter of Charles N. Riggs and Mrs. Clora Simpson Riggs; and the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Gardner, who are: Charlotte, Mrs. Sumner McCall, Greenwich, Conn.; Ansonette, Mrs. Maurice Leigh; Olive, Mrs. Lawrence Onderdonk; and Wilimine, Mrs. Everett Cook, all of Winnetka, Ill. Mrs. Finley is survived also by a cousin, Mrs. Earl Lord, of Emporia, whose Grandmother Dunlap was a Riggs, and a sister-in-law, Mrs. May Haines Riggs, of Emporia, who married Charles N. Riggs in 1924.
Taught Music in Emporia
After the death of her husband, Mrs. Finley taught music, and scores of Emporia children got their start in music, with an ever increasing love and appreciation for it, through the careful, painstaking instruction of Mrs. Finley. She loved music, as did all the Riggses, and her teaching was inspired by that love. During two or three decades, in the First Presbyterian church, the Riggs quartet much of the time furnished music for the church services. Mrs. Finley sang soprano, Miss Frances Riggs, alto, Charles Riggs, tenor, and the father, S. B. Riggs, bass. Mrs. May Haines Riggs recalls that, one summer in the eighties, she substituted for the organist in this church, when the Riggs quartet was singing there.
Aided Many Organizations
Mrs. Finley later became a member of the First Congregational church, and taught class after class of young girls in the Sunday school for years. She was an early member of the Literary league, one of the oldest of the women's study clubs, and one of its most interested members. She was a member of the Emporia Women's City club from the time of its organization. She was interested in every phase of the town's cultural development, and her encouragement added weight to any project. Mrs. Frank Nash, 613 Exchange, has a photograph of Mrs. Finley, with seven girls who composed her Sunday school class, made in the nineties. The girls are Mrs. Nash, who was Anna Squires; Mamie Thomas, now Mrs. Raymond Dart, Washington, D.C.; Ethel Brooks, now Mrs. Earl Becker, Emporia; Miss Lucile Owen, Topeka; Ethel Stone, now Mrs. Oscar Stauffer, Arkansas City; and Maggie Painter and Adele Maston, whose addresses are unknown.
Bought the White Property
When the Riggs family came to Emporia, in 1869, they bought of Dr. Allen White his family home, southeast corner of Seventh and Merchant [628 Merchant], the birthplace of W. A. White. At that time the Allen Whites moved to El Dorado. The Riggses added several rooms to the house and made it a commodious residence, a home known for its hospitality, its piety, its general culture and its music. Mr. Riggs was for many years an elder in the First Presbyterian church, was superintendent of its Sunday school, was active in the councils of the organization in whatever capacity he could serve. He died in the home he had built for his family. Within the next few years, however, as the business district of the town enlarged, Mrs. Riggs, with her daughters, built the beautiful home at Twelfth and Neosho [1127 Neosho] which ever since has been the family home and in which she and her daughter, Frances, died.
Mrs. Riggs was a descendant of the Washington family, her mother having been Anne Washington Withers. She was born in Georgetown, D.C., and was a woman of superior mind and much sweetness of character.
Family Histories Written
Two genealogies of the Riggs families tell much of its achievements through many generations. One of these, "A Genealogy of the Riggs Family, 1901," had belonged to S. B. Riggs, and was compiled by John H. Wallace, whose grandmother was Elizabeth Riggs Hankins, of the seventh generation in America. "The History of Our Ancestors," compiled by Henry Earle Riggs, of Ann Arbor, Mich., is dated 1915. He is the son of the late Samuel A. Riggs, a pioneer of Lawrence, who was well known in Emporia. This genealogy includes also the Baldridge and Agnew families. It belonged originally to the late Howard Dunlap, and now is in possession of his daughter, Mrs. Earl Lord.
Trace Back to 1590
The Riggs family in America dates back to Edward Riggs, who was born about 1590, in England, and who landed in Boston, Mass., early in the summer of 1633, with his family, consisting of his wife, Elizabeth, two sons and four daughters. From Edward and Elizabeth Riggs are descended many branches of the family, scattered all over the United States. In the Wallace genealogy the names of 281 heads of families named Riggs, or of women of this name whose names were changed by marriage, are mentioned of descendants of Edward Riggs. The children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Stephen B. Riggs constitute the tenth, eleventh and twelfth generations.
Many Religious Leaders
A prominent characteristic of the family, through successive generations, was the large percentage of its members who were governed by strong religious convictions and were active in religious thought and work. The number of Presbyterians is much larger than those of other denominations, and next are the Baptists, Methodists and Christians, in the order named. The number of highly educated and effective ministers bearing the Riggs name on the rolls of the Presbyterian church, past and present, is large. It is probable that no family ever has been more thoroughly imbued with the true spirit of missions. Many of the daughters in the family married Presbyterian ministers, and became the mothers of Presbyterian ministers.
Elias Riggs, D. D., LL.D., of the eighth generation, was graduated from Amherst College in 1829, from Andover Theological seminary in 1832, and soon thereafter was ordained as a missionary, and went abroad under the care of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He served in several countries of Southern Europe and in Asia, he became expert in more than 25 languages, and translated the Bible into Hungarian, Turkish, Armenian and Bulgarian languages, as well as about twenty others. He stands first among all the Oriental scholars this country has produced. He died in Constantinople, in 1901.
Worked Among Indians
Stephen Return Riggs, D. D., LL.D., also of the eighth generation, devoted most of his life to the bettering of the warlike Sioux Indians, in Minnesota. His field was altogether different and more dangerous than thst of his kinsmen in the Orient, but his faith and will carried him to victory. He left to the Indians a written language, and a Bible, grammar and a dictionary in their own tongue. He was with them 40 years, and his son took up the work where he left off.
Among the many public services of early generations of the Riggs family mentioned in the genealogies were holders of commissions of the Colonial government, with the military rank of Captain; deacons, trustees and ruling elders of the church; members of the first church organization in Orange, N.J., selectmen, members of committees of safety; more than a dozen soldiers in the Revolutionary war, born in three states--New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Gen. David Humphreys, son of Daniel and Sarah Riggs Humphreys, a graduate of Yale, was aide-de-camp and private secretary to George Washington, during the Revolution. Humphreys received the British colors from Cornwallis at Yorktown and carried them to congress, for which, and other services, he was voted an elegant sword. As secretary to the legation, in Spain, he shipped to the United States the first Merino sheep ever brought to this country. President Jefferson's inaugural suit was made from Merino wool, presented to him by General Humphreys. He commanded the Connecticut militia in 1812. Phillip Riggs, born in 1744, married and buried five wives. He had settled in Pennsylvania, and was known among others of the Riggs clan as "The Widower from Pennsylvania."
Maintain Round Robin Letter
During the ninth generation of the Riggs family in America, one of its number, Samuel Agnew Riggs, a brother of S. B Riggs, started a round robin family letter. It was sent from one family to another, in many states, each adding his family news before starting the letter again on its journey, until long ago it had become a bulky piece of mail. The letter still goes the rounds, and in Emporia is in charge of Mrs. Earl Lord. Since the death of S. A. Riggs the letter has been kept going largely through the efforts of his son, Harry Earle Riggs, who was the only child of his parents. He married Miss Emma King Hynes, of Lawrence, and they have three daughters and four sons. Mr. Riggs is dean of the engineering school of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and is a national authority on engineering and recently was elected president of the National Society of Engineers. Another brother of S. B. Riggs was Joseph Edmund Riggs, also a pioneer of Lawrence. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Riggs are well known in Emporia, and are Miss Kate Riggs, a member of the faculty of the Lawrence high school; Miss May, secretary to the head of the placement bureau, University of Kansas, and Miss Lucy Riggs, long a national Y.W.C.A. secretary, now a city secretary of the Y.W.C.A. at Jackson, Mich.
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The Emporia Gazette, 15 Sep 1911, Friday
Mrs. Alma Finley is moving into her new house at 1127 Neosho Street.
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The Emporia Gazette, 02 Nov 1937, Tuesday
MRS. ALMA FINLEY DEAD
Emporian, 83 Years Old, Dies This Morning in Hospital
Mrs. Alma Riggs Finley, 1127 Neosho, 83 years old, died this morning at 12:01 o'clock in the Newman Memorial County hospital. Mrs. Finley had been in poor health for about a month. She was taken to the hospital last Wednesday.
Funeral arrangements have not been made.
BORN IN OHIO IN 1854
Alma Withers Riggs, daughter of the late Stephen Baldridge and Evadne Withers Riggs, was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, July 18, 1854, the first child of her parents. With them she came to Emporia, in 1869, and Emporia ever after was her home. She was married to James K. Finley, of Emporia, August 5, 1884. After the death of Mr. Finley, August 24, 1894, Mrs. Finley lived in the Riggs home. She was the last survivor of the six children of Mr. and Mrs. Riggs, four of whom grew to maturity and were residents of Emporia much of their lives. Two young daughters died in Ohio. Miss Frances Agnew Riggs, many years a teacher in the Emporia schools, died March 30, 1915. The only son, Charles Newton Riggs, died May 6, 1926, and the youngest daughter, Anne Washington--Mrs. W. A. Gardner, of Chicago--died December 31, 1925. Stephen B. Riggs died March 18, 1909, and Mrs. Riggs died January 30, 1916.
Six Nieces Survive
The nearest surviving relatives of Mrs. Finley are six nieces: Mrs. Luther Thomas, Detroit, Mich., who was Gladys Riggs, and Mrs. F. J. Freeman, also of Detroit, who was Clora Riggs, daughter of Charles N. Riggs and Mrs. Clora Simpson Riggs; and the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Gardner, who are: Charlotte, Mrs. Sumner McCall, Greenwich, Conn.; Ansonette, Mrs. Maurice Leigh; Olive, Mrs. Lawrence Onderdonk; and Wilimine, Mrs. Everett Cook, all of Winnetka, Ill. Mrs. Finley is survived also by a cousin, Mrs. Earl Lord, of Emporia, whose Grandmother Dunlap was a Riggs, and a sister-in-law, Mrs. May Haines Riggs, of Emporia, who married Charles N. Riggs in 1924.
Taught Music in Emporia
After the death of her husband, Mrs. Finley taught music, and scores of Emporia children got their start in music, with an ever increasing love and appreciation for it, through the careful, painstaking instruction of Mrs. Finley. She loved music, as did all the Riggses, and her teaching was inspired by that love. During two or three decades, in the First Presbyterian church, the Riggs quartet much of the time furnished music for the church services. Mrs. Finley sang soprano, Miss Frances Riggs, alto, Charles Riggs, tenor, and the father, S. B. Riggs, bass. Mrs. May Haines Riggs recalls that, one summer in the eighties, she substituted for the organist in this church, when the Riggs quartet was singing there.
Aided Many Organizations
Mrs. Finley later became a member of the First Congregational church, and taught class after class of young girls in the Sunday school for years. She was an early member of the Literary league, one of the oldest of the women's study clubs, and one of its most interested members. She was a member of the Emporia Women's City club from the time of its organization. She was interested in every phase of the town's cultural development, and her encouragement added weight to any project. Mrs. Frank Nash, 613 Exchange, has a photograph of Mrs. Finley, with seven girls who composed her Sunday school class, made in the nineties. The girls are Mrs. Nash, who was Anna Squires; Mamie Thomas, now Mrs. Raymond Dart, Washington, D.C.; Ethel Brooks, now Mrs. Earl Becker, Emporia; Miss Lucile Owen, Topeka; Ethel Stone, now Mrs. Oscar Stauffer, Arkansas City; and Maggie Painter and Adele Maston, whose addresses are unknown.
Bought the White Property
When the Riggs family came to Emporia, in 1869, they bought of Dr. Allen White his family home, southeast corner of Seventh and Merchant [628 Merchant], the birthplace of W. A. White. At that time the Allen Whites moved to El Dorado. The Riggses added several rooms to the house and made it a commodious residence, a home known for its hospitality, its piety, its general culture and its music. Mr. Riggs was for many years an elder in the First Presbyterian church, was superintendent of its Sunday school, was active in the councils of the organization in whatever capacity he could serve. He died in the home he had built for his family. Within the next few years, however, as the business district of the town enlarged, Mrs. Riggs, with her daughters, built the beautiful home at Twelfth and Neosho [1127 Neosho] which ever since has been the family home and in which she and her daughter, Frances, died.
Mrs. Riggs was a descendant of the Washington family, her mother having been Anne Washington Withers. She was born in Georgetown, D.C., and was a woman of superior mind and much sweetness of character.
Family Histories Written
Two genealogies of the Riggs families tell much of its achievements through many generations. One of these, "A Genealogy of the Riggs Family, 1901," had belonged to S. B. Riggs, and was compiled by John H. Wallace, whose grandmother was Elizabeth Riggs Hankins, of the seventh generation in America. "The History of Our Ancestors," compiled by Henry Earle Riggs, of Ann Arbor, Mich., is dated 1915. He is the son of the late Samuel A. Riggs, a pioneer of Lawrence, who was well known in Emporia. This genealogy includes also the Baldridge and Agnew families. It belonged originally to the late Howard Dunlap, and now is in possession of his daughter, Mrs. Earl Lord.
Trace Back to 1590
The Riggs family in America dates back to Edward Riggs, who was born about 1590, in England, and who landed in Boston, Mass., early in the summer of 1633, with his family, consisting of his wife, Elizabeth, two sons and four daughters. From Edward and Elizabeth Riggs are descended many branches of the family, scattered all over the United States. In the Wallace genealogy the names of 281 heads of families named Riggs, or of women of this name whose names were changed by marriage, are mentioned of descendants of Edward Riggs. The children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Stephen B. Riggs constitute the tenth, eleventh and twelfth generations.
Many Religious Leaders
A prominent characteristic of the family, through successive generations, was the large percentage of its members who were governed by strong religious convictions and were active in religious thought and work. The number of Presbyterians is much larger than those of other denominations, and next are the Baptists, Methodists and Christians, in the order named. The number of highly educated and effective ministers bearing the Riggs name on the rolls of the Presbyterian church, past and present, is large. It is probable that no family ever has been more thoroughly imbued with the true spirit of missions. Many of the daughters in the family married Presbyterian ministers, and became the mothers of Presbyterian ministers.
Elias Riggs, D. D., LL.D., of the eighth generation, was graduated from Amherst College in 1829, from Andover Theological seminary in 1832, and soon thereafter was ordained as a missionary, and went abroad under the care of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He served in several countries of Southern Europe and in Asia, he became expert in more than 25 languages, and translated the Bible into Hungarian, Turkish, Armenian and Bulgarian languages, as well as about twenty others. He stands first among all the Oriental scholars this country has produced. He died in Constantinople, in 1901.
Worked Among Indians
Stephen Return Riggs, D. D., LL.D., also of the eighth generation, devoted most of his life to the bettering of the warlike Sioux Indians, in Minnesota. His field was altogether different and more dangerous than thst of his kinsmen in the Orient, but his faith and will carried him to victory. He left to the Indians a written language, and a Bible, grammar and a dictionary in their own tongue. He was with them 40 years, and his son took up the work where he left off.
Among the many public services of early generations of the Riggs family mentioned in the genealogies were holders of commissions of the Colonial government, with the military rank of Captain; deacons, trustees and ruling elders of the church; members of the first church organization in Orange, N.J., selectmen, members of committees of safety; more than a dozen soldiers in the Revolutionary war, born in three states--New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Gen. David Humphreys, son of Daniel and Sarah Riggs Humphreys, a graduate of Yale, was aide-de-camp and private secretary to George Washington, during the Revolution. Humphreys received the British colors from Cornwallis at Yorktown and carried them to congress, for which, and other services, he was voted an elegant sword. As secretary to the legation, in Spain, he shipped to the United States the first Merino sheep ever brought to this country. President Jefferson's inaugural suit was made from Merino wool, presented to him by General Humphreys. He commanded the Connecticut militia in 1812. Phillip Riggs, born in 1744, married and buried five wives. He had settled in Pennsylvania, and was known among others of the Riggs clan as "The Widower from Pennsylvania."
Maintain Round Robin Letter
During the ninth generation of the Riggs family in America, one of its number, Samuel Agnew Riggs, a brother of S. B Riggs, started a round robin family letter. It was sent from one family to another, in many states, each adding his family news before starting the letter again on its journey, until long ago it had become a bulky piece of mail. The letter still goes the rounds, and in Emporia is in charge of Mrs. Earl Lord. Since the death of S. A. Riggs the letter has been kept going largely through the efforts of his son, Harry Earle Riggs, who was the only child of his parents. He married Miss Emma King Hynes, of Lawrence, and they have three daughters and four sons. Mr. Riggs is dean of the engineering school of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and is a national authority on engineering and recently was elected president of the National Society of Engineers. Another brother of S. B. Riggs was Joseph Edmund Riggs, also a pioneer of Lawrence. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Riggs are well known in Emporia, and are Miss Kate Riggs, a member of the faculty of the Lawrence high school; Miss May, secretary to the head of the placement bureau, University of Kansas, and Miss Lucy Riggs, long a national Y.W.C.A. secretary, now a city secretary of the Y.W.C.A. at Jackson, Mich.
Family Members
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