John F. Driggs

This article is about specific member of the Driggs family. For the family itself, see Driggs family.

John Fletcher Driggs (March 8, 1813 – December 17, 1877) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.

Biography

Driggs was born in Kinderhook, New York. He completed preparatory studies and moved with his parents to Tarrytown, New York, in 1825. He moved to New York City in 1827, where he was an apprentice, journeyman, and master mechanic in the trade of sash, door, and blind manufacturing, 1829–1856. He was superintendent of the New York penitentiary and public institutions on Blackwells Island in 1844

Driggs moved to Michigan in 1856 and engaged in the real-estate business and salt manufacturing. He was president of the common council of East Saginaw, Michigan, in 1858. He was a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, 1859–1860. He was tendered an appointment as colonel during the Civil War and organized the Twenty-ninth Michigan Infantry, July 29, 1864.

Driggs was elected as a Republican becoming the first person to represent Michigan's 6th congressional district to the 38th, 39th, and 40th Congresses, serving from March 4, 1863 to March 3, 1869. He was one of the committee members appointed to accompany the body of President Abraham Lincoln to Springfield, Illinois, for interment.

Driggs was injured by a fall on the ice in the winter of 1875–1876, as a result of which he died in East Saginaw. He was interred in Brady Hill Cemetery, Saginaw and was re-interred in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Saginaw.

References

• John F. Driggs at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-02-14
• The Political Graveyard

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by None	United States Representative for the 6th Congressional District of Michigan 1863 – 1869	Succeeded by Randolph Strickland

Persondata
Name	Driggs, John Fletcher
Alternative names
Short description	Union Army officer, politician
Date of birth	March 8, 1813
Place of birth	Kinderhook, New York
Date of death	December 17, 1877
Place of death	East Saginaw, Michigan