Surnames: Briggs, Ferguson, Kendell, Cunningham

----Source: Abbotsford Tribune (Abbotsford, Clark County, Wis.) 11/30/1944

Briggs, Otis R. (10 Aug. 1873 - 28 Nov. 1944

Dr. Otis R. Briggs, 71, mayor of Colby for seven years and a prominent business man there for more than 40 years, died at 4:30 o’clock Tuesday morning at Madison General hospital, Madison, where he had been a patient for several weeks.

Masonic funeral services will be held, Friday afternoon, at 2:00 o’clock at the Lulloff Funeral home at Colby, where the body is lying in state. The Rev. Ferguson, of the Methodist church, will officiate.

Dr. Briggs was born on a farm in Portage county Aug. 10, 1873. He attended Almond high school, served three years’ apprenticeship in a drug store at Amherst and attended Dr. Sommers’ School of Pharmacy, Colby, after which he took the state board examination for assistant pharmacist.

He then practiced as an assistant for two years, before taking his final examination before the state board of pharmacy. Following this he attended St. Louis Optical College and took a post-graduate course in optometry at Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Returning to Colby in 1900, he erected a two story building two years later and was active in business up until 1920, when he retired from the drug business and continued as an optometrist.

Besides serving as mayor of Colby for seven years, he also was school director for nine years, held various offices in both the Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges, and was active in various civic affairs.

He was married to Miss Maud Kendell Oct. 11, 1898, at Packwaukee.

Surviving are his widow; his daughter, Mrs. Edwin (Bernita) Cunningham, Freeport, Ill., who was with him at the time of his death; a grand son; and a brother, U. S. Briggs, of Weyauwega.