Category: Richard Briggs

Cherished Family Memories: Sunday Dinner Reflections

On By Vicky BriggsIn Briggs, Evelyn Briggs, Grant Briggs, Irene Matthew, May 2025, Richard BriggsLeave a comment

Picture this…..

It’s a balmy spring afternoon, the sun is out, the piano is playing in the background, there’s conversation all around, kids are playing outside in the backyard, maybe collecting apples from the tree, playing tag or maybe even downstairs sliding back and forth on the rec room floor, adult siblings joking around fighting over their favourite cookie that their mother made and a beautiful lady sitting, listening, looking around at all her family gathered in her home for Sunday dinner.

That’s what it was like when we visited my grandma (Irene Stella Hartford Matthew) in her house in Delta on any given Sunday. My grandpa (Stanley Leonard Briggs) passed away at the age of 53 when I was young (6 years old) and I don’t really remember much about him. I don’t really remember having these dinners until I was a bit older.

My family (my dad, mom, brother and I) were living in New Westminster when Grandpa passed away in 1969, not long before my youngest brother was born. It was unexpected after having heart surgery, which was supposed to fix the problem he had, but had a heart attack about four days after the surgery and didn’t make it. Grandpa passed away 56 years ago today.

Grandma came from a large family where she was the youngest of nine while Grandpa was an only child. Grandpa did most of the household finances, shopping, cooking and other household chores as she was not raised to do those kinds of things. Grandma didn’t go to school as she had an illness when she was quite young, and her parents decided she would stay home and be schooled by her father who was a teacher. Her mother passed away when Grandma was only 14 years old, and three of her sisters ended up taking care of her. She married when she was 22 only to be divorced a short five years later. She married my grandfather a couple of years later.

They had three children – Grant Irving (1940), Irene ‘Evelyn’ (1943) and Stanley ‘Richard’ (1944). All three married and curiously enough, each had three children, just like their parents.

After Grandpa passed, my dad moved our family to his parent’s home. My parents took it upon themselves to show Grandma how to take care of her household which included finances, cooking and outside chores. We lived there only a year, but it is something that I remember quite vividly.

Going back to the ‘picture’ above I asked you to try and see, you can imagine the family gatherings at the house with my dad and his brother and sister, fighting over the cookies (my grandma’s famous heavy cakes), their spouses thinking their crazy, and all nine grandkids playing in different areas of the house and outside.

Grandma always made dinner and if it was someone’s birthday, there was always a homemade angel food cake with that person’s favourite icing and goodies in the middle (mine was Smarties!).

The reason I wanted to do a post like this was to ensure those memories remain for me. I know for my siblings and cousins, the Sunday dinners may have some different memories, but I hope this will help to bring some of the wonderful memories back.

Happy memories! Oh, and Happy 65th Birthday to my beautiful cousin, Sandy!

Exploring Family Nicknames

On By Vicky BriggsIn 2025, Beatrice Eileen Matthew, Evelyn Briggs, Hartford, Henry Clarendon Briggs, Jan 2025, Richard Briggs, Stanley Briggs, Stella Hartford, Thomas A. BriggsLeave a comment

As I had mentioned in my blog post of December 30th, I’m following the program of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks wherein they provide weekly prompts to give ideas for genealogy writing. This week’s prompt is ‘Nickname’. This was a tough one for me as we do have several nicknames in our family tree but some are difficult to determine why they have those nicknames.

The first one that comes to mind is my great-grandfather, Thomas Albert Briggs. Newspaper articles I have found, use the nicknames ‘Dick’ and ‘Dixie’. Having asked a couple of family members if they knew why, they were just as stymied as myself.

All articles are from Newspapers.com: image numbers 63307641, 775512106, 775779796 (missing one)

Other family members I have found to have nicknames are the following:

  • Henry Clarendon Briggs: Harry
  • Beatrice Aileen Matthew: Lena
  • Stella Hartford: Tilla
  • Hazel Evelyn Veronica Tillman (wife of Alfred Penner (Pen) Briggs): Minna
  • Eliza Gregory (wife of John Thomas Herbert Matthew): Lila
  • Helen Frances Jackson (wife of William Irving Briggs): Nell
  • Margaret Henry (wife of Albert James Briggs): Mattie

There are several that have a shortened version of their Christian names:

Ernest → Ernie                 Stanley → Stan                Ronald → Ron

We also have some that use their middle names instead of their given first names:

  • My Aunt Ev whose given first name is Irene after her mother
  • My Uncle Rich whose given first name is Stanley after his father

And finally, there is me! My given Christian name is Veronica and I go by Vicky – to this day, I’m still not sure how I received that nickname.

Nicknames are a part of every family – some you know why and some you just have to scratch your head.

If you know of others in our family, please let us know – bonus if you know why!

Richard Briggs

On By Vicky BriggsIn Briggs, Nov 2021, Richard BriggsLeave a comment

It’s that time again for the next video interview of a member of the Briggs family – Stanley “Richard” Briggs.  Richard is the youngest child of Stanley and Irene Briggs, and my uncle.

Uncle Rich and I met up the week before the interview to have a chat about the questions.  As I had mentioned in my Video Alert post, he had a ton of stories to share!  I knew the interview would be longer than the others that I had done but I was able to “rein” him in a couple of times and we kept it to a short 50 minutes.  I just wanted to ensure there were more stories to share so we can get together again – I’m very much looking forward to it!

During the interview with my Aunt Evelyn, we had issues with the recording so this time we decided (as in my son, Jeremy and I) to use my cell phone hoping the visual would be better.  I do have a new laptop but according to Jeremy, the video would look way better coming from the phone. Well, the visual was immensely better but unfortunately the sound was not (something he happened to mention just before the interview started).  I sincerely apologize for the fact that it is very hard to hear – I found if I used my headphones at full level, it was easier.  We are in the process of trying to get better equipment in the very near future to do this better for everyone to enjoy.

The video will have a blip in the middle as it stopped recording and started again about half way through. I learned something new putting two videos together to make one!

During my visit to Uncle Rich’s home, he shared with me a couple of treasures he had in the spare bedroom – needless to say, I was in awe!  Hoping one day to share pics in future posts.

Any questions or comments for myself or my Uncle Rich, please post them, I would love to hear from you!

Video Interview Alert!

On By Vicky BriggsIn Grant Briggs, Oct 2021, Richard Briggs4 Comments

We’re on a roll with the interviews!  A lot of planning and scheduling goes into setting up and completing the interview but once done, it’s a wonderful feeling of accomplishment for all parties involved.

The next interview will be with my Uncle Rich, also known as Stanley Richard Briggs. He is the youngest child of Stanley and Irene Briggs, and father of three great kids, Michael, Shannon and Dennis.

I was very excited to do this interview because honestly, I really don’t know my Uncle Rich that well.  Yep, I know, hard to believe!  Being the youngest, I have to say his memory is phenomenal – I’m amazed at some of his stories and the clarity with which he relates those memories.  When he starts to answer a question, another story pops into his head – it’s wonderful!  I will definitely have to do another video or two so get ready, Uncle Rich – we’re going to get to know each other very well!

One question Uncle Rich had for my dad’s (Grant Briggs) video interview was, “When do I get the $50 you got for selling my car?”  My dad’s answer was, “Is he that hard up he needs the money now?” Well, let’s see if we have a response from Uncle Rich – I love sibling rivalry!

In the meantime, to get prepared for Uncle Rich’s interview, I did a short interview with my dad, talking about his brother, Richard. 

Enjoy this short interview with my dad, Grant – and get ready for Richard’s interview next weekend.