STANDARD ATLAS
OF
SCOTT COUNTY, ILLINOIS
1903
Geo. A. Ogle & Co.Publishers & Engravers
134 Van Buren St.
Chicago
Page 117
James M. Riggs, son of John A. and Orpha (Campbell) Riggs, and grandson of Scott and Hannah Riggs, was born in Scott county, Illinois, four and one-half miles north and one mile west of Winchester, April 17, 1839. Having been bereft of his father when a little over four years old he was reared by his mother, a conscientious, christian woman, to whom he owes whatever there has been in his character good and worthy. He was reared to farming and followed that business till the autumn of 1864, when having been elected sheriff, he removed to Winchester, where he has resided ever since. During the two years he was sheriff and the two years following, while he was teaching school at the Seminary and at Point Pleasant, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar the last of December, 1868. May 1, 1869, he opened a law office in Winchester and from that day to this he has devoted the best energies of his life to the practice of his profession. In November, 1870, he was elected to the twenty-seventh general assembly of Illinois, and served one two-year term as a member of the house of that body. In November, 1872, he was elected state's attorney of Scott county and served one term of four years. At the election of 1882 he was elected to the forty-eighth congress and was re-elected in 1884. In August, 1867, he was elected a member of the Winchester school board and by repeated re-elections was continued in that office sixteen consecutive years, during all of which time he was the secretary of the board, kept the records and accounts of the board, drew all the warrants, and received no pay whatever therefor.
December 31, 868, he married Lillie E. Berry, daughter of Dr. Lucian and Emma L. Berry. To this union have been born the following named children: Lecie I. Riggs; Ralph M. Riggs; Roy W. Riggs; Lucian B. Riggs; Cecil O. Riggs; James K. Riggs; Lillie Belle Riggs and John Max Riggs, all of whom are living except Lillie Belle, who died when four months old.
The subject of this brief biography is the author of the History of Scott county published in this volume.