Parmenas Briscoe
{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| office = President Pro Tempore of the Mississippi State Senate
| order = 2nd
| term_start1 = January 1844
| term_end1 = January 1850
| term2 =
| termstart3 = January 1830
| termend3 = January 1833
| termstart4 = January 1828
| termend4 = January 1830
| state_senate1 = Mississippi State
| state_house4 = Mississippi
| district4 = Claiborne County
| district1 = Claiborne County
| termstart2 = January 1834
| termend2 = January 1836
| term_start = January 1834
| term_end = January 1836
| birth_date = {{birth date|1784|1|23}}
| birth_place = Virginia, U.S.
| party = Democratic
| predecessor = Charles Lynch
| successor = W. Van Norman
| successor1 = George Torrey
| successor2 = James H. Maury
| predecessor1 = Benjamin G. Humphreys
| predecessor2 = Adam Gordon
| successor3 = Adam Gordon
| predecessor3 = Thomas Freeland
| death_date = {{death date and age|1850|11|29|1784|1|23}}
| death_place = At sea, near Acapulco, Mexico
| children = 12, including Andrew
}}
Parmenas Briscoe (January 23, 1784 - November 29, 1850) was an American planter and longtime state legislator in Mississippi. He represented Claiborne County in the Mississippi House of Representatives and Mississippi Senate on and off between 1828 and 1850. He also was the second President of the Mississippi State Senate, serving from 1834 to 1836.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UPExAQAAMAAJ&dq=parmenas+briscoe&pg=PA460|title=A History of Mississippi: From the Discovery of the Great River by Hernando DeSoto, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French Under Iberville, to the Death of Jefferson Davis|first1=Robert|last1=Lowry|first2=William H.|last2=McCardle|date=July 2, 1891|publisher=AMS Press|isbn=9780404046101|via=Google Books}}
Early life
Parmenas Briscoe was born on January 23, 1784, in Virginia.{{Cite news |date=1846-02-09 |title=Mississippi Legislature Names & Ages 1846 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/southern-reformer-mississippi-legislatur/149902440/ |access-date=2024-06-25 |work=Southern Reformer |pages=2}}{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Jefferson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXonmIMRI4oC |title=The Papers of Jefferson Davis: June 1841–July 1846 |date=1975-02-01 |publisher=LSU Press |isbn=978-0-8071-0082-0 |pages=81 |language=en}} He was the son of William Briscoe and Elizabeth Wallace Briscoe. His family lived in Madison County, Kentucky, but Parmenas moved to Mississippi at the turn of the 19th century. He served as a captain{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UPExAQAAMAAJ&dq=parmenas+briscoe&pg=PA460|title=A History of Mississippi: From the Discovery of the Great River by Hernando DeSoto, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French Under Iberville, to the Death of Jefferson Davis|first1=Robert|last1=Lowry|first2=William H.|last2=McCardle|date=July 2, 1891|publisher=AMS Press|isbn=9780404046101|via=Google Books}} in the Creek War and in July 1812 was the general in the Mississippi State Militia.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4ITAQAAMAAJ&q=parmenas+briscoe|title=News-letter|date=July 2, 1949|publisher=The Society|via=Google Books}} Briscoe was a planter.
Political career
Briscoe served as county tax assessor and collector from 1816 to 1821. In 1828 and 1829, Briscoe represented Claiborne County in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He was then elected to represent the same county in the Mississippi State Senate in the 1830 and 1831 sessions. He then served in the 1835 session. From 1834 to 1836, Briscoe was the President of the Mississippi State Senate.{{Cite book |last=Watson |first=Michael |url=https://sos.ms.gov/communications-publications/2020-2024-mississippi-blue-book |title=2020-2024 Statistical Register |publisher=Mississippi Secretary of State |year=2021 |chapter=Historical and Statistical Information |chapter-url=https://www.sos.ms.gov/content/documents/ed_pubs/pubs/BlueBook20-24/14%20Historical%20and%20Statistical%20Info.pdf}} Briscoe was elected to the Senate again as a Democrat and served in the 1844, 1846, and 1848 sessions. In 1850 Briscoe decided to temporarily move to California for the purpose of making money. Briscoe died at sea on the way home on November 29, 1850, on the steamer Montezuma near Acapulco, Mexico. Briscoe was buried at sea.
Personal life
Briscoe married twice. He and his first wife had one son, John. He married his second wife, Mary "Polly" Montgomery (1794-1845) on December 18, 1809. They had five sons and six daughters together. One of their sons, Andrew (born 1810), moved to Texas and became prominent there, later having a county named after him.
References
{{Reflist}}{{MS Senate Presidents Pro Tempore}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Briscoe, Parmenas}}
Category:People who died at sea
Category:Presidents pro tempore of the Mississippi State Senate
Category:People from Claiborne County, Mississippi
Category:Democratic Party Mississippi state senators
Category:Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives
Category:19th-century American planters
Category:19th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature