[1] He was the son of prominent Mississippi state legislator Parmenas Briscoe (1784–1850), and his second wife, Mary "Polly" Montgomery (1794–1845).

He was among the local businessmen who protested the manner in which Mexican authorities collected import duties.

He was jailed with DeWitt Clinton Harris, catalyzing an armed confrontation led by William B. Travis, the second of the Anahuac Disturbances.

He hired workers to grade a roadbed and lay ties for about two miles before running short of capital.

[4] In 1837, the Briscoes resided in a house at the northwest corner of Main Street and Prairie Avenue in Houston.