William Digges (patriot) explained

William Digges
Office:Member of the Virginia House of Delegates for Warwick County, Virginia
Term:1800 -1794
Preceded:Richard Cary
Succeeded:John Jones
Alongside:Richard Cary, John Burnham, Richard McIntosh
Term1:1789-1794
Preceded1:John Scarsbrooke Langhorne
Succeeded1:Isaac Avery
Alongside1:Hinde Russell
Office2:Member of the Virginia House of Delegates for York County, Virginia
Term2:October 7-December 21, 1776
Preceded2:position created
Succeeded2:Thomas Nelson Jr.
Alongside2:Dudley Digges, Corbin Griffin
Birth Date:December 29, 1742
Birth Place:E.D. plantation, York County, Virginia, Colony of Virginia
Death Date:1804
Death Place:Elizabeth City County, Virginia
Residence:Denbigh plantation, Warwick County, Virginia
Education:College of William and Mary
Occupation:planter, military officer, politician
Spouse:Elizabeth Digges (cousin)
Children:4 daughters
Parents:Edward Digges (burgess), Anne Harrison
Relatives:Cole Digges (cousin); William Digges (uncle and father-in-law), Cole Digges (grandfather)

William Digges (December 29, 1742 – 1804) was a Virginia planter and politician who represented now-defunct Warwick County, in the Virginia House of Delegates (1778-1784) and during the Virginia Ratification Convention of 1788. Although genealogists disagree as to his father, he was the grandson of Cole Digges who helped found Yorktown.[1] [2] [3] [4] The other two related men of the same name were his uncle and father in law William Digges who represented Warwick County for decades before the Revolutionary War, and great uncle William Digges who represented York County before moving to Maryland and serving in both house of that province's legislature. Because this man married his cousin, and the naming conventions of the day did not restrict "Jr" to a son (but could be used for a younger relative of the same name), this man appears to be the William Digges Jr. who represented York County in the final Virginia Convention alongside his uncle Dudley Digges, and then in the first session of the Virginia House of Delegates where he joined Corbin Griffin, before his Warwick County inheritance.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Lyon Gardiner . Tyler . Lyon Gardiner Tyler . Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography . IV . 1915 . 180 . Lewis Historical Publishing Company . New York .
  2. Tyler, Lyon G., "Pedigree of a Representative Virginia Planter", William & Mary Quarterly Jan. 1893 http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/schools/wmmary/quarterly/planter.txt also in Genealogies of Virginia Families: From the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.) 1982) vol. II, pp. 173-174, 185
  3. John Frederick Dorman, Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia 1607-1624/5 (Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc. (4th Ed. 2004)) vol. 1, p. 841-842
  4. Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly pp. 181, 185, 189, 193, 221, 225, 229, 233, 237
  5. Leonard pp. 121 and 123