Person:Joseph Riggs (1)

"6. Joseph Riggs³ was born at Milford, Conn., about 1642, and was the first of the tribe to bear the much duplicated name, Joseph. He had been favored with some advantages of an early education, as was shown in his business capacity in the management of the affairs of the new plantation at Newark, He was still single in 1667, and lived with his father and mother. Although he was a 'planter' and not the head of a family, no home lot had been assigned to him. His father died in 1668, and his mother, contemplating marriage, in 1671 conveyed to him one-half of the original home lot assigned to Edward’s family. He then had a place for a family, and he married Hannah Browne, daughter of John Browne, one of the planters with his father at Derby as well as at Newark. At that day there was abundant reason for maintaining an effective military organization, and Joseph was made commander of it. He was a man of much force of character, and looked after the moral and religious welfare of the community, and it is a matter of record that he put 'the floor in the Meeting House.' In his will, dated January, 1689, he names his four children and makes provision for them on arriving at the age of maturity. He seems to have expected that his wife would marry again, and in this he was right, for she married Aaron Thompson. Although he had three sons and a daughter, as his father had, and although he was so capable in the management of men and affairs, his descendants have amounted to very little in either numbers or influence in the great tribe of his kinsmen.^[2]

1. ↑ See Riggs Surname Study for additional discussion and sources
   Accessed 8 Aug 2013.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Wallace, John H. (John Hankins). Genealogy of the Riggs Family: With a Number of Cognate Branches Descended from the Original Edward, through Female Lines, and Many Biographical Outlines. (New York: The Author, 1901).