Capt Gideon Riggs
Birth: 1713
Orange
Essex County
New Jersey, USA
Death: Jan. 24, 1786
Morristown
Morris County
New Jersey, USA
Served as a private in Captain John Lindsley's Company of Morris County militia in 1778.
Contributed by Dan Silva.
---------
Gideon Riggs was the son of Sarah (1683-1735) and Joseph Riggs (1675-1744).
He married Rebekah Hand (1716-1785) about 1742 in New Jersey.
Children:
• Joseph (1743-1814) •
• Martha (1744-1777)
• Abigail (Riggs) Prudden (1747-1805)
• Phoebe (Riggs) Tarbell (1749-1781)
• Gideon (1753-1830)
• Josiah (1755-1831)
• Aaron (1756-1826)
• Rachel (Riggs) Wood (1759-__)
Gideon Riggs was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. He served in 1778, at the advanced age of 65, as a private in Captain John Lindsley's Company, Colonel Sylvanus Seeley's Eastern Battalion, Morris County, New Jersey Militia, beside his son, Joseph. His survivor's pension number is S4-330. It would be hard to suppose that one could live so close to the storm center of the Revolution and not be identified with one side or the other. Gideon, like all the Riggs', was a Patriot. It is worthy of note that New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York all had many by the name of Riggs in Revolutionary Service. After the war, Gideon returned to farming and thus spent the balance of his days.
Gideon's will is found in the New Jersey Archives Volume No. 37, and is from Book 33 of Wills, page 324. His will was executed on August 24, 1785, but was not probated until March 15, 1793, even though the record of the Presbyterian Church shows that Gideon died "of fever" on January 23, 1786.
Note that his headstone indicated he died on January 24, 1786.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12308141
