Hello,
Arey Delong Briggs is part of my wife's family that was included with my own family file that I added to Geni.. Most of that info came from my wife's Aunt who did the research on that side. She now lives a distance away from us and I don't have the info close at hand but I will send a note to my wife's aunt and see where she got that info.
That said, I did look some stuff up on Ancestry and I am not really sure about Richard but it does look as though Agnes Rogers might indeed be Arey's mother. I found through a DNA connection that my wife and her mom have DNA cousins through Agnes' father Ezekiel Rogers. It looks like they have a cousin through Agnes' sister Ruth Rogers. DNA has really become a 'thing' in genealogy research! You can use it to back up your research - but yes, it is not a substitute for it..
.
Also, it looks like Arey married twice. While you descend from Hannah Van Pelt, my wife's connection is with Arey's first wife Diana Underwood through a daughter, Eliza Briggs. There is a son of Arey and Diana named Richard Briggs (who also connects with DNA) - he may have wound up in Tennessee.
I know that sometimes, back in the day, it was a tradition to use a father's father's first name for the first son - but I know that by itself is hardly proof.
So, we have some clues - maybe some inconclusive things to go on, but I will contact my wife's aunt and see where she got the idea from.
Nice to meet you,
Tim Willis, Voorheesville, NY (just outside Albany)
