Thomas Driggers

Biography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Driggus

Emanuel Driggus (surname was possibly derived from Rodriguez) (b. c. 1620s-d. 1673) and his wife Frances were Atlantic Creole slaves in the mid-seventeenth century in Virginia, of the Chesapeake Bay Colony. They first appear in a record of sale in 1640 to Captain Francis Potts; at the time they arranged for a contract of limited indenture for their two children in service.[1] The Driggus couple had other children, who were born into slavery. In 1657, Captain Potts sold two of their children, Thomas and Ann Driggus, to pay off some personal debt.[1]

Driggus was freed after the death of Potts in 1658. By then he was a widower and had remarried, but he continued to provide for the enslaved children from his first marriage. He bequeathed a horse to his daughters Francy and Jane before his death in 1673.[2]

His son Thomas Driggus eventually married a free black woman; because she was free, their children were born free.[1] According to the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, adopted into Virginia law in 1662, children born in the colony took the status of their mother. This principle, which contributed to the expansion of chattel slavery, was widely adopted by other colonies and incorporated into state laws after the American Revolutionary War.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Driggers-126

"Emmanuel's son Thomas married Sarah King (1645-1701), daughter of another of the earliest slaves known in the colonies, King Tony Negro. She was proven to be free and was in and out of the courts with charging others of theft and sometimes charged herself and lashed. Thomas was a violent and abusive man. The line continues as Thomas' son Johnson (1716) who served in the French and Indian Wars in 1754, marries a Mary Johnson and has a son William Driggers (1730-1822) who served in the Revolutionary War under General Marion, who marries Sarah Futch (1731) who has a son Jonas 1755-1822) who served in the Revolutionary War under General Marion who marries an Eleanor Lastinger (1756-1860), who has a daughter...

---

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/drigge...

Emanuel Rodriguez, progenitor of the Driggers, is among the first Africans in this country whose biographies can be constructed from the records of the period. Secondly, unlike the Pendarvises who were the heirs of a wealthy white father, Emanuel Drigger (as his name came to be Anglicized), although a free man, had only his work and wits with which to hold on to whatever advantages came with being among the earliest non-natives to establish themselves in this country. …

---

Television documentary narrated by Morgan Freeman: Slavery and the Making of America -Episode 1 - The Downward Spiral is the first hour of the four-part series, Slavery and The Making of America. Through the lives of Anthony Portuguese, John Punch, Emmanuel Driggus, Frances Driggus, and several others, this hour tells the complicated story of the establishment of slavery in British America (albeit natives owned slaves after each war and Spanish had slaves), the transition from indentured servitude and 'half freedom' to African and African-American enslavement for life, the brief but bloody Stono Rebellion of 1739 in South Carolina, and the establishment of the 'Black Codes,' regulating virtually every aspect of slave life. Episode one opens in the 1620s with the introduction of 11 men of African descent and mixed ethnicity into slavery in New Amsterdam. Working side by side with white indentured servants, these men labored to lay the foundations of the Dutch colony that would later become New York. There were no laws defining the limitations imposed on slaves at this point in time. Enslaved people, such as Anthony d'Angola, Emmanuel Driggus, and Frances Driggus could bring suits to court, earn wages, and marry. But in the span of a hundred years, everything changed. By the early 18th century, the trade of African slaves in America was expanding to accommodate an agricultural economy growing in the hands of ambitious planters. After the 1731 Stono Rebellion (a violent uprising led by a slave named Jemmy) many colonies adopted strict "Black Codes" trans-forming the social system into one of legal racial oppression. From IMBD.com

Family

Work in progress as of Sept 2021

Emmanuel married Frances Driggers, Ginquasquoa Algonquian. Together they had the following children: Elizabeth Driggers; Frances Driggers; Thomas Driggers; Jane Driggers; Edward Driggers.

He died in 1685 in Northampton County, Virginia, United States.

References

• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Driggers-126 Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown] [sibling%28s%29 unknown]
• https://sites.rootsweb.com/~flbakehs/DriggersFamilyResearch.pdf
• http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Driggers_Dutchfield.htm Emmanuel Rodriguez Driggers - Slave on Portugueeze owned ship. Main Researchers - African American Museum - Smithsonian Exhibit on Emmanuel Driggers.
• MyHeritage Family Trees Keeper of The Family_s Tree (2) in Harwood Web Site, managed by Loriann Harwood Birth: 1620 - Angola via Portugueese Vessel Death: 1685 - Northampton, Virginia, USA Wife: Elizabeth Driggers Children: Elizabeth Driggers, Frances Driggers, Jane Driggers, Thomas Driggers, Ann Driggers, Edward Driggers, Devorax Driggers, Mary Driggers
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Driggus
• https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.php?b=Driggus_Emanuel
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ysKSVJEmCc&t=1063s This video shows Emmanuel Driggers information
• https://docplayer.net/75435801-African-american-origins-for-sandra-...
• http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Driggers_Dutchfield.htm iv. Thomas1, born about 1644.
• https://sites.rootsweb.com/~flbakehs/DriggersFamilyResearch.pdf