Driggs family

The Driggs Family is a prominent American business family descended from Joseph Driggs of Middletown and East Haddam, Connecticut (died November 1748).^[1]

Origin of Joseph Driggs

Joseph Driggs is of undetermined ancestry. In 1959, Howard R. Driggs, in his genealogy of the Driggs family, suggested that Joseph Driggs may have been born Josias Drake, Jr., the son of Josias Janszen Drats (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Josias de Raet) of Amsterdam and Aeltje Brouwer of Gowanus.^[2] His statements were based upon the work of some earlier Driggs family researchers, and Howard R. Driggs was careful to caution that no proof had been found to support the claim.

This "theory" has now been disproved through the Y-DNA testing of a confirmed direct descendant of Joseph Driggs and confirmed descendants of Josias Janszen Drats. Results of the testing show that any common ancestor of Joseph Driggs and Josias Janszen Drats would have lived more than 35,000 years ago.^[3] Based on the DNA testing and a review of old family letters and stories, it appears that Joseph Driggs was the anglicized name of José Rodrigues from Portugal.^[4]

Notable members of the family

• Adam Driggs was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2006.
• Carlo Driggs, Lead singer of Paul Revere & the Raiders from 1983–2006
• Deborah Driggs, Playboy model and actress.
• Don Carlos Driggs, founder of Driggs, Idaho
• Benjamin Woodbury Driggs, Jr., founder of Driggs, Idaho, and the first Teton County Prosecuting Attorney
• Edmund H. Driggs, a United States Representative from New York
• Elsie Driggs, an American painter mostly known for her contributions to the Precisionism movement of the 1920s
• Frank Driggs, a Great Depression era Grammy Award winning musician and author
• George W. Driggs, US Consul to the Turks Islands in 1874 ^[5]
• H. Wayne Driggs, wrote the original script for the Hill Cumorah Pageant, used from 1937 to 1987
• Howard R. Driggs, a prominent author, and Professor at the University of Utah (1897–1923), and New York University (1923–1942). Emeritus from 1942–1963
• John D. Driggs, former Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona
• John F. Driggs, a United States Representative from Michigan, and the first person to represent Michigan's 6th congressional district
• Junius ElMarion Driggs, CEO and co-founder of now-defunct Western Savings and Loan, and President of the Mesa Arizona Temple from 1975–1980
• The King Sisters, a Big Band era quartet

Other endeavors or accomplishments of the Driggs family

In 2002, Scott and Kevin Driggs started Driggs Search International, a business that aids companies in attracting top talent. They are grandchildren of the family members who started Western Savings and Loan in Arizona in 1920.^[6]

Notes

1. Howard R. Driggs, Driggs Family History (Salt Lake City: Publisher's Press, 1959)
2. Driggs (1959), p. 23
3. Chris Chester, "Joseph Driggs is Not Josias Drake, Jr.," 2008. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~brouwergenealogydata/Research/joseph%20driggs%20is%20not%20josias%20drake.pdf
4. "Joseph Driggs of Conn. was actually José Rodrigues of Portugal," online at http://genforum.genealogy.com/driggs/messages/192.html
5. The Political Graveyard
6. Official Site of Driggssearch International. Retrieved on September 20, 2007.

References

• Driggs, Howard Roscoe, Driggs family history, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1959