Chapter VI

David Briggs and his Descendants

Contributed By: Patricia Ann Briggs Hagen

    David Briggs, son of Robert Bridges and Mary Landon Bridges, was born in Fifeshire, Scotland on May 9, 1730. At the age of 22 he came to America and settled in Virginia. There on April 20, 1771, he married Jean McDonald, third daughter of Reverend Neal (Daniel) McDonald and Ellen Barret McDonald. David’s name was changed from Bridges to Briggs in school. He was educated for the ministry in the established Presbyterian Church but decided to come to America instead.

    Arriving in America, David located at Falmouth, Virginia and went into the mercantile business – exports and imports – and made a fortune. His residence in Falmouth, VA was called “Stoney Hill” or “Stony Hill” farm and adjoined the estate of  Mary Washington, mother of George Washington.

    David was also an attorney. Records show he was the executor of the estate of a Charles Mercer, attorney for Mary Washington. During the Revolutionary War, David Briggs was the custodian of the interned British Merchant Ships and on one occasion, turned over to the Federal Government, twenty-two ships.

    David was a large property owner in the County of  Stafford. In 1790 he was recorded in the first census of the United States. This census states that he owned five houses.

    David’s will is recorded in the Stafford Court House.

 

Excerpts taken from:

History of the BRIGGS-BRIDGE Family

Since its Settlement in America (Virginia) in 1752

Mansfield, Dolorus Briggs

Publication:  Pawnee, IL by Mrs. Julia Bentley Wheeler Sloman

 

* From the inscriptions on the grave stones at Stoney Hill (Briggs Family Cemetery #2), Jean died on June 6, 1810 at the age of 50 years and David died December 3, 1815.