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Emanuel Driggus AI simulator
(@Emanuel Driggus_simulator)
Hub AI
Emanuel Driggus AI simulator
(@Emanuel Driggus_simulator)
Emanuel Driggus
Emanuel Driggus (fl. 1645–1685) and his wife Frances were enslaved Atlantic Creoles in the mid-seventeenth century in the Colony of Virginia. The name Driggus is likely a corruption of the Portuguese name Rodrigues as he may have been born in the Kingdom of Ndongo (as well as others who were among the First Africans in Virginia, such as John Graweere and Angela). No known records exist confirming his birthplace.
The two 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. 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.
Driggus raised multiple kinds of livestock while enslaved, negotiating with his masters to recognize he owned them legally. He bought and traded them frequently, amassing wealth for himself. Driggus passed down many animals to his children, ostensibly to help them benefit materially.
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 in 1673.
Due to the rise of legal restrictions on free Black people, Driggus faced struggles in the later part of his life. This included being fined for entertaining two servants, also having to hire himself out as a servant in 1674, to cover a debt due to a case he lost in 1672. The last record of Driggus was a debt he owed to a planter in 1685.
His son Thomas Driggus eventually married a free Black woman; their children were born free because she was free. 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.
Over time, his descendants spelled their surname as Driggers. According to geneaological analysis by Paul Heinegg, Driggus's free Black descendants migrated to North and South Carolina. Some members of the Driggers family were progenitors of the Melungeons of Appalachia, and the Lumbee of North Carolina.
Emanuel Driggus
Emanuel Driggus (fl. 1645–1685) and his wife Frances were enslaved Atlantic Creoles in the mid-seventeenth century in the Colony of Virginia. The name Driggus is likely a corruption of the Portuguese name Rodrigues as he may have been born in the Kingdom of Ndongo (as well as others who were among the First Africans in Virginia, such as John Graweere and Angela). No known records exist confirming his birthplace.
The two 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. 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.
Driggus raised multiple kinds of livestock while enslaved, negotiating with his masters to recognize he owned them legally. He bought and traded them frequently, amassing wealth for himself. Driggus passed down many animals to his children, ostensibly to help them benefit materially.
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 in 1673.
Due to the rise of legal restrictions on free Black people, Driggus faced struggles in the later part of his life. This included being fined for entertaining two servants, also having to hire himself out as a servant in 1674, to cover a debt due to a case he lost in 1672. The last record of Driggus was a debt he owed to a planter in 1685.
His son Thomas Driggus eventually married a free Black woman; their children were born free because she was free. 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.
Over time, his descendants spelled their surname as Driggers. According to geneaological analysis by Paul Heinegg, Driggus's free Black descendants migrated to North and South Carolina. Some members of the Driggers family were progenitors of the Melungeons of Appalachia, and the Lumbee of North Carolina.