Miles Riggs (son of Joseph,4 Edward,3 Edward, 2 Edward1) was born at Newark or Orange, N. J. about 1705. Nothing is known of his early life, except that he was a sailor. On June 26, 1735, he married Elizabeth Whitney at Norwalk, Conn. From this union there were eight children, as given below, and from these a tribe has descended. From several causes the descendants of Miles seem to have believed he was the progenitor of all bearing the Riggs name in this country, and the wild and improbable stories told of his origin and early history have had an astonishingly wide circulation in all the different branches of the Riggs family. The story that I met with most frequently when I commenced this compilation, and often from very intelligent people, was to the effect that Miles was not only the progenitor of all the tribe, but that Riggs was not his name. That he was picked up in some foreign port and taken as a cabin boy on a ship, and he was so fond and successful in playing tricks and “running rigs” on everybody about the ship, that the sailors named him “Rigs,” and hence the supposed patronymic of the whole tribe. Now the truth is that Miles was born in Newark, and his paternal ancestors had lived there through three generations before he was born. He was a sailor, but it is not known that he ever was in a foreign port. By the merest accident I discovered in the New York Historical Society the date and circumstances of his death. He lived in Newark with his wife and a houseful of children, and he owned and ran a sloop for the purpose of carrying freight between New York and Elizabeth, and Newark, He was in New York on the night of December 24, 1753, and a heavy gale springing up, he left his lodging about midnight and went to look after the safety of his vessel in Peck’s slip, where she was lying. By some misstep he fell overboard and was drowned. He died intestate, and his brother Joseph administered on the estate. The names of other brothers and sisters, as well as that of his wife Elizabeth, appear in the settlement of his affairs. His sloop was his chief possession in the line of personal property. His widow returned to Connecticut with her family, and in 1759 married David Rockwell. For the list of children, dates, etc., I am indebted to that wonderful genealogical work, the “Whitney family.

From the Genealogy of the Riggs Family
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• Married: 25 JUN 1735 in Norwalk, Connecticut ¹

1. Josiah Riggs b: 18 MAY 1736 in Stamford, Connecticut
2. Joseph Riggs b: 18 MAY 1738 in Stamford, Connecticut
3. Sarah Riggs b: 22 OCT 1740
4. Elizabeth Riggs b: 17 DEC 1742
5. Polly Riggs b: ABT 1744
6. Prudence Riggs b: ABT 1746
7. Miles Riggs b: 20 MAY 1748 in Orange, New Jersey
8. Esther Riggs b: ABT 1752

1. Title: Genealogy of the Riggs Family
   Author: John H. Wallace
   Publication: 1901, New York
   Note: "This book has been transcribed to computer by Sterling Bridges (11th Generation) August, 2001, for the purpose of my children having copies which are unavailable."
   Repository:
   Note: Lora L. Fleming personal family files
   Media: Book
2. Title: Lora L. Fleming
   Note: Wagoner, OK, USA, 74467, wolfspiritgenealogy@hotmail.com