Cole Digges (1748–1788) was a Virginia planter, military officer and politician who represented now-defunct Warwick County, in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

(1778–1784) and during the

Virginia Ratification Convention The Virginia Ratifying Convention (also historically referred to as the "Virginia Federal Convention") was a Convention (meeting), convention of 168 delegates from Virginia who met in 1788 to ratify or reject the United States Constitution, whic ...

of 1788. Possibly the most famous of three related men of the same name who served in the Virginia legislature during the 18th century, and despite genealogical disagreement this man was most likely the son of

Dudley Digges Sir Dudley Digges ( – ) was an English diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1610 and 1629. Digges was also a "Virginia adventurer," an investor who ventured his capital in the Virginia Company of London; his s ...

of Yorktown and

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

and his first wife, Martha Burwell Armistead. He served during the American Revolutionary War as a dragoon in the Continental Army, rising from the rank of cornet to lieutenant before resigning and starting his legislative career.Tyler, Lyon G., "Pedigree of a Representative Virginia Planter", ''William & Mary Quarterly'' Jan. 189

also in Genealogies of Virginia Families: From the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.) 1982) vol. II, pp. 173-174, 185 The other two related men of the same name were his grandfather, Yorktown merchant Cole Diggges (burgess), Cole Digges who served in both houses of the Virginia legislature, and his cousin Cole Digges (d. 1777) who briefly represented Warwick County in the House of Delegates before his death and this man's succession.

Early and family life

Named for his powerful grandfather, Cole Digges, confusion is common because both his uncles also named one of their sons "Cole", creating three cousins with the same name in the same time period and relatively close geography. (

Edward Digges (burgess) Edward Digges (1716-March 22, 1769) was a Virginia merchant, planter and politician who represented York County in the House of Burgesses.John Frederick Dorman, Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia 1607-1624/5 (Genealogical Publishing Co. In ...

son Cole (1744-1777) died in revolutionary war shortly after becoming delegate from Warwick County, and William Digges (burgess) son Cole (1754-1817) associated with Hanover County.) This Cole indirectly succeeded to the seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Warwick County vacated by the death of his cousin of the same name, although neighbor

Edward Harwood Edward Harwood (1729–1794) was a prolific English classical scholar and biblical critic. Life Harwood was born at Darwen, Lancashire, in 1729. After attending a school at Darwen, he went in 1745 to the Blackburn grammar school under Thomas Hu ...

actually won the election for that seat, and served alongside this man several additional times.

Career

Digges was a planter, and operated his plantations in James City and Warwick County using enslaved labor. By the 1787 tax census, he owned 33 adult slaves and 35 enslaved teenagers in Warwick County as well as 21 horses, 94 cattle and also owned a riding chaise, and 10 adult slaves, 5 enslaves teenagers, 5 horsed and 40 cattle in James City County.Netti Schreiner Yantis and Florene Speakman Love, The 1787 Census of Virginia (Springfield, Virginia, Genealogical Books in Print, 1987) pp. 950, 1441 He served in the Virginia House of Delegates, as well as in the Continental Army. Following the war, he moved from war-damaged Warwick County to Richmond, Virginia, where he built a house that is now known as the Cole Digges House and the headquarters of Preservation Virginia. Digges ultimately moved again, to Hanover County, Virginia, where he died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Digges, Cole 1748 births 1788 deaths People from Warwick County, Virginia American people of English descent Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Delegates to the Virginia Ratifying Convention U.S. state legislators who owned slaves 18th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly