Dudley Digges (1665–1711) was a Virginia merchant, planter and politician who served in both houses of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

, as well as agent of the

Royal African Company The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English trading company established in 1660 by the House of Stuart and City of London merchants to trade along the West African coast. It was overseen by the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of Eng ...

and factor for British merchants John Jeffreys and Micajah Perry Sr. After his marriage, Digges twice represented Warwick County in the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

before being appointed to the

Virginia Governor's Council The Governor's Council, also known as the Privy Council and Council of State, was the upper house of the legislature of the Colony of Virginia (the House of Burgesses being the other house). It also served as an advisory body to the List of colon ...

in 1698 (with a slight gap between his appointment by Governor Andros after he was replaced by Gov. Nicholson and the Lords of Trade and Plantations approved his appointment). Digges also served as auditor and surveyor-general of Virginia from 1705 until his death, and purchased the E.D. Plantation where he had been born from his nephew Edward upon the death of his brother

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

in Maryland. That property, renamed Bellfield plantation, is now part of

Naval Weapons Station Yorktown Naval Weapons Station Yorktown is a United States Navy base in York County, James City County, and Newport News in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. It provided a weapons and ammunition storage and loading facility for ships of the Unit ...

. His sons

Cole Cole may refer to: People and fictional characters * Cole (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Cole (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname * Cole tribe ...

and Dudley Digges Jr. would also continue the family's planter and political traditions.Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) pp. 54, 57

Personal life

He married Susanna Cole (1674-1708), daughter of Col. William Cole of Bolthorpe in Warwick county, member of the

and Secretary of the colony, and his first wife (whose name is now unknown). Before her death, Susanna bore sons Cole Digges, Edward Digges (who died in Woodford, England in 1711) and Dudley Digges, as well as a daughter Elizabeth. After Susannah's death, Col. Cole married Anne Digges, this man's sister, and after her death married Martha Lear.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, p. 171 et seq.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Digges, Dudley Merchants from colonial Virginia 17th-century American merchants House of Burgesses members People from York County, Virginia 1665 births 1711 deaths Slave owners from the Thirteen Colonies Virginia Governor's Council members