William Digges

William Digges
Member of the Maryland Proprietary Council
In office
1677–1689
Member of the House of Burgesses for York County, Colony of Virginia
In office
1676
Preceded byRobert Baldry
Succeeded byJohn Page
Personal details
Bornc. 1651
Virginia
Died24 July 1697
Virginia
SpouseElizabeth Sewell
RelationsDudley Digges (burgess) (brother), Cole Digges (burgess) (nephew),William Digges (burgess) (great-grandnephew)
Children10
Parent(s)Edward Digges (father), Elizabeth Page
Residence(s)"E.D. Plantation", later known as Bellfield
Occupationplanter, politician, soldier

Colonel William Digges (c. 1651—24 July 1697) was a prominent planter, soldier and politician in the Colony of Virginia and Province of Maryland. The eldest son of Edward Digges (1620-1674/5), who sat on the Virginia Governor's Council for two decades but died shortly before Bacon's Rebellion, Digges fled to Maryland where he married Lord Calvert's stepdaughter and served on the Maryland Proprietary Council until losing his office in 1689 during the Protestant Revolution, when a Puritan revolt upset the Calvert Proprietorship. His eldest son Edward sold his primary Virginia plantation to his uncle (this man's younger brother) Dudley Digges. It is now within Naval Station Yorktown.[1] His former Maryland estate, Warburton Manor, is now within Fort Washington Park. Two additional related men with the same name served in the Virginia General Assembly, both descended from this man's uncle and his grandson Cole Digges (burgess): William Digges (burgess) and his nephew and son-in-law William Digges Jr. both represented now-defunct Warwick County, Virginia (now incorporated into Newport News, Virginia).

  1. ^ McCartney, Martha W. (2012). Jamestown people to 1800 : landowners, public officials, minorities, and native leaders. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-8063-1872-1. OCLC 812189309.