Cole Digges (burgess)

The son of prominent planter and politician Dudley Digges and his wife, the former Susanna Cole. She was the daughter of Captian Cole, who had a plantation in Warwick County called Denbigh, which this man inherited. He received a private education appropriate to his class.

Coat of Arms of Cole Digges

He married the former Elizabeth Foliott Power (daughter of Dr. Henry Power of York County and granddaughter of Rev. Edward Foliott of Hampton Parish, which was consolidated and became [[Bruton Parish), who bore three sons who reached adulthood and served in the House of Burgesses and at least three daughters. His firstborn son Edward(1716-1769) began representing York County in the House of Burgesses, but after marrying Anne Harrison, moved westward to Stafford County, Virginia by 1752, when his youngest brother Dudley (1724-1790) succeeded to the seat and won re-election numerous times until the American Revolutionary War, during which he sided with the patriot cause. Meanwhile, two of Edward Digges' sons reached adulthood and some notability in the patriot cause. They were Cole Digges (1744-1777) who became (briefly) a member of the Virginia House of Delegates for Warwick County[3] and his brother Edward Digges (1756-1818) fought with the Fauquier County militia.[4][5] Yet another nephew Cole Digges(d. 1788) was the son of Dudley Digges.[6] This man's middle brother William inherited the property called Denbigh from his mother, became a justice of the peace there in 1749 and represented Warwick County, Virginia, as had had this man. Their sisters Mary (1717-1744) and Susanna (1723-1770) married into the Harrison family of Virginia, another of the First Families of Virginia.

Digges died in 1744, as did his daughter Maria. His former house in Yorktown was restored by the National Park Service. Denbigh is also federally owned and operated.[7]