It has been fifteen years since "Joseph Driggs Is Not Josias Drake, Jr." was posted online. While this update does not change the conclusion of the original post (Joseph Driggs is still NOT Josias Drake, Jr.) it is here to bring to the attention of those interested in the question of Joseph Driggs' ancestry, the research of Richard Davis who has now found the origins of Joseph Driggs who died in East Haddam, Connecticut in 1748. This post will be short and any interest, further inquiry or questions should be directed to Richard Davis.
First a bit of housekeeping. Links provided on the original June 3, 2012 post, which itself was a copy of a post originally from 2008 (see Broken Links, The Ephemeral Nature of the Internet) were in need of repair. The original, "Joseph Driggs Is Not Josias Drake, Jr." is now online as a PDF. Please use the link found in the text of the June 3, 2012 post.
The incontestable proof that Joseph Driggs could not possibly be Josias Drake, Jr. was the result of Y-DNA testing of direct descendants of both Joseph Driggs and of Josias Drake's father, Josias Drats/Dratz whose wife was Aeltje Brouwer (a daughter of Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon). Josias Drake, Jr., himself, is not known to have left any descendants. This work was initiated by Richard Davis and now some fifteen years later he has contacted me to inform me that he has "finally found the origin of Joseph Driggs (1681-1748) of Middletown, Connecticut." Richard did this by first matching five Y-DNA test results of five Driggs descendants with three Y-DNA matches from Sao Roque, Pico Island in the Azores, an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean which today is an autonomous region of Portugal. Through the traditional genealogical work that followed, Richard was able to trace Joseph Driggs paternal ancestry back to the late 1400s to some of the earliest settlers of Pico Island.
Richard has written a 29 page report (including addendums) describing and explaining his research, which includes both genetic and traditional genealogical research. All and all it's a pretty interesting adventure that includes a visit to Pico Island itself. Richard has also created a couple of charts showing the paternal lineages of those tested.
I will not be making available online any of Richard's work. Again, those who are interested should reach out to Richard Davis directly.
BGB 753
