Joseph Driggs

     Joseph Driggs was born about 1686 in Portugal, possibly in the Azore Islands.¹ His birth name was Jose Rodriques.¹ The family legend is that Joseph Driggs washed ashore in Saybrook, Connecticut about 1703 from a sunken ship. The ship he had been on was wrecked and he was lashed to a mast. He was the sole survivor and could not speak a word of English. "Joseph Driggs" is likely what the rescuers heard when the boy said his name was Jose Rodrigues.¹ He married Elizabeth Martin, daughter of John Martin and Elizabeth Howe, on 13 September 1716. He died in 1748.¹