Source: John Bennett Boddie, Southside Virginia Families, (Baltimore, MD, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1999), Vol 1, p 104
There was a Henry Briggs who was an active member of the London Company in 1619. He had a son Henry who came to Virginia and a son Thomas who remained in England. A letter from Henry was written to Thomas complaining of his hardships in Virginia. The relationship of this family to Henry Briggs of Surry is uncertain. Henry Briggs, the famous mathematician, was born at Worley Woods, Yorkshire, in 1561, and died in 1631. He may have been the same man as Henry Briggs of the London Company, which was dissolved in 1624.
Henry Briggs of Surry Co. first appears in the Virginia records in Charles City Co. on Feb. 1, 1656 (OB 1655-6, p3). Henry and Gabriel Briggs were witnesses to a deed made by Mrs. Elizabeth Hacker, widow of John Hacker, for land in Charles City on Feb. 3, 1657 (Va Mag Vol 43, p 351), and on June 3, 1662 Henry Briggs was granted administration on the estate of Gabriel Briggs, deceased, in Charles City Co., Col. Edward Hill being his security (Charles City OB 1655-6, p 327). Gabriel Briggs was probably Henry's brother (or possibly his father) and the two men may have been grandsons of Henry Briggs of the Lond Company mentioned above. There may have been some connection of Henry Briggs with the Hill family of Charles City co., as Col. Edward Hill was Mr. Briggs' security on Gabriel Briggs' estate, and we find later that Henry Briggs in Surry Co. was guardian of Mary, orphan of George Hill (Surry D & W 1645-71, p 275). Henry Briggs moved to Surry Co prior to Nov. 5, 1662, on which date he appears as a member of a jury in Surry (id p 199), and he continued to live in that county till his death in 1686. He appears to have been a Captain in the militia of Surry at one time, as there is a note to "Capt Briggs" in the Surry records dated June 24, 1665 (id, p 258).
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April 6, 1671, Patent Book 6, p 371, Henry Briggs and Mary, his wife, in right of Thomas Blunt and RIchard Washington, Orphants, 250 acres Surry Co. Granted to Charles Foard dec'd & escheated by inquisition, &c. under Richard Awborne, Dpty, Esch'r, &c
