Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1949-12-22
By Elsie White Haines

of which are colored.
These valuable family portraits
were very nearly lost, for following
the death of Miss Jane in 1889 they
were shipped to England and
stored in one of the Howard homes
at Painswick, in Glouchestershire,
where it was planned that they
should be divided among the heirs.
The war interviewed and this was
not done. The portraits remained
uninjured during the war though
bomb fell near them. 1t was later
decided that the collection was to
be given to some American institu-
ton where it could be kept togeth-
err. And that was where John Bev-
erly Riggs got in little diplo-
matte work and secured the collec-
ton for the Maryland Historical
Society.
John Beverly, son Of Lawrason
Bishop Riggs and Alverdo Owings
Riggs, was born August IL, 1918 at
Longwood, a farm near Brookeville
(now a famous schooD which his
parents then owned. In 1889 he
published a 534 page history of
"The Riggs Family in Maryland"
His family has owned property in
this county since the middle of the
eighteenth century when it was a
part of Prince Georges County.
History tells us that John Riggs,
of Anne Arundel County, purs
chased on September III 1851, from
Beale Bordley, of Annapolis, for
two hundred pounds sterling,--a
tract of 1000 acres Of lanD origin
ally surveyed for ThomasoB6rdley.
on April 8, 1725 and called Bord-
ley's Choice. This section was re-
garded as frontier land" at that
early date and neither Bordley, nor
the first John Riggs lived on the
property. q
When John Riggs died in 1852 he
divided the 1000 acres of Bordley's
Choice between his five oldest sons
(he had no other .children.) Thomas
John, James, Samuel and Elisha
each were given 200 acres.
According to John Beverley's his
tory, the house on Pleasant Hill
where many of the older Riggs are
buried, was built about 1869 by
Samuel Riggs on the part of his
plantation he had bought from his
brother James. The house stood
unchanged for almost $50 years
and was held by the Riggs family
until 1913. Added to and greatly
changed, it is now owned by Austin
B. Powell.
The home of Thomas Riggs of
Samuel (1772-1845) is described as
originally a stone and log house
built either by him or his Uncle
Thomas. Thomas of Samuel and
his wife, Mary Hammond Riggs,
are said to have been living at
Bordley's Choice in 1876. In 1868
it became the property of the
Brookeville Academy, was greatly
enlarged and remodeled and used
as a school for over fifty years. 1t
had fallen into disrepair when pur-
chased by DR.. and Mrs. Mark V.
Ziegler in December 1941. They
have restored it carefully, preserv-
ing every bit of the original which
was worth saving. Parts of the
first house, including stairway and
original woodwork remain-the
stone walls of from "a to SO inch
width still solid. The Zieglers have
made thing of beauty of the old
place and renamed it Zeigler's
Choice.
The portraits of these early resi-
dents recall stories of a number of
other homes built by the Riggs
families in Montgomery County
too numerous to enumerate at this
time. Among them is the home of
Artemus, and Thomas Howard, bet
ter known as the Howard twins
Art and Tot. They live in the house
Col. John H. Riggs is said to have
lost to Ephraim Gather for a
gambling debt. John Beverly says
it was "a bet on a chicken fight"
The old house on the mission
Farm" was Riggs home--the old
brick house adjoining the Madison
House, where the Jordans live was
built by DR.. Artemus Riggs about
1850-John A. Riggs built Locust
Hill in 1868, to mention a few in
the Brookeville area.
1t is to be hoped the many family
connection appreciate the work
young Riggs has done to preserve
for posterity the likenesses and the
history of their proOenitors