Henry "Jack" William Driggs 1874-1962

Jack's family members used the surnames Driggs and Griggs. Jack always used Driggs. He was the son of Gilbert Griggs & Martha Jane Godbold Roundtree, born about 1874 in Caseyville, Lincoln County, MS. Gilbert & Martha were never married. Jack was born during Gilbert marriage to his wife Emily.

Jack's siblings from his father side were: Cynthia, Emily, Easter, Mariah, Isom, Abram, Lavena, Claressa, and Boston Griggs.

From Jack's mother, his siblings were Mary Goodwin Howard, Emma, Pinkney, Ada, Annie/Annis, Rufus, Henderson, Laura, Louisa, Patsy Coleman Hooker, and Mittie.

He was employed as a hod carrier, which was a laborer employed in carrying supplies to bricklayers, stonemasons, cement finishers, or plasterers on the job.

Betty Blue was Jack's wife. The relationship produced one son, Leroy. Henry died September 14, 1862 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

How does Jack connect to my family?
Jack's sister Patsy Coleman Hooker's daughter
Roxanne Smith married Alex Thomas.
Alex and Roxanne's daughter
Ida Mae Thomas married James Monroe Markham, my 1st cousin once removed.
Alex and Roxanne's daughter
Rosanna Thomas married Samuel David Markham, Sr., my granduncle.

Jack's sister Mary Goodwin Howard was a sister-in-law to my grandaunt
Alice Marshall Goodwin.

Picture and obituary provided by Christi Young

Patsy Coleman Hooker's Headstone
Double and Quadruple Cousins
Sickly Felix
James Monroe Markham
Sunday Obituary of Rosanna Thomas Markham

Part of the Great Migration circa 1925

Siblings
Thaddeus Howard b. 1920, Henry Samuel Howard b. 1923, and
Evelyn Louise Howard b. 1921

These little darlings were a part of the Great Migration. Between 1916 and 1970, more than 6 million African Americans left the rural south for the big cities of the Northeast, Midwest and the West.

They were the children of Henry Howard and Mary Goodwin Young. The two older children were born in Brookhaven, Lincoln County, Mississippi. The mother reported on the 1930 census that the youngest child, Henry Samuel, was born in Kentucky. The children were the youngest of their mother's nine children.

Mary Goodwin first married Willie Young and had five children with him: Cecil, Martha, Wilma, Jessie, and Ruby. In a previous relationship, she had given birth to a son, Arthur Carter.

Willie Young died 19 Feb 1917 of pellagra at the age of 48. Wikipedia defines the disease as a vitamin deficiency disease most commonly caused by a chronic lack of niacin (vitamin B3) in the diet. The disease is described as the "four D's": diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia and death.

The second husband was the younger children's father. He was Henry Howard born about 1879. Mary married Henry 26 Jan 1919 in Lincoln County, Mississippi. The marriage lasted almost eleven years. Henry died 21 Dec 1929.

Mary's older daughters had moved to Indianapolis during the early 1920s for better opportunities. After the death of her husband, Mary moved to Indianapolis. Pictured below is her home in Indianapolis. Note the tricycle in the yard for children.

Thaddeus married Mattie Frances Martin. The couple had two boys: Anthony and Barron. Thaddeus died in 1994 in Indianapolis.

Evelyn married Allen Lorenzo Parrish and Novirters Stubbs. Two children were born to Evelyn. She died in 1993 in Indianapolis.

Howard also known as Sam died 02 Dec 1943 in Indianapolis of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 20.

Photos courtesy of Christi Young.
The children's mother Mary Goodwin Young Howard, and my grandaunt Alice Marshall Goodwin were sisters-in-law.