Dear Cousin,

I am so excited to share with you the information I have about my Great-great-Grandparents, Thomas and Rhoda Casey Riggs.  I like to share all the information that I have with others.  Knowing about the places they lived and the things they, and their children did, make these people real to me.  I hope that I can help them become as real for you.

Over the last several years I have been able to make contact with several descendants of Thomas and Rhoda Casey Riggs, who have shared with me stories, letters, and family group information.  I have also been able to do some original research in the Family History Centers of the LDS Church, in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and in cemeteries and courthouses in Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona.  I appreciate the generosity of the many people who have so willing shared the information they have.  Because I am not aware of a written history of Thomas and Rhoda Casey Riggs, I decided to compile the information I have collected so that anyone interested in learning about these ancestors, and their descendants, will have the information readily available.

I am not an accomplished author nor do I claim to have all the answers or information.  When I am making a supposition, I will tell you.  If it is a fact, I will give you a reference. Some of my information may differ from information you have.  Undoubtedly, many of my suppositions will differ from your suppositions.  If you have different documented information or different ideas, please, let’s get together and talk about the differences.  By doing this we may find the clues needed to find more accurate information on these two people and their progenitors.

My paternal grandmother, Martha (Mattie) A. Smith Riggs, spent many years searching for genealogical information on the family of her spouse, Brannick Benjamin Riggs.  Grandma did not have access to all the exciting tools we have to help us in our research today.  She was a widow, living on limited means, yet she managed to compile the information necessary that will serve her children and grandchildren as a guide for doing their research.  Her daughters took up the task when Grandma was no longer able.  Aunt Mary, Aunt Martha and Aunt Rhoda added information as they were able to obtain it.  Aunt Mary traveled to Texas and visited with family living there.  Like Grandma Riggs, Aunt Rhoda made good use of the talents of professional researchers in the southern states.  My thanks and appreciation goes to them for leading the way.  My husband was blessed with a good job, one that included travel for business meetings to many places throughout the United States.  It seemed that the meetings were always held in an area where genealogical research, on both of our families, could be done.  Also, my husband is an avid genealogist and has added a lot of information for our history of Thomas and Rhoda.  Today, the Internet has opened up the whole world to genealogy research and more information is being added all the time.

This written record is only a beginning.  Information will, and should be, added as more is found or shared.  Dear cousin, I hope that by learning about your ancestors you too will feel about them as I do.  I hope that they will become friends and if you were to meet them on the street it would be exciting to visit with them.