Bethuel Riggs was born in 1757 in Mendham Township, Morris County, New Jersey. He married Nancy Lee in about 1779 in WIlkes County, North Carolina. They had nine children. Descendants and relatives lived mainly in Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and Texas.

Following the Glorious Revolution, the supporters of the House of Stuart, known as Jacobites, could be found throughout the British Isles. The Scottish county of Angus, or Forfarshire, made a significant contribution to the Jacobite armies of 1715 and 1745. David Dobson has compiled a list of about 900 persons--including not only soldiers but also civilians who lent crucial support to the rebellion. Arranged alphabetically, the entries always give the full name of the Jacobite, his occupation, his rank, date of service and unit (if military), and, sometimes, the individual's date of birth, the names of his parents, a specific place of origin, and a wide range of destinations to which the Jacobites fled after each of the failed insurrections.