Daniel Andrew
DIGGINS
(b.
09/08/1919
,
Schenectady, New York, USA
d.
11/19/2011
,
Hagerstown, Maryland, USA
)
Age: 92
Cause of Death: Natural Causes and COPD
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DIGGINS Family Tree – Connecting the Past to the Present!
Daniel Andrew DIGGINS was born 09/08/1919 in Schenectady, New York, USA
Daniel Andrew DIGGINS was the child of Daniel Francis DIGGINS and Anna A SWARTZDaniel Andrew was a soldier in World War II.
Tracing Ancestors Through Military Service Records: Unveiling Family Heroes
Daniel Andrew DIGGINS died 11/19/2011 in Hagerstown, Maryland, USA.
Danny’s grandparents were first generation Irish Americans, Patrick and Mary Finn Diggins. They settled in Belchertown around 1870. They met and married a few years after each had made the journey from southwest Ireland to the USA.
Danny’s father was a railroad worker for many years and was single until age 43, when he married Danny’s mother, Anna Schwartz, in 1918. Danny grew up in Scotia, Schenectady, New York. The house he grew up in, on Engleman Avenue, is still a residence, and although the houses have been updated, the street looks much as it did in the 1930’s.
Danny helped his uncles who were farmers (Schwartz side of the family) with harvesting vegetables, washing them in the Mohawk River, taking them by wagon to market and counting the money on the way home. He recounted these memories with great fondness. Danny graduated from Scotia High School in 1937 and from a two-year program in agriculture from the New York School of Agriculture, Cobleskill, NY, in 1941. He was also a great early radio enthusiast. WGY-AM began broadcasting Aug 1922, Schenectady, NY., and was one of the first commercial radio stations in the U.S. He loved airplanes and was co-owner of a 2-seater in the late 1950s, but could not get a pilot’s license because of his eyesight.
During WW II Danny worked in the dairy industry under the Farm Deferment, essential industries, until April 1944, when he requested release from his deferment to join the US Army Air Forces. He worked in radio and radar and was stationed in Alaska.
After the war he bought a motorcycle and traveled across the country, finding work wherever he went. Upon return he studied automobile mechanics and became a mechanic for the New Jersey State Police.
He married Elizabeth Revell, a registered nurse from Hagerstown, MD, in Feb 1954. They lived in Raritan Township, Hazlet, NJ until 1961, when they moved to the Hagerstown area, purchased a small farm in Smithsburg, MD and reared their four children.
photo/ portrait (above) from findagrave.com
Details of the family tree of Daniel appear below.
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Occupation
Daniel Andrew DIGGINS was a Mack Trucks, Farming, Air National Guard.
Daniel Andrew DIGGINS was a Mack Trucks, Farming, Air National Guard.
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Discovering the Ancestry of Daniel Andrew DIGGINS: Events, Photos & Historical Records
Postcards and Memories of Schenectady, New York, USA
1919 Birth 09/08/1919
Schenectady, New York, USA
1929 - October 29 - Black Tuesday - Stock market crash - The Great Depression Begins - It lasted until 1941 (WW2)
1934 - The metal beverage can is invented (American Can Co., United States)1935 - August 14 – United States President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act into law 1940 - April - 1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA The microwave oven was invented accidentally in 1945 by Percy Spencer, a Raytheon engineer. While testing a magnetron, he noticed microwaves melted a candy bar in his pocket. Experimenting further, he discovered microwaves could cook food quickly. Raytheon patented the process, and by 1947, they built the first commercial microwave oven, called the 'Radarange.' Initially used in commercial settings, microwaves becomes affordable for home use by the 1960s and 1970s, revolutionizing cooking.1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis was a tense 13-day standoff in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles from the U.S. coast. The crisis is considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war. It began when American spy planes discovered the missiles, leading to a U.S. naval blockade of Cuba and intense negotiations. The crisis ended when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba and secretly agreeing to remove American missiles from Turkey.1963 - I Have a Dream Speech - Martin Luther King's Address at March on Washington August 28, 1963.June 17, 1972 – August 9, 1974 - Watergate Scandal began with the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., in 1972. Members of President Richard Nixon's administration attempted to cover up their involvement. The scandal led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by the Nixon administration, the resignation of President Nixon in 1974, and the indictment of several administration officials.1973 - January 22 - Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 and Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179: The U.S. Supreme Court declares that the Constitution protects women’s right to terminate an early pregnancy, thus making abortion legal in the U.S.1973 - March 29 - The last United States soldier leaves Vietnam The cell phone was invented by Martin Cooper of Motorola. On April 3, 1973, he made the first handheld mobile phone call with the Motorola DynaTAC. This device weighed 2.5 pounds and was 10 inches long, offering 30 minutes of talk time and requiring 10 hours to charge. The first commercial cell phone was released in 1983, revolutionizing communication and leading to the modern smartphones we use today.
1974 - Gerald R. Ford becomes President of the United States after the resignation of Richard Nixon.1981 - June 5 - First reported case of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)1986 - January 28 - Space Shuttle Challenger accident - The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when the shuttle broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. 1989 - The World Wide Web is invented at CERN (Tim Berners-Lee, UK)2001 - September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Coordinated terrorist attacks by the extremist group al-Qaeda on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, leading to significant changes in U.S. domestic and foreign policy, including the War on Terror.Obituary
DANIEL ANDREW DIGGINS, SR., 92, of Hagerstown, Md., died Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, at his home, surrounded by his family.
Born Sept. 8, 1919, in Elnora, N.Y., he was the son of the late Daniel F. and Anna Swartz Diggins.
Daniel served in the U.S. Air Force for 22 years. He was a veteran of World War II, and served with New Jersey Air National Guard and West Virginia Air National Guard.
He retired in 1984 from Mack Trucks.
He was a member of Bethel United Methodist Church in Chewsville.
Daniel was an avid traveler, and loved planes, trains and classical music.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Elizabeth 'Betty' Diggins; three daughters, Susan Elizabeth Johns and husband, Ray, of Hagerstown, Lori Anne Diggins of Washington, D.C., and Danielle Andrea Poffenberger and husband, Ronald, of Smithsburg, Md.; one son, Daniel Andrew Diggins Jr. and wife, Cynthia, of Phoenix, Ariz.; and five grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by a brother, Robert F....Read MORE...
The Herald Mail Newspaper
Hagerstown, Maryland, USA
Monday, November 21, 2011
DANIEL ANDREW DIGGINS, SR., 92, of Hagerstown, Md., died Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, at his home, surrounded by his family.
Born Sept. 8, 1919, in Elnora, N.Y., he was the son of the late Daniel F. and Anna Swartz Diggins.
Daniel served in the U.S. Air Force for 22 years. He was a veteran of World War II, and served with New Jersey Air National Guard and West Virginia Air National Guard.
He retired in 1984 from Mack Trucks.
He was a member of Bethel United Methodist Church in Chewsville.
Daniel was an avid traveler, and loved planes, trains and classical music.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Elizabeth 'Betty' Diggins; three daughters, Susan Elizabeth Johns and husband, Ray, of Hagerstown, Lori Anne Diggins of Washington, D.C., and Danielle Andrea Poffenberger and husband, Ronald, of Smithsburg, Md.; one son, Daniel Andrew Diggins Jr. and wife, Cynthia, of Phoenix, Ariz.; and five grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by a brother, Robert F....Read MORE...
The Herald Mail Newspaper
Hagerstown, Maryland, USA
Monday, November 21, 2011
2011 Death 11/19/2011
Hagerstown, Maryland, USA
He died at the age of 92.
Daniel is buried at: Rest Haven Cemetery, Hagerstown, MD
Added: 2/18/2022 8:21:51 PM
- Updated: 8/16/2025 3:47:50 PM
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