 He completed preparatory studies and moved with his parents to Tarrytown, New York, in 1825.He moved to New York City in 1827, where he was an apprentice, journeyman, and master mechanic in the trade of sash, door, and blind manufacturing, 1829–1856.He was superintendent of the New York penitentiary and public institutions on Blackwells Island in 1844

Driggs moved to Michigan in 1856 and engaged in the real-estate business and salt manufacturing.