I've been searching the Internet for genetic haplogroup results from Skaggs DNA testing, looking for Skaggs, Scaggs, Skeggs, Staggs, etc. thinking that perhaps all came from the same Y-chromosome haplogroup. You can look up what a haplogroup is for yourself, but basically it's a big extended family that has the same Y-chromosome mutation. The Y-chromosome is very stable so these mutations don't occur very often and a haplogroup can be stable for thousands of years. That's how these testing services can say your cousin Bubba is related to Atilla the Hun, besides his table manners. My theory has been that the Skaggs are all from the same haplogroup.
It's early yet, but here's what I've found so far. The Skaggs family appears to have two haplogroups: R1a1a and R1b1a2. A descendant of Charles Scaggs (of Sims Settlement fame via East Tennessee) through his son Thomas tested as R1a1a (also known as R-M512, an R haplogroup with the M512 mutation). So based on just this test it looks like the East Tennessee Skaggs family tests as R1a1a. Also testing as R1a1a was a descendant of Old Peter Skaggs. I'll describe later why I think this is big news.
Two descendants of Thomas Scaggs, the West Virginia pioneer, tested as R1b1a2 and R1b1a2a1a1a. Based on my less-than-expert review of their test results I think the difference between these two results is due to the nature of the test itself. It looks like one of the tests looked for the R-U106 mutation and the other did not. If so, then the West Virginia Skaggs are haplogroup R1b1a2a1a1a. What this tells us is that the East Tennessee Skaggs and the West Virginia Skaggs are from different families, even though they have the same last name.
The big news is that the East Tennessee Skaggs and Peter Skaggs descendants are related to Aaron and Susanna Hyatt Scaggs and Richard and Grace Scaggs of Maryland. The West Virginia Skaggs are not. With a different haplogroup they are related to Richard and Mary Brashear Scaggs. If this is true, then Richard Scaggs who married Mary Brashear is a different person than the Richard Scaggs who married Grace.
If any male with the surname Skaggs, Scaggs, Skeggs or Staggs has had a DNA test done, please post a comment with your paternal haplogroup results for us to share. Feel free to be an anonymous commenter, just tell us who your ancestor was. Maybe we can finally begin to untangle these Skaggs family lines.
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I would like to see which family group the longhunter skaggs belong to.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a skaggs but I am related to old peter thru my mother's line. I am finding on 23-and-me that there are a lot of people named skaggs that I am not even remotely matching to. This says to me that not all skaggs are related.
ReplyDeleteHello! Not a Skaggs either, I'm a Nixon in the UK and stumbled across your blog whilst looking into my Haplogroup which is R-M512 I am still getting my head around it to be honest but if I understand it right then we share a common ancient male ancestor so a hearty hello cousin! ha ha. Anyway good luck with the research and if you find any male Nixon connections then who knows!
ReplyDeleteI (a female) and my brother have both done our DNA tests thru 23AndMe (I have also tested thru MyHeritage). His Haplogroup comes up as R-M417. Gedmatch KIt #s Mine (female) T518509. My brother's GedMatch Genisis # TC2721199.
ReplyDeleteThat R-M417 haplogroup is the same as R1a1a1 which is a high-level match for all Skaggs that have tested except for the West Virginia Skaggs who descend from Thomas Scaggs their pioneer ancestor. Who was your oldest Skaggs ancestor?
DeleteI have been stuck at my gr.gr. grandfather William Scaggs b. ca. 1816 KY. M. Nancy Harrington b. ca. 1821 (dau of Wm Lee Harrington)of Red River, Simpson Co, KY. At some point they migrated to Taney Co, MO (per the 1840 US census Marion Twp.) along with Thomas and James Scaggs families. From there it's Greene Co, MO Polk and Pond Creek Twps 1850 & 1860 US census). Unfortunately for all of my years of research I cannot get beyond Wm. Too many Scaggs b. that period named William Scaggs/Skaggs in several KY counties. In Green Co, MO one Richard Scaggs married Frances Harrington, sister to my Wm's wife and after she passed married another sister; Melvina. The birthdate I come up with via the census for Richard is ca. 1824 and one other 1830 KY. There was also a Richard Scaggs in Wilson Creek, MO (same area) who married a Thompson. The name Richard has been passed down in our family. Wm's son Alfred A. named his eldest son (my grandfather) William Richard and my father named my brother Richard. Makes me wonder about a Richard Scaggs maybe being Wm's father, although Wm's eldest son was named John.
DeleteHere's an interesting article about the only kind of DNA testing that can actually fill holes in the family tree: The kind where you're trying to match actual people. And this effort is pretty amazing.
ReplyDeleteI never knew so much about Skaggs or halogroups. Your article has really helped me in improving my knowledge on the subjects. Thanks a lot for sharing all this here.
ReplyDeletePaternal haplogroup: R-M417. I can trace my ancestry all the way back to Solomon and Rachel.
ReplyDeleteBoz, thanks for posting. You may want to consider doing the Big-Y test. Chris Keig on the Isle of Man is coordinating the Big-Y testing results for Skaggs, Scaggs, Skeggs, Skeig, Keig, etc. at Family Tree DNA.
DeleteThanks, Mister Ed. I recently submitted my raw data to his DNA group. - Boz
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