Rachel Moredock: A Myth from Mistaken Identity

Rachel Skaggs, the mother of the Longhunters and wife of James Skaggs has been considered by many Skaggs researchers over the years to have had the maiden name Moredock.  Some researchers have questioned whether Rachel Moredock existed and I now believe that Rachel Skaggs' maiden name was accepted as Moredock in a case of mistaken identity.

The University of Virginia library sent a copy of a document to a correspondent from their archives. This document was a letter from Mrs. Eva Boone Myers Pool to Maud Clement stating her mother's grandparents were James Skaggs and S. Moredock.  Many researchers over the years grabbed onto this information and assumed the James Skaggs in this letter was the father of the Longhunters, however, we have shown in a previous post that there was a James Skaggs married to a Susanna who was a separate person from the James Skaggs married to Rachel.  These researchers merged the two James into one and merged his wife into a Rachel Moredock Skaggs.  I've even seen some genealogies showing James Skaggs married to a Rachel Susanna Moredock.  These researchers confused the two James' and therefore confused the two wives.  Eva Boone Myers Pool was the descendant of James and Susanna Skaggs, not James and Rachel Skaggs, therefore Rachel Skaggs maiden name was likely not Moredock, which was likely the maiden name of James' wife Susanna.

5 comments:

  1. im wondering if rachel and susanna are two different ladies as i am seeing the date of susanna birth ,after the dates of my grandfather the rev. james and the long hunters my uncles ...just a thought

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    1. Yes, Rachel and Susanna were two different women married to two different men, both named James. The James married to Rachel died in Montgomery County, Virginia and the James married to Susanna died in Warren County, Kentucky.

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    2. I am researching the Skaggs also and, recently caught the error a lot of people are making listing James Skaggs abt. 1700 wife as Rachel Susannah Moredock. I have two marriage records 1st one is for James birth year 1700 spouse Rachel Moredock. The 2nd one is for James Skaggs birth year 1735 spouse Susannah Moredock. They have no state or date of marriage but, they did have both James's birth years. I believe that the second James is James Jr. but, I am not sure now that I know there were other Skaggs in that time period. I see people listing James Sr. sons wife as Mary Thompson with the same dates as Henry Skaggs wife's name and dates. I can find no record of a James Skaggs at that time married to a Mary.

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  2. Its looks as though if Im correct.?! That 1700 James is the father and Rachel is the wife. 1734 James is the son and Susannah is his wife. As for Mary Thear Thompson I think she is 1700 James mother. If my research is correct.

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    1. James and Rachel were parents of the Long Hunter brothers. One of those brothers was named James but he wasn't married to Susanna. He was married to Mary and then ran off with his neighbor's wife, Leah Carter, and was never heard from again.

      James and Susanna were from a different family who eventually ended up in Warren County, Kentucky.

      Mary Thear never existed. There was a Mary who was the second wife and widow of a William Scaggs from Kent County, Maryland. This widow married a Benjamin Kear and that's where Mary Kear came from. She was the wicked stepmother of the Kent County, Maryland Scaggs.

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