Richard Scaggs, Early Colonist - Part 2

Previously, I posted a blog about Richard Scaggs, a founding colonist of Scaggs in America.  After studying the information in that blog and the results of subsequent DNA testing, I think that the Richard described may have been multiple individuals named Richard combined into one.

DNA Testing: More on the Skaggs / Catron Connections

I recently wrote a blog post about some DNA testing relationships between Skaggs descendants and Catron descendants that may indicate that a Catron family member may have married into a Skaggs family line.  After a bit of research we have some specifics about these genealogical relationships that seem to support the DNA testing results.

James Elkins and the Chickamauga Expedition

In the comments to a previous post about the Chickamauga Expedition against the Indians, a commenter alerted me to a James Elkins who participated in that expedition to Tennessee.  This James Elkins appears to have been a nephew of the legendary Ruth Elkins, the son of her brother Richard.

Will the real Hezekiah Whitt please stand up?

I wrote a previous blog entry about the relationship between the orphan Thomas Bailey Christian (TBC) and his adopted father Capt. Thomas Mastin.  Old family stories that TBC was the son of Shawnee Chief Cornstalk appeared in conflict with DNA testing of his descendants.  Well, things get even more confusing when a friend of Thomas Mastin, Hezekiah Whitt, is added to the mix. Hezekiah Whitt served in the American Revolution with the Virginia militia under Capt. Thomas Mastin as described in Hezekiah’s application for a military pension:

“… In the month of March and he thinks in the year 1770, he went as a volunteer under Captain Thomas Mastin upon the expedition against the Cherokee Indians to Tennessee, called the "Chickamaugy Expedition". The point of rendezvous was at Colonel Campbell's in the County of Washington, Virginia. The men were marched to the big Island of Holston, where they were incorporated into the regiment of General Evan Shelby. From thence they marched against the Indian towns, but found upon entering them that they had already been abandoned by the Indians. This declarant was three months in this service having left home in the early part of March and returning after the troops were disbanded sometime in June.”

Thomas Bailey Christian and the Moses Skaggs Estate Papers

As I mentioned in a previous post, Thomas Bailey Christian is known to several Skaggs family researchers.  He is referred to as the husband of Lydia Harmon, the daughter of Mathias Harmon and Lydia Skaggs, in the Moses Skaggs Estate Papers.

DNA Testing: Thomas Bailey Christian, Indian or Not?

It’s a familiar situation for family historians researching Appalachian ancestors; an ancestor was historically described as “Indian” but modern DNA testing shows no indication of native American ancestry.  This happened to descendants of a man some Skaggs researchers may be familiar with, Thomas Bailey Christian.

DNA Testing: Martha Cothon - A Brick Wall Crumbling or a Wild Goose Chase?

A descendant of Old Peter has reported DNA matches with two descendants of the Catron family.  The Catrons appear to have been German immigrants originally named Kettering who immigrated through Philadelphia in 1765 and traveled south to Virginia the following year.  These folks may have come as the Kettering family, but once in Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee they became the Catron, Ketron, Katron, Cattron, Ketring, etc. families.

Patrick Brown: Indian Trader

We frequently see online genealogies that claim Old Peter Skaggs' wife, Martha, was the daughter of Patrick Brown, an Indian trader and an Indian wife.  We have recently seen that DNA testing has challenged the common belief that Martha was an Indian by blood.  Does the evidence support the belief that Martha was the half-Indian daughter of Patrick Brown?

Zachariah Skaggs: You Usually Can't Find Someone to Marry You after You're Dead

In family history, frequently two or more historical figures get merged together into one.  We see this a lot in the Skaggs family because there were so many different John, James, Charles, etc. in the family, even in the same generation.  There is an irritating life to many of these merged individuals and it becomes harder to correct the record over time.  One such individual was Zachariah Skaggs.

Skaggs Pioneers in Alabama

Back before there was an Alabama, there were Skaggs pioneers in the area known as the Mississippi Territory.  First there were the Skaggs intruders on Indian land, part of the Sims Settlement, who the government ran off the land in 1810.  But that wasn't the last of the Skaggs in the Mississippi Territory.

A Family of Early Ohio Scaggs Pioneers

Most Ohio Skaggs settlers moved over from Kentucky sometime in the mid-1800s.  Many of these Ohio Skaggs are descendants of Old Peter.  I was recently shown a Scaggs family with a completely different and somewhat unexpected origin, apparently Maryland in the 1790s.

More about James Scaggs and Susanna

I was alerted recently to a large storehouse of information about the James Scaggs married to Susanna.  This James Scaggs is frequently confused with the James married to Rachel who was father of the Longhunters.

DNA Testing: Old Peter Skaggs and Rachel Skaggs Lester

Two documented descendants of Old Peter have matched each other and a descendant of the Rachel Skaggs who married William Lester on the same segment of DNA.  This means that it is very likely (90%) that all three testing participants share the same ancestor.  All three participants have extensive genealogies that show the common ancestor was an ancestor of both Old Peter and Rachel, likely their parents John and Ruth Skaggs.

More Tools for DNA Genealogy

I've found a couple of useful tools out there for DNA research.

• GEDMatch has a tool that provides the family tree for your DNA matches so you can compare their tree to yours to find the connections
• The 23andMe testing service has a new tool that triangulates your DNA matches, i.e. you select a DNA match and 23andMe provides a list of third parties that match both you and the person you selected.  The benefit of triangulation is that if three persons match on the same segment of DNA there's over a 90% chance they have the same common ancestor.  Less false positives and wild goose chases.

It would be great if several Skaggs descendants on GEDMatch and 23andMe would use these tools to match other descendants and trace back to a common ancestor.  We might be able to find out from the DNA of current descendants how old Skaggs ancestors were related.

Famous Skaggs: Skaggs...Texas Ranger

A long-lost Skaggs played a role in the Texas Revolution and the beginning of the Republic of Texas.  He was involved in the initial defeat of Mexico by the Army of Texas and later joined the Texas Rangers to patrol the frontiers of the new Republic of Texas and fight the Mexicans at the Battle of San Jacinto.

The Elkins Family of Halifax County, Virginia

Some Skaggs, Elkins and Bishop researchers believe that the Ruth Bishop who married John Bishop in Montgomery County, Virginia c. 1780 was previously married to a John Scaggs and had the maiden name Elkins.  Many of these researchers believe that this Ruth Elkins Scaggs Bishop was the daughter of a Ralph Elkins and Frances Brown who lived in Halifax County, Virginia prior to the formation of Pittsylvania County from Halifax in 1767.

Pittsylvania County, Virginia

Skaggs researchers who are interested in Old Peter’s parents should spend some time investigating the Skaggs of Pittsylvania County, Virginia.  Pittsylvania was formed from Halifax County in 1767 and they did an initial tax census of the new Pittsylvania in 1767.  A lot of interesting information for Skaggs researchers comes from that 1767 tax list.

The Skaggs DNA Project

I recently checked the Skaggs DNA Project website at http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/skaggs/results for current Y-chromosome test results.  There’s a lot of noise on there with most of the results not even Skaggs and one of the Skaggs results attributed to Forkbeard Skagg, King of England or some such nonsense.  Don’t let that silliness fool you, there are five Skaggs results out there that separate the Skaggs into two basic Y-chromosome families: 1) R1a1a and 2) R1b1a1a2.  I did a little detective work on these five test results and here’s what I came up with: