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:
R1a1a family
Test
Kit Ancestor Brick Wall Ancestor Y-haplogroup
142082 D.M. Skaggs James
C. Skaggs R1a1a
214307 Thomas Skaggs Charles
Scaggs, Sims Settlement Intruder?? R1a1a
201804 J.T. Skaggs Charles
Skaggs, Longhunter R1a1a
These three tests all fit into the R1a1a haplogroup, so they
are all related going back about 10,000 years or so. I assumed the DM Skaggs who was ancestor of
the test subject 142082 was the D.M. Skaggs born c. 1863 in Tennessee and is a
proven descendant of the James C. Skaggs, Revolutionary War pensioner from
South Carolina who moved to Tennessee in the 1790s. The Thomas Skaggs for test kit 214307 was one
of the Sims Settlement Intruders on Indian land in Mississippi in the early
1800s. Some researchers believe this
Thomas was the son of the Charles Scaggs, Sims Settlement Intruder, one-time resident
of East Tennessee in the vicinity of James C. Skaggs and possibly born in
Maryland in the 1730s. The Y-37 test
shows that these two test subjects match on 36 of 37 markers, indicating a 90%
chance that their most recent common ancestor (MRCA) was within 8
generations. To give you an idea of how
far back 8 generations goes, Old Peter Skaggs is within 7 or 8 generations of
most of us descendants alive today.
The third test, 201804, is from a proven descendant of the
Longhunters: James Skaggs and Rachel through his son Charles Skaggs and
Mary. This test only matches on 35 of 37
markers, close but not as close as the other two are to each other. There is a 90% chance that this test subject
has a MRCA with the other two within 12 generations, instead of 8.
I’m fairly confident that the first two test subjects
descend from the East Tennessee Skaggs family of Knox, Claiborne, etc. counties
and the third subject descends from the Longhunters: James and Rachel Skaggs,
Henry, Charles, Richard, Moses (of the estate papers fame), etc. I know a couple of you that descend from Old
Peter Skaggs have reported R1a1a Y-haplogroups from your testing, so
descendants of Old Peter fit in here somewhere, we just don’t know exactly
where yet since no-one has taken the Y-37 test out to 37 markers that allows us
to identify separate families within the R1a1a haplogroup.
R1b1a1a2 family
Test
Kit Ancestor Brick Wall Ancestor Y-haplogroup
153906 Thomas Scaggs Thos.
Scaggs, Wolf Creek, WV R1b1a1a2
242020 Joseph Skaggs Thos.
Scaggs, Wolf Creek, WV R1b1a1a2
These two tests all fit into the R1b1a1a2 haplogroup, so
they aren’t related to the Skaggs above even though they have the same last
name. Both of these test subjects are
descendants of the Thomas Scaggs born 1728 in Maryland who settled in Wolf
Creek area of what is today West Virginia, currently Monroe County. Many of these descendants are still in West
Virginia, some ended up in Indiana and points west. If Old Peter’s descendants are R1a1a, we’re
not related to this family through the Skaggs line.
I would like to encourage any male with the Skaggs, Scaggs,
Skeggs, etc. surname to do the Y-37 DNA test with Family Tree DNA and register as part of
the Skaggs Project. Your results will be
added to the group so make sure you specify your ancestor as Peter Skaggs if
you descend from him, Henry “Longhunter” Skaggs if you descend from him,
etc. You can register with the
Skaggs project and get the test at a discount here:
Ok, so I was just notified that my results from the Y-37 DNA test were uploaded onto the Skaggs project. I have a haplogroup of R1a1a and am a 7th generation descendent of Old Peter Skaggs. However, because I am only 3 months into the learning curve of understanding overall Genetic DNA, I definitely need help in deciphering my Y-37 DNA results as it relates to the other R1a1a subjects. Also, does the surname Skaggs from haplogroup R1b1a1a2 suggest that their Brick Wall Ancestor was adopted ?
ReplyDeleteI see your results. Thanks for testing.
DeleteWhen I look at the FTDNA shorthand your results for Old Peter are R-M198. I'll take a close look at the results and post my thoughts.
It looks like the Y-haplogroups R-M512 and R-M198 are equivalent, i.e. everyone who has tested positive for R-M512 is also positive for R-M198 and vice-versa. So all those Skaggs descendants grouped together are considered genealogical matches. If you took the Y-37 test, you are considered a match if at least 33 of the 37 markers match. So it looks like Old Peter's descendants match with descendants of Charles Skaggs the Longhunter (kit 201804), Charles Scaggs the Sims Settlement intruder (kit 214307) and James C. Skaggs the Revolutionary War pensioner (kit 142082). There's also a match with kit B99895, a descendant of Elijah Skaggs of Green County, Kentucky who is likely a descendant of one of the Skaggs Longhunters that settled in Western Kentucky.
DeleteThe R1b1a1a2 subjects are either all descendants of a non-paternity event or from another totally different Skaggs family.
Your test matches kit B99895 exactly. Elijah Skaggs is a brick wall from Green County, Kentucky, likely a descendant of the Skaggs Longhunters.
It's interesting that the assumed Longhunter kits 201804 and B99895 only differ at one marker out of 67 tested, the CDYb marker. Also, the James C. Skaggs and Charles Scaggs of Sims Settlement only differ by one marker out of 37 tested, also that same CDYb marker. This might make it easy to determine which of those two branches of the Skaggs family a given test belongs to.
Thanks for your Y-Skaggs DNA analysis. Very interesting... Does this suggest that my (Peter Skaggs) Y-DNA and Kit # B99895 or (other known Longhunter kits) have the same MRCA with in 8 generations ? Also, I don't think you can see from the Skaggs project, but when I change my Y markers from 37 to 25 I pick up other DNA matches. One connection (Kit #N94429/R-M198) is an exact match similar to Kit # B99895. Kit #N94429 has a Surname of Skaggs who lives in Denmark and when I click on his family tree information he lists one of his ancestors as William (Squire) Skaggs B: 1757 (Horse Pasture, North Carolina)D:1848 (Green Co. Kentucky). Is William Squire Skaggs the son of James Skaggs Jr. (the Longhunter) ?
ReplyDeleteIt looks like, based on these test results, Old Peter Skaggs and the Longhunters have a MRCA within about 8 generations.
DeleteAnd yes, William "Squire" Skaggs is considered to have been a son of the Longhunter, James Skaggs Jr., founder of Skaggs Station. William was James' executor.