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.

Leatherwood Creek

Leatherwood Creek is a tributary of the Smith River.  In 1767 several interesting characters were enumerated for property taxes there with names Scaggs, Elkins and Blevins.  Descendants of these folks ended up later in Lawrence County, KY so it is important for us to understand as much as we can about this area and inhabitants in the 1700s.  Also, Archibald Thompson in his diary claims to have migrated up to Leatherwood Creek from South Carolina after the French and Indian War and, sure enough, he appears with his sons in the 1767 tax list.

Tithables taken by Peter Perkins: Archibald Thompson, Rodden Thompson, George Thompson, Ralph Elkins, Richard Elkins, Nathaniel Elkins and son Jessey, James Elkin on Leatherwood, Jesse Elkins, John Scags, Joseph Cotton (is he related to Martha Cothon?), John Roach (maybe was the John Roach in court case with Zachariah Scaggs in Pittsylvania County in 1772)

Tithables taken by Peter Copeland, July 17, 1767: Charles Scaggs, James Wallen, Joseph Wallen, Elisha Wallen Sr. (a Longhunter), William Blevins, Little William Blevins, Frederick D. O’Daniel (could be related to Darky Gothrin’s husband, Owen O’Daniel)

Marrowbone Creek

Marrowbone Creek is a tributary of the Smith River, about two miles upstream from Leatherwood Creek.  Tithables taken by John Wilson:  ZachariahScags.  I believe that Zachariah Scaggs lived in a independent household from his father John because Zachariah had a wife and son, Jeremiah, born in 1766.  He did not own land on Leatherwood so he was likely tenant farming for a living.

Analysis

You can see from Peter Perkins’ tithables that Archibald Thompson and his sons lived near the Elkins brothers and John Scaggs on Leatherwood Creek.  This confirms what Archibald Thompson wrote in his diary.  I believe that this John Scaggs was father of Zachariah Scaggs who lived on Marrowbone Creek, but it’s not proven.  Archibald Thompson’s son-in-law, Charles Scaggs, lived on Leatherwood Creek near the Wallens and Blevins.  Frederick O’Daniel also lived there and some believe he is the father of Owen O’Daniel who married Darky Gothrin, daughter of Ruth Skaggs Bishop, believed to be the wife of the John Scaggs (above) who lived on Leatherwood and subsequently married a second husband John Bishop.  To sort out all this Skaggs and Elkins drama we will have to study the family settlement of Leatherwood prior to 1767 and the family migrations from Leatherwood to Montgomery County between 1767 and the Revolution.

• Where did the Skaggs and Elkins families come to Leatherwood from?
• When and why did these families move from Pittsylvania to Montgomery County between 1767 and the Revolution?