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.

As you might guess, there were two Zachariah Skaggs merged together in the early 1800s and I'm interested in separating them properly for family history.  The Zachariah I am interested in was from Virginia and sometimes listed as Old Peter Skaggs' father.  I see this Zachariah frequently listed as married to a Nancy Annie Wilcox.  Here is where the merged Zachariah's start to happen.  The Zachariah I'm interested in had a son Jeremiah who died in Russell County, VA in 1797 and also had a wife named Nancy and/or Annie, since both names were used for her on deeds.  Zachariah died in Russell County, VA in 1818.

There was another Zachariah Skaggs, the son of the John Skaggs named in the Moses Skaggs Estate Papers and a Revolutionary War veteran wounded at King's Mountain.  This Zachariah married a Nancy Wilcox in Barren County, KY in 1822.  Since you can't usually find someone to marry you after you die, Nancy Wilcox could not have been married to the Zachariah Skaggs from Russell County, VA.

So, in summary:

• Zachariah Skaggs from Russell County, VA, father of Jeremiah, was married to a Nancy (Annie), but NOT Nancy Wilcox, and he died in Virginia in 1818
• Zachariah Skaggs, from Barren County, KY, grandson of John Skaggs, the disabled war veteran, was married to Nancy Wilcox in Kentucky in 1822