The 1787 Montgomery County, Virginia Personal Property Tax List B

The 1787 Montgomery County Virginia personal property tax list was in three sections: List A, List B and List C.  I listed interesting taxpayers from List A in a previous post.  The following are more taxpayers from List B.

The 1787 Montgomery County, Virginia Personal Property Tax List A

The Harrell Collaborative put useful images of the 1787 Montgomery County, Virginia personal property tax list up on the internet for all to use.  This is an important list for descendants of Old Peter Skaggs because it is the year before Old Peter and Martha were married in Montgomery County.  Also, it was the year after William Lester and Rachel Skaggs were married in the same county.  There are some interesting taxpayers on the list and others who are interesting in their absence.

Old Peter Skaggs vs. Richard Damron

I recently found a reference to a court case in October court 1818 in Floyd County, Kentucky involving a lawsuit between Richard Damron and Old Peter. If the link doesn't work the reference is film 1844112, page 544 in vol. A of the Floyd County order books. Remember, at this time Lawrence County had not yet been split from Floyd.  It's interesting who was involved in the lawsuit.

More Skaggs and the Chickamauga Expedition of 1779

A while back I wrote a post about the Chickamauga Expedition of 1779. Basically, it was a water-borne attack on hostile Cherokees by the Virginia militia.  We know from his pension deposition that William Skaggs was a part of the expedition. Some family historians believe that kidnapped white Virginians were rescued from captivity, perhaps even Ruth Skaggs and daughters Rachel Skaggs and Darky Gothrin.  Now we have evidence that the Skaggs Long Hunters, John, Aaron and James Jr. were junior officers or non-commissioned officers under Captain Thomas Mastin on this expedition.

Where did all this weird DNA come from anyway?

Not just Skaggs, but a lot of people with an isolated Appalachian heritage are taking autosomal DNA tests and getting mysterious results.  For example, it seems pretty common that a solid streak of Scandanavian DNA is frequently showing up.  Maybe 1-2 percent.  Where did that come from?  And what about that Iberian or Italian DNA?  How many Scandanavians, Portugese, Spaniards or Italians were in the Appalachian mountains over the last 200 years?  I've been surprised by some theories of why this has happened.

Henry Skaggs and the Catrons

The Revolutionary War veteran Henry Skaggs, born 1759 in South Carolina, had some interesting testimony in his pension application.  This is the Henry we think was son of Aaron Skaggs, possibly a brother to the Longhunters based on his testimony that Henry and Archibald Skaggs were cousins. We know Archibald Skaggs was son of Charles Skaggs the Longhunter. Many researchers believe that Aaron died young enough that he wasn't mentioned in the Moses Skaggs estate papers as one of Moses' brothers.  Anyway, back to the pension application...

Did Isabel "Belle" Skaggs ever exist?

This may be another instance of a Skaggs myth taking on a life of its own. Isabel "Belle" Skaggs was supposed by some to be a daughter of Old Peter, however, there appears to be no evidence to support this.  Nevertheless, Belle Skaggs is in many family trees as Old Peter's daughter and wife of a Joseph Fyffe.

William Scaggs, another Long Hunter?

I wrote a short post about the William Scaggs from Montgomery County, Virginia who was father of Joseph and husband to Esther.  I've also speculated that this William may have been related to the Zachariah Scaggs who died in Virginia in 1818.  Well, here's a new speculation.  This William might have been another son of the James Skaggs, husband of Rachel and father of the famous Long Hunters.

Another hidden stash of Skaggs information?

There is a folder of genealogical information in the Norfolk, Virginia public library that may be of interest to Skaggs researchers.  The Sargeant Memorial Collection consists of 26 boxes of family history information.

Famous Skaggs: Katherine Anne Porter

Though she was not a Skaggs herself, the Pulitzer Prize winning writer Katherine Anne Porter was a Skaggs descendant.  Her paternal grandmother was Catherine Ann Skaggs, daughter of Abraham Moredock Skaggs and granddaughter of the James Scaggs who married Susanna.

Richard Scaggs, Early Colonist - Part 3

This is an update on previous Richard Scaggs, Early Colonist postings here and here. Historical documents and DNA testing are pointing toward Richard as the founding member of many Skaggs lines in America.  Richard immigrated to Virginia prior to 1658 and lived until the early 1700s in Maryland and Delaware.

Dead men tell no tales...but deeds sure do!

The Maryland State Archives has a convenient digital image retrieval system for deeds going back to the beginning of colonial times.  It's free to use, all you have to do is register using an email account and you're ready to go.  A correspondent pointed me to an interesting deed that confirms some assumptions I've made in previous posts about Scaggs ancestors from Maryland.

The Scaggs Family of Chews Folly

In a previous post I discussed the James Scaggs family that owned the farm “Chews Folly” in Prince George’s County, Maryland in the early 1800s.  The parents of this James Scaggs were Richard Scaggs and Sarah Selby.  I believe this Richard Scaggs was the same Richard born in Kent County, Maryland in 1724, the younger brother of the John Scaggs that supposedly married Ruth Elkins.  The descendants of James Scaggs who inherited “Chews Folly” over the years are listed below the fold.

More Indian Stories: How Skaggs Hole Got its Name

In present-day Dickenson County, Virginia there is a deep spot in the Russell Fork called Skaggs Hole.  The CSX railroad has a bridge over the Russell Fork and a tunnel through the mountain at Skaggs Hole.

A correspondent forwarded a story about Skaggs Hole told by a James Sifers in 1940 in "Pioneer Recollections of Southwest Virginia" by Elihu Jasper Sutherland and Hetty Swindall Sutherland.  I think this James Sifers was the James Colley Sifers born in 1861 and died in Dickenson County in 1948.  Here's what he had to say about Skaggs Hole:

DNA Testing: Old Peter has joined the Skaggs DNA project

A correspondent who is a descendant of Old Peter Skaggs has submitted Y-37 DNA test results to the Skaggs DNA Project. The results are interesting since Old Peter's descendant matches on the Y-chromosome with descendants of Charles Skaggs the Longhunter, Charles Skaggs of Sims Settlement fame and James C. Skaggs, the Revolutionary War pensioner from South Carolina who settled near Knoxville, Tennessee.

DNA Testing: Old Peter Related to Joseph

Old Peter Skaggs had a contemporary in Montgomery County, Virginia c. 1790, Joseph Scaggs. Joseph, his wife Martha, father William and mother Esther were described in an earlier post. Joseph was the last remaining Scaggs in Montgomery County by 1820. DNA evidence has come in that indicates Joseph and Old Peter were related.

DNA Testing: Descendant of Old Peter and Interesting Matches on GEDMatch

A documented descendant of Old Peter Skaggs / Martha has matched with a documented descendant of David "Long Dave" Bishop (son of John Bishop and Ruth Skaggs Bishop)/ Elizabeth Wolford and matched with a descendant of William Scaggs / Esther of Montgomery County, Virginia to form a triangulated group on GEDMatch.  What this means is that there's about a 90% chance that Old Peter Skaggs, Long Dave Bishop and William Scaggs had the same common ancestor.

Aaron Scaggs of Maryland and His Descendants

We know from early 18th century Maryland christening records that an Aaron Scaggs and wife Susanna had three children, Charles, Moses and Susanna.  We also know that Aaron Scaggs died c. 1715 and Susanna subsequently remarried to John Moberley and later Henry Boulton.  These second and third marriages allow us to determine that Aaron's wife Susanna was Susanna Hyatt, the daughter of Charles Hyatt and Sarah Tewksbury of Maryland.  Aaron's descendants are relevant for researchers interested in Old Peter Skaggs since at least one appeared in the records of the New River area of Virginia and is frequently mistaken for James, the father of the Longhunters.

The Catron Family and the Cherokee Indians

In previous posts here and here, I discussed the DNA evidence and circumstantial evidence pointing to the possibility of Old Peter's wife, Martha Cothon, actually being related to the Catron family. I have been referred to a valuable historical resource, The History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folk Lore by the Cherokee historian Emmet Starr. I have put a link to this book in the "Interesting Links" section of this site for convenience. The Catron family appears in this book as having married into an important Cherokee family.

Famous Skaggs: Larkin Skaggs

The most notorious Skaggs in history was the Missouri bushwacker Larkin Skaggs.  He was a Baptist preacher who rode with William Quantrill's raiders during the Civil War.  He was the only one of Quantrill's raiders killed when they burned the city of Lawrence, Kansas. More about this infamous bushwacker below the fold.