The Long Hunters: Jacob Skaggs

I've tried to avoid the Skaggs Long Hunters, since so much has been written about Henry, Richard and Charles I didn't think I could add much of value.  However, I'm finding a lot of poor information out there about the Long Hunters so I thought I would wade into the shallow end of the Long Hunter pool and discuss what I know about Jacob Skaggs, the youngest and least researched of the brothers.
I don't think anyone has a credible birth date for Jacob Skaggs.  There appear to be no birth or baptism records to document his birth date, so the best we can do is use other records to get an approximation.  The earliest record I have for Jacob is perhaps the most useful:

Jacob Skeggs 31 Mar1781: in Capt. Daniel Trigg's Company, Montgomery Co, VA (under 18)

The above record is from Daniel Trigg's 1781 Montgomery County, Virginia militia muster roll.  It tells us that Jacob was in Montgomery County in March 1781 and was under the age of 18.  This is really important because it establishes Jacob's birthdate as after March 1763.  If James and Rachel Skaggs were Jacob's parents, their last child was likely born sometime within a year or two after March 1763.  Keep this in mind for future reference.

Could Jacob have been born to someone other than James and Rachel Skaggs?  Possibly, however, Jacob is listed in the Moses Skaggs Estate papers documenting the court case in 1836.  In that case there was testimony from William Ratliff that Jacob was brother to Moses, Henry, John, James, Charles and Richard.  Also, Jacob's first wife, Frances Samples, testified that he was brother to Moses, Henry, John, James, Charles and Richard.  There was no discussion of half-brothers.

We have James Skaggs presence established in the New River Valley from the mid-1740s to the beginning of the American Revolution through deeds, road orders and his resignation from the Committee of Safety during the Revolution due to declining health.  We also have Rachel Skaggs listed on deeds in 1769 and 1781 transferring land to James Jr. and Henry, likely two of the eldest Long Hunter brothers.  Could Rachel have been a younger second wife?  I don't think it's likely Rachel was a step-mother in 1769 transferring land to James Jr. or especially acting alone as a step-mother transferring land to Henry in 1781 after James Sr. had died.  I guess it's possible though.

Jacob's first wife, Frances Samples, who was deposed in the Moses Skaggs Estate case, stated in her deposition that "JACOB SKAGGS and I were married for many years. We only had one child, WILLIAM SKAGGS, and he lives in this county."  This William Skaggs shows up in the 1850 Taylor County, Kentucky census as William Skaggs, age 72, laborer, born in Virginia.  That would put his birth date about 1778.  If Jacob was born around 1764 that makes for an interesting 14-year-old father.  Give or take a few months on either end of the William Skaggs 1778 birth estimate and the 1764 Jacob Skaggs birth estimate and you may have a 15-16 year old.  This may be the reason Jacob and Frances Skaggs had one child only.

Speaking of wives, Jacob's second wife was an interesting character.  Mary Jane Gore was previously married at least twice; first to Fletcher Edwards who died in 1781 in South Carolina; second to Richard Warnell who was killed by Indians in Kentucky in 1789.  Jacob left Frances Samples sometime after 1789 and took up with Mary Jane Gore.  They had three children together, Eleanor Skaggs born 1792, Mastin Skaggs born 1796 and James Manon Skaggs born 1800.

Jacob Skaggs shows up in 1803 on the Jackson County, Tennessee tax list with Thomas Gore and Labon Ellis.  Thomas Gore might be Mary Jane Gore's brother and Labon Ellis showed up later in the Moses Skaggs Estate papers as husband to a daughter of John Skaggs, the Long Hunter brother who was wounded at the Battle of King's Mountain.

The 1830 Weakley County, Tennessee census shows both of Jacob's sons Mastin and James Skaggs with an unidentified male age 60-69 in the household with Mastin.  This is likely Jacob Skaggs since it is said in a Revolutionary War pension application submitted by Mastin Skaggs in 1845 on behalf of Mary Jane Gore (based on her first husband's service in South Carolina) that Jacob Skaggs died in 1830.  Mary Jane Gore shows up in the 1850 census for Camden County, Missouri at age 90 living with son John Warnell from her 2nd marriage.

Jacob Skaggs birth date of c. 1764 is twenty years later than most estimates.  This brings into question the common 1724 birth date for famous brother Henry Skaggs because if Rachel Skaggs give birth to Jacob at age 54, for example, she would have given birth to Henry at 14.

Finally, if you have records for Jacob Skaggs that I have missed, e.g. Tennessee tax lists, please post in the comments and we will add to what I currently have in this post.