A while back I posted a question about a James Skaggs who was referred to in the minutes of the Big Blaine Baptist Church in Lawrence County, Kentucky back in 1825.
August the 1st Saturday 1825
Brother James Skaggs has transgressed and come and maid a recantation. The church is to Site Brother Christian Skaggs and James Sparks to our meeting, So Brother John Boggs and Brother James Boggs are appointed to site James Blevins.
There is evidence of a James Skaggs even earlier back in Virginia in the neighborhood of Old Peter.
The 1807 Tazewell County, Virginia personal property tax list contains the following Skaggs:
May 4 Peter Scaggs
May 4 Zachariah Scaggs
May 9 James Scaggs
This James Scaggs is difficult to account for given what we currently know. The Long Hunters had all left Virginia for Kentucky by 1807. James and Susanna Scaggs had also left Virginia well before 1807. We think Zachariah had only one son, Jeremiah, who was deceased by 1807. Who was this James Scaggs?
A James Scaggs also was sued in Tazewell County 28 February 1809 by William George.
Who was this James Scaggs? Did he follow Old Peter Skaggs and subsequently Old Solomon Skaggs from Virginia to Kentucky? Is he the same James Skaggs who apparently was in church in Kentucky in 1825? If so, what happened to him?
Finally, could this have been the James "Longman" Scaggs who ran away with neighbor Leah Carter in 1793, never to be heard from again? Recall, he was cited for adultery with Leah Carter in Russell County, Virginia in 1789 so he had ties to the area.
Well....if you incorporate part 1, (who is this guy James Skaggs), The James Skaggs from Tazewell County, Va and the James Skaggs from Lawrence County, Ky. are 2 different persons. Significant age difference. My continued hunch is that the unknown 10-15 year old male from Old Solomon Skaggs 1820 Census Floyd County is Old Solomon/Nellie's son who passed before the 1830 Lawrence County Census. Looks like the possible James Skaggs and Christian Skaggs were close to the same age. Running around and getting in trouble together. The James Skaggs from Tazewell County, VA very well could be James Longman Skaggs. A man who was notorious for disappearing. Although I thought there was an James Skaggs who founded or was a Baptist minister in the Tazewell area around that time frame. I could be wrong....need to find my lost research notes.
ReplyDeleteProbably wasn't James "Longman" Scaggs. Found in the "ANNALS of Tazewell County, Virginia. 1800-1922. Volume 1 pg. 51-52" In 1807 a James Scaggs married Kenah Witten by the subscriber Joab Wats. Who is Kenah Witten ? More questions than answers.....
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! Mystery solved!
DeleteJames Scaggs married Keziah Witten. James was son of "Hunting" Henry Skaggs and Nancy Davis. James appears next in the 1810 census in Grayson County, KY.
I should have said Part 2 of the mystery is solved.
DeleteAwesome! Thankful for older copied research notes.....Is "Hunting" Henry Skaggs the well documented (Pension Papers) Revolutionary War Veteran ? If so.....who was Henry's father/mother ?
ReplyDelete