Leonard Scaggs: Brick Wall to the Skeggs Family

Leonard Scaggs (a.k.a. Skaggs, Skeggs) was the progenitor of several American families known today mostly as Skeggs.  We currently don't know much about him prior to his appearance in the 1800 U.S. census in Frederick County, Maryland, however, he is the common ancestor of several Skeggs families across the United States and is important to us in understanding how the Skaggs, Scaggs and Skeggs families were structured just after the American Revolution.

Leonard Skaggs was listed in the 1800 U.S. census in Frederick County, Maryland as a single male age 16-25.  Unfortunately, there is no indication who his father might have been, just Henry Skaggs, a single male age 26-44 also in Frederick County.

Evidently Leonard Scaggs was a construction contractor.  The vestry at the parish of St. Marks in Frederick County engaged with him to undertake the finishing of the church.  In August 1807 the church was finished and Mr. Skaggs' bill of 135 pounds, 2 shillings, 2 pence was ordered paid.

History of Frederick County, Maryland Vol. 1 By Thomas John Chew Williams, Folger McKinsey Genealogical Publishing Com, 1967 p. 490.

Leonard Scaggs next appeared in the 1810 census for Frederick County, Maryland as a male age 26-44.  His family consisted of a wife, two sons and five daughters.

The last census record for Leonard was the 1820 census for Fredrick County.

A probate abstract is found for the estate of Leonard Scaggs in the Archives of Maryland dated January 1823.  It shows Leonard's heirs and his date of death was 4 October 1821.

From this probate abstract we can trace Leonard's male descendants down to the present day for Y-DNA testing.  So far, the Skaggs DNA project has no participants from this family.  We believe they are an important hole in our testing that we would like to fill.  The following will describe these descendant families.

Thomas Leonard Skeggs (a.k.a. Leonard Thomas Scaggs) was born in 1810 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee sometime before his marriage in 1833 to Mary Jane Drennon.  He was a tailor and died in Nashville in 1880.

Benjamin Skeggs was born about 1812 and also moved to Nashville, Tennessee prior to appearing there in the 1840 census.  He was also a tailor who disappeared from the record after 1850.

These two Skeggs brothers were to basis for establishing the Skeggs family in the Nashville area prior to the Civil War.  The Skeggs family is still there, so if you are a male Skeggs from that Tennessee family please consider joining the Skaggs DNA project at the link here.

Henry Alexander Skeggs was born in 1815 and married Louisa Bartels in Lawrence County, Ohio in 1843.  He remarried in 1848 in Madison County, Alabama to Mary Jane Hunt.  His known children are from this second marriage.  He was also a tailor in Huntsville, Alabama who later in life moved to Decatur, Alabama and died there in 1908.

Henry Alexander Skeggs established the Skeggs family in Alabama prior to the Civil War.  This Skeggs family is still there and has moved elsewhere, so if you are a male Skeggs descended from that Alabama family please consider joining the Skaggs DNA project at the link here.

Finally, John Levin Skeggs was born about 1817 and moved to Ohio prior to his marriage in 1838 to Angeline Eichner in Wayne County.  John was a carpenter and builder who lived in Mansfield, Ohio and died there in 1889.  

Skeggs are still in Ohio and also have moved on to other places so if you are a male Skeggs descended from that Mansfield, Ohio family please consider joining the Skaggs DNA project at the link here.