Skaggs DNA Testing: The Safeway Skaggs

The Skaggs Y-DNA project has been hard at work testing male volunteers who descend along different Skaggs family lines.  A branch of the Skaggs family founded the Safeway family of stores, with names like Osco, Albertson's and Long's Drugs.  Several descendants of this Safeway Skaggs family have tested with the project and they not only match each other but also closely match the descendants of James and Susanna Scaggs.  The famous musician, Boz Scaggs, is also a descendant of this family.

The Safeway Skaggs family descends from Charles and Elizabeth Scaggs of Prince George's (later Frederick) County, Maryland.  Charles was the eldest son of Aaron and Susanna Scaggs of Prince George's County, Maryland. Charles died in 1749 describing three sons in this will, Charles, James and Samuel.  Descendants of son Charles tested with the Y-DNA haplogroup R-FT12801.  These include descendants of Thomas Skaggs of Alabama and Mississippi and descendants of James C Skaggs of eastern Tennessee.

James and Susanna Scaggs have been frequently confused with the Long Hunter James and Rachel Skaggs, however DNA testing confirms genealogy that demonstrates they were part of the Safeway Skaggs family, with James and Charles Scaggs as brothers.  Descendants of James and Susanna's son, Eli Skaggs, tested with the Y-DNA haplogroup R-BY93447.

The Safeway Skaggs have a well-documented genealogy back to Aaron and Susanna in Maryland prior to 1700 so it was important to have test subjects from this line.  Here is what we have for their genealogical line:

1 Aaron Scaggs (?-1715)  R-FT6584
+ Susanna Hyatt
    2 Charles Scaggs (1709-1749)
    + Elizabeth

        3 Charles Skaggs (1733-1811)  R-FT12801

        + Mary

            4 James C Skaggs (1763-1838)

            + Elizabeth

                5 Solomon Skaggs (1792-1883)

                + Rachel McDonald

                    6 Hardin Skaggs (1818-1896)

                    + Susan McPhetridge

                        7 Leander Skaggs (1857-1924)

                        + Mahulda Coffman

                            8 Harvey Boyd Skaggs (1881-1956)

                            + Sophia Ethel Sandifer

                                9 Raymond Wesley Skaggs (1907-1991)

                                + Lela Bernice McDowell

            4 Thomas Skaggs (1771-1840)

                5 Thomas Skaggs (1814-1863)

                + Dorcas Partain

                    6 William Skaggs (1840-1880)

                    + Nancy Green

                        7 Francis Skaggs (1865-1909)

                        + Elizabeth Hammett

                            8 Walter Skaggs (1901-1983)

                            + Katie Hayes

                    6 Thomas James Monroe Skaggs (1849-1920)

                    + Mary Abernathy

                        7 Benjamin Clarence Skaggs (1893-1942)

                        + Ada Lee Terrell

                            8 Aaron Forrest Skaggs (1923-1994)

                            + Peggy Jo Reese

        3 James Skaggs (1735-1814)

        + Susanna

            4 Eli Skaggs (1770-1833)  R-BY93447

            + Rebecca Popejoy

                5 James Skaggs (1791-1840)

                + Nancy Major

                    6 William Skaggs (1822-?)

                    + Parley Lewis

                        7 James McHenry Skaggs (1851-1908)

                        + Mary Jane Hayes

                            8 Thomas Handy Skaggs (1873-1955)

                            + Nancy Anna Herron

                                9 Harold Skaggs (1902-?)

                                + Willie Leona Muncy

                5 Eli Skaggs Jr (1808-1880)

                + Adeline McPherron

                    6 Russell Marion Skaggs (1842-1927)

                    + Sarah Ellen Stranathan

                        7 Samuel Remus Skaggs (1872-1961)

                        + Carrie Florence Breeding

                            8 Elmer Marion Skaggs (1899-1980)

                            + Marjorie Genung Buffington

    2 Richard Scaggs (1707-1733)  Tested as R1b, not a biological relative but raised Scaggs

    + Mary Brashear

        3 Thomas Scaggs (1728-1806)

        + Lucy

            4 John Skaggs (1762-1839)

            + Katherine Hicks

                5 John Skaggs (1795-1892)

                + Sarah Campbell

                    6 James Addison Skaggs (1823-1888)

                    + Rebecca Lively

                        7 James Rufus Skaggs (1843-1935)

                        + Rebecca Ann Boley

                            8 Andrew Addison Skaggs (1867-1933)

                            + Florence Octavia Reed

                                9 Robert Claude Skaggs (1891-1979)

                                + Lena Rivers Bower

        3 Richard Scaggs (1730-1776)

        + Sarah Selby

            4 James Scaggs (1765-1822)

            + Mary Brinker

                5 George Brinker Scaggs (1802-1876)

                + Sarah Anderson

                    6 George W Scaggs (1828-1878)

                    + Priscilla Naylor

                        7 William Westwood Naylor Scaggs (1857-1929)

                        + Sarah Dean

                            8 Howard Irwin Scaggs (1892-1950)

                            + Margaret A Mitchell

So the Safeway Skaggs family started with Aaron Scaggs and Susanna Hyatt prior to 1700 in Prince George's County, Maryland with Y-DNA haplogroup R-FT6584.

• Son Charles and Elizabeth Scaggs had the R-FT6584 haplogroup plus a single STR mutation CDYb: 37 => 36.
• Grandson Charles and Mary Scaggs had the R-FT12801 mutation
• Charles and Mary's nephew, Eli Skaggs, had the R-BY93447 mutation.

The R1b Skaggs were not biological relatives of any of the other Skaggs lines in America.  Richard Scaggs and Mary Brashear were married in the Scaggs family church in 1727 so Richard Scaggs was likely adopted by Aaron and Susanna Scaggs in the early 1700s.  Descendants of Thomas Scaggs who settled in West Virginia and Richard Scaggs who settled near Washington, D.C. have been tested and found to be R1b Skaggs.

If you are a male Skaggs, Scaggs, Skeggs, etc. and are interested in joining the Y-DNA project you can contact the Group Administrator here.  If you test as R-FT12801 or R-BY93447 then, congratulations!, you belong in this family group and can trace your ancestry directly back to the last decades of 17th century Maryland.

Prince George's County, Maryland