Skaggs DNA Testing: Putting It All Together

The Skaggs Y-DNA project has been working diligently testing male volunteers who descend along different Skaggs family lines.  They've been aligning the DNA test results with the ongoing genealogical research effort to identify distinct, yet related, Skaggs families.  The results follow below the fold.

It appears there are two separate Skaggs families in America: 1) the R1a Skaggs and 2) the R1b Skaggs.  It looks like the R1b Skaggs descended from a non-paternal event (NPE) about the year 1700 in Maryland, probably an orphan adoption.  Richard Scaggs who married Mary Brashear in 1727 was married in the same church attended by his adoptive father, Aaron Scaggs of the Safeway Skaggs Line, it's unlikely that would have happened if Richard was a base-born child.

Here is what we have for the Skaggs genealogical line, starting with the R1a Skaggs:

1 Unknown Common Ancestor-1  R-Y151542

• We don't know his name, but he was the single common Skaggs ancestor.  Likely lived in Britain or Ireland and has been determined through DNA testing to have been a descendant of the Skeig family from the Isle of Man. Yes, the R1a Skaggs are descended from Manx Viking heritage.

Godred Croven, Manx Viking King

    2 The Maryland Eastern Shore Skaggs Line  R-FT14580

• Descended from an immigrant to the Maryland Eastern Shore, likely Richard Scaggs of Kent County who immigrated to Virginia prior to 1658.

Maryland Eastern Shore

    2 Unknown Common Ancestor-2  R-FT6584

• The single common Skaggs ancestor for all the Skaggs family lines not descended from the Maryland Eastern Shore Skaggs, likely Thomas Scaggs who immigrated to Virginia prior to 1654.

        3 The Safeway Skaggs Line  R-FT6584

• Includes famous Skaggs such as the founders of the Safeway stores, the musician "Boz" Scaggs and Pulitzer Prize winning author Katherine Anne Porter
• Descended from Aaron and Susanna Scaggs of Prince George's County, Maryland.
• Descendants of James and Susanna Scaggs of Warren County, KY and Charles and Mary Scaggs from east Tennessee

Katherine Anne Porter

Boz Scaggs

• The R1b Skaggs are not biologically related to other American Skaggs.  Richard Scaggs who married Mary Brashear in 1727 was likely adopted by Aaron and Susanna Scaggs in the early 1700s.
• Descendants of Richard Scaggs and Sarah Selby from the Washington, D.C. area have been tested as R1b Skaggs.
• Descendants of Thomas and Lucy Scaggs from the Alderson, West Virginia area have also been tested as R1b Skaggs.

        3 The Zachariah Skaggs Line  R-FT6584

• Descended from Zachariah and Nancy Skaggs and William and Esther Skaggs.  Zachariah and William were likely sons of John Skaggs.  Zachariah was listed as heir-at-law of John Skaggs in the 1780 transfer of a Virginia land commissioner's certificate from Zachariah to John Charlton.

        3 The Aaron Skaggs Line  R-FT6584

• Descended from Aaron Skaggs Sr who possibly was son of Moses Scaggs, a younger son of Aaron and Susanna Scaggs from the Safeway Skaggs Line above.
• The infamous Larkin Skaggs who helped destroy the town of Lawrence, Kansas in 1863 was from this family

The Burning of Lawrence, Kansas in 1863

        3 The Long Hunters Line  R-BY44771

Long Hunter

• The famous Henry the Long Hunter Skaggs, The Rev. James Skaggs and Old Peter Skaggs all fit here.
• Unknown Common Ancestor-3 was father of James Skaggs who married Rachel and was grandfather of the famous Long Hunter brothers.  
• Unknown Common Ancestor-3 was also father of Unknown Common Ancestor-4, the grandfather of Old Peter Skaggs.
• Unknown Common Ancestor-4 also started the Sullivan family line, a family of Skaggs DNA relatives with the last name of Sullivan who lived in Kentucky and Indiana.
• Unknown Common Ancestor-5 was the father of Old Peter Skaggs and his brother Solomon.  The famous musician Ricky Skaggs is a descendant of Old Peter.

  

  Ricky Skaggs

For details about each of the families, click on the links above.  

We're still missing some pieces here.  It's possible that families with the name Skegg, Staggs, etc. may also be genetically related.  We may have missed them to date because their last names were different.  So you male Staggs and Skeggs that have ancestors from colonial Virginia or Maryland may want to take the Y-DNA test to see if you fit with one of these Skaggs families.  If you are interested in joining the Y-DNA project you can contact the Group Administrator here.