Are the Staggs related to the Skaggs?

We're getting a bunch of autosomal DNA matches between Staggs and Skaggs testers.  Both families appear to have ancestors from the Virginia Northern Neck and Southern Maryland.  We are looking for descendants of the following Staggs families who might be interested in Y-DNA testing to see if their Staggs line matches any of our documented Skaggs lines:

West Virginia Staggs

1  John Stagg (-1797)

     2  George Stagg (1766-1844)

          3  Christopher Staggs (1797-1858)

               4  Otho Staggs (1835-1913)

                    5  John Wesley Staggs (1868-1929)

                         6  Ortho Thomas Staggs (1896-1927)

Fleming County, Kentucky Staggs

1  Joseph Stagg (-1816)

     2  Joseph Staggs (1782-1860)

          3  Josiah W Staggs (1817-1894)

               4  John Barber Staggs (1862-1903)

                    5  Santford Staggs (1889-1979)

We would like to combine Staggs DNA testing with our existing Skaggs DNA testing to determine if the two families are actually related, even though they have different last names.  Any relationship would likely be back to early 1700s Virginia and/or Maryland, so the Y-DNA testing is our best bet.

If you are a male Staggs from either of these lines and are interested in testing you can contact the Group Administrator here.

Where was "Horse Pasture?"

William Skaggs, the eldest son of James "The Long Hunter" Skaggs applied for a military pension in 1832 for service during the American Revolution.  In that pension application William stated that he was born in North Carolina.  "...the said Skaggs further states that he was born in the state of North Carolina the County he does not remember; it was near a place called the horse pasture as he learned from his mother..."  Where was Horse Pasture?

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.

Skaggs DNA Testing: The Long Hunters

The Skaggs Y-DNA project has been working diligently testing male volunteers who descend along different Skaggs family lines.  Volunteers have been tested from the branch of the Skaggs family that descends from the children of James and Rachel Skaggs, known as the Long Hunters.

John Skaggs and the Battle of King's Mountain

by General Joseph Graham

Published in The Southern Literary Messenger, September 30, 1845.

"The following account of the battle of King's Mountain is a copy of the original paper, drawn up by the late General Joseph Graham, father of the present governor of North Carolina, of Lincoln county, North Carolina, the county in which the site of the battle is located. The accompanying plan of the battle is a copy by a young lady of Carolina from the original taken by Gen. Graham on the ground. This graphic account, given by an uninterested individual, of the battle that led to the retreat of Cornwallis, then on his advance through Carolina, may afford interesting information to your readers, that love to dwell upon the scenes of the Revolution."

Henry A Skaggs: A Brick Wall back to Maryland

Henry A Skaggs is the brick wall for a West Virginia Skaggs family from the Greenbrier County area.  Many Skaggs researchers have thought he was from the Thomas Scaggs (born 1728) line of Virginia and later West Virginia Skaggs but I'm not so sure.  It's possible he was the Henry Scaggs in the 1800 Frederick County, Maryland census, making him a brick wall back to the 18th century Maryland Skaggs families.

Henry Skaggs and the Murders at Frenchman's Knob

Cyrus Edwards of Horse Cave, Kentucky was author of the 1924 story "The Murders at Frenchman's Knob."  The story is of the murder of William Smuthers and Gilbert LeClerc by Indians in 1782/3 in the "Barrens" of western Kentucky.

Colonial Roads and Skaggs Family Migration

Knowledge of colonial roads can help with understanding Skaggs family migrations prior to 1800.  Below is a map of the system of roads in colonial America.  

If you are interested in how Maryland Skaggs might have ended up in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina just check out the analysis below the fold.

Skaggs DNA Testing: Aaron Skaggs

The Skaggs Y-DNA project has been working diligently testing male volunteers who descend along different Skaggs family lines.  Volunteers have been tested from the branch of the Skaggs family that consists of descendants of "Hunting" Henry Skaggs and Aaron Skaggs who married Sarah Lyon.  This branch traces back to southern Maryland in the early 1700s and we've decided to call it the Aaron Skaggs branch because of the number of men named Aaron in the family lines.

Lord Dunmore's War: Henry Sceggs' Detachment

Lord Dunmore's War was a confrontation between colonial Virginia and the Indians of the Ohio Country in 1774.  The war consisted of small skirmishes in present-day Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky culminating with the Battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774 near modern-day Point Pleasant, West Virginia.  You can read more about Lord Dunmore's War here.  Sergeant Henry Skaggs led a company of men from Fincastle County, Virginia consisting of several persons of interest for Skaggs researchers.

Lord Dunmore's War: Captain Cloyd's Company

 Lord Dunmore's War was a confrontation between colonial Virginia and the Indians of the Ohio Country in 1774.  The war consisted of small skirmishes in present-day Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky culminating with the Battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774 near modern-day Point Pleasant, West Virginia.  You can read more about Lord Dunmore's War here.  Captain Joseph Cloyd led a company of men from Fincastle County, Virginia consisting of several persons of interest for Skaggs researchers.

Lord Dunmore's War: Major Robertson's Company

Lord Dunmore's War was a confrontation between colonial Virginia and the Indians of the Ohio Country in 1774.  The war consisted of small skirmishes in present-day Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky culminating with the Battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774 near modern-day Point Pleasant, West Virginia.  You can read more about Lord Dunmore's War here.  Major James Robertson led a company of men from Fincastle County, Virginia consisting of several persons of interest for Skaggs researchers.

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.

Who was John Stegg of Kent County?

There is evidence in the early historical records of Maryland that a John Stegg lived on Kent Island on the Eastern Shore in 1642 when Kent County was formed.  At this point in time there would have been less than 300 heads of household in the entire Maryland colony.  Past researchers noted that no John Stegg was found in early Virginia immigration records such as Cavaliers and Pioneers or the Virginia Historical Index, yet there he was in 1642 as you can see below the fold.