An Update on Richard Scaggs of Prince George's County, Maryland

I've written several posts regarding Richard Scaggs of Prince George's County, Maryland. Each post about Richard is a little better than those that came before since we are learning a lot from the Skaggs Y-DNA project. 

• First, I showed Richard marrying Grace then a second wife Mary Brashear, however, we discovered through DNA testing that those were two different Richards.
• Next, I thought Richard who married Sarah Selby was the Richard born 1724 as youngest son of Richard and Grace Scaggs of Kent County, Maryland but DNA testing proved that wrong also
• Then I thought Richard who married Sarah Selby was son of the Richard who married Mary Brashear since they appear have the same R1b DNA haplogroup, however I'm ready to consider another possibility.

Through traditional genealogy and DNA testing we have demonstrated that there was a Richard Scaggs who married Mary Brashear in December 1727 in St. Barnabas' Church in Leeland in Prince George's County.  Richard's descendants appear to be testing as R1b Skaggs, different from the R1a Skaggs that include the Skaggs from the Maryland Eastern Shore, the Long Hunters, Old Peter Skaggs, the Safeway Skaggs, etc.  Richard and Mary had two children listed in St. Barnabas' Church records: Thomas and Susanna.

1 Richard Scaggs (?-?) m. Dec 1727

+ Mary Brashear (1695-?)

    2 Thomas Scaggs (1728-1803)

    + Lucy

    2 Susanna Scaggs (1730-?)

    + John Wood

Thomas Scaggs migrated westward and ended up in what is today Alderson, West Virginia:

• Fauquier County, Virginia  1759-68
• Prince William County, Virginia  1769
• Augusta County, Virginia  1770-1803
• Parts of Augusta were severed over the years to become Botetourt, Fincastle, Greenbrier and Monroe
• It appears that Thomas Scaggs just sat on his porch while the name of his county changed around him

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, in Prince George's County, Maryland a Richard Scaggs married Sarah Selby.  She was from a fairly wealthy family and brought inherited land with her to the marriage called "Chew's Folly."  We know things about her, like her inheritance from her father and that she was born c. 1722. For some reason, nobody has been able to find records of who this Richard Scaggs was or where he came from.  We kept assuming he was a Richard from known Richard Scaggs births in Maryland that fit the timeframe, however, these theories kept getting upended by DNA testing.  So here's what we know about Richard and Sarah Scaggs' family:

1 Richard Scaggs

+ Sarah Selby (1722-1802)

    2 Sarah Scaggs (-1793)

    + Benjamin Shaugh Hill whose second marriage was to his sister-in-law Elizabeth Scaggs

    2 James Scaggs (1755-1822) inherited "Chew's Folly"

    + Catherine Raeser

    + Mary Brinker

    2 Christopher Scaggs (1757-1822) migrated to Spartanburg, South Carolina

    + Tabitha Morris

    2 William Scaggs (1760-1813) migrated to Georgia

    + Mary

    2 Eleanor Scaggs

    + Benjamin Norris

    2 Elizabeth Scaggs (-1828) migrated to Ohio

    + Samuel Compton

    + Benjamin Shaugh Hill

    2 Henry Scaggs (1765-1800)

    2 Susanna Scaggs

    + James Atkins

Descendants of James Scaggs and Mary Brinker have tested as R1b Skaggs, so we know these Skaggs are related to the West Virginia descendants of Thomas Scaggs.  I've thought that Richard Scaggs who married Sarah Selby was son of Richard Scaggs / Mary Brashear, but I haven't been able to find anything other than DNA evidence to confirm this theory.  Also, Richard Scaggs and Mary Brashear just seem to have disappeared into thin air after about 1730.  This leads to my new theory:

Perhaps Sarah Selby was the second wife of Richard Scaggs?

If so, Mary Brashear Scaggs likely died sometime after 1730 and we just haven't found the record.  It appears she was likely a bit older than her husband since we know she was born 16 November 1695 in Calvert County, Maryland (in 1696 Prince George's County became effective, taking some land away from Calvert County)