R-FT12801: Charles Scaggs of Sims Settlement

Intruder alert!  Intruder alert!  Our Y-DNA testing project has tested multiple descendants of Charles Scaggs, one of the intruders on Indian land in Mississippi Territory at Sims Settlement in the early 1800s. You can read the history of how the President ordered the Army to beat the stuffing out of these intruders to drive them off Indian land back to Tennessee where they belonged.

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.

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.

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.

The 1777 Loyalty Oath for Montgomery County, Virginia

During the American Revolution the Virginia legislature passed laws that required an oath of allegiance to the State.  Free men of age of majority were required to make the following oath:

"We whose names are hereunto subscribed do swear or affirm that we renounce and refuse all allegiance to George third King of Great Britain, his heirs successors and that, I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Commonwealth of Virginia as a free and independent State and that I will not at any time do or Cause to be done any matter or thing that will be make known to some one Justice of the Peace for the said State all treasons or traitorous Conspiracies which I now or hereafter shall known to be formed against this or any of the United States of America."

In 1777 Montgomery County mustered the militia and required the oath.  The result is an interesting list of declared revolutionaries that is useful to family historians.

Skaggs Timeline in the New World before 1750

There's been a recent flurry of research activity for the Skaggs family in 17th century America.  I think it might be a good time to recap what has been discovered about the Skaggs family in the new world prior to 1750.  Below the fold is a chronological timeline for the Skaggs family in the new world.

Who was this Charles Skaggs?

There's been a flurry of recent activity researching early Skaggs in the Northern Neck counties of Virginia.  A 1731 record has been found of a Charles Skaggs in Stafford County, Virginia witnessing the signing of a will.  This Charles was likely born prior to 1711 making him a contemporary with James Skaggs, father of the Long Hunters and the Aaron Scaggs from Maryland who married Susannah Hyatt.

The Longhunters: Where were they from 1755 to 1768?

Here's a bit of a mystery that requires some research...where were the Long Hunter Skaggs from 1755 to 1768?  We have deeds, land surveys and road construction orders involving James Skaggs Sr., the father of the Long Hunters, from the late 1740s to 1754 in Augusta County, Virginia.  Then a gap of silence until 1769 when James Sr. appears on two deeds with sons Henry and James Jr.  Why the information gap from 1755 to 1768?

The Manx Family History Website

There is an excellent website for persons interested in the Skaggs family history called Manx Family History.  It has a lot of great information about the various Skaggs family lines based on DNA testing.  For example, the Old Peter Skaggs line is described here.  Other Skaggs lines are shown below the fold.

Green County, Kentucky Tax Books and the Long Hunters

A big challenge when researching the Long Hunter Skaggs is the lack of 1790 and 1800 census records. These records were burned by the British when they invaded Washington during the War of 1812 (thanks guys). Tax records can help during this time period in establishing where someone was in a given year. I've noticed that FamilySearch has unlocked the tax records for Green County, Kentucky and it's a gold mine for Skaggs Long Hunter research. 

Skaggs Family Groups based on DNA Testing

It's time for an update on the Skaggs Y-DNA testing.  We currently have 19 Skaggs who have taken the Big-Y DNA test and are descendants of Viking ancestors from the Isle of Man.  We call these guys R1a Skaggs.  We also have a few other Skaggs who are not part of this Isle of Man family and we call them the R1b Skaggs.  Both are Skaggs, just two completely different families. Both are really interesting, however, in this post I'll discuss the R1a Skaggs and group them into families based on their DNA.

DNA Testing Update: Skaggs and the Isle of Man

It’s time for an update on the Skaggs DNA testing.  Several Skaggs have submitted Y-DNA test results since the last time we checked in and additional autosomal DNA testing results for Skaggs descendants have been posted to GEDMatch.  These new tests have produced some interesting results.

Morgan County, Indiana Skaggs

The Morgan County, Indiana Gazette published a three-part series on the Skaggs family on April 22, 1971.  Part 1 is copied below.  Parts 2 & 3 are lengthy and can be obtained from the Morgan County Public Library in Martinsville, Indiana.

Bible Entries for the Sims Settlement Scaggs

I have been scrolling back through the history of the Rootsweb Skaggs list and found an entry regarding one of the Sims Settlement Scaggs families.  This October 2008 entry seems long forgotten.  A poster to the old Genealogy.com Genforum board claimed to possess a Williams family bible with two Scaggs entries in it.

Charles Skaggs: How the Dix River got its name

Lyman Draper wrote in The Life of Daniel Boone that in the autumn of 1770 the Long Hunters Joseph Drake and Henry Skaggs led a party of hunters from New River and Holston areas into Kentucky.

"Equipped with three pack-horses for each man, rifles, ammunition, traps, dogs, blankets and salt, dressed in hunting shirts, leggings and moccasins, they took their leave of friends and kindred..."

Wasting Time with the Long Hunters

I’ve avoided researching the Skaggs Long Hunter family since there has been extensive research done in the 100+ years since Lyman Draper’s work.  However, the internet has created an opportunity for a lot of “fake news” regarding the Long Hunters. People are posting trees without any evidence that create a dog’s breakfast of confusion for Skaggs family researchers.  Some folks are also ignoring well-documented prior research in their haste to tie their ancestors to famous Long Hunters like Henry Skaggs.

Next of Kin in Colonial Maryland

It was recently pointed out to me that next of kin in colonial Maryland probate proceedings may provide clues to family relationships.  The Testatmentary Act of 1715 required the presence and approval of "next of kin" at estate appraisals, these were not necessarily direct descendants, but could be any two heirs who might be "in line" (under English laws in effect at the time). Next of kin might, for example, include parents, grandparents, uncles or aunts, siblings, or nieces or nephews (the latter often referred to as "cousins" in early records). And, although the next of kin present did not have to be nearest kin, they did have to be adults; and might be the representative (guardian) of a minor child (A male child was not considered an adult until age 21, but a female was an adult at age 16 or marriage, whichever came earlier).

The 1787 Montgomery County, Virginia Personal Property Tax List B

The 1787 Montgomery County Virginia personal property tax list was in three sections: List A, List B and List C.  I listed interesting taxpayers from List A in a previous post.  The following are more taxpayers from List B.