The Skaggs Y-DNA project has tested multiple descendants of Old Peter Skaggs and the Long Hunters. These testers all descend from a single common ancestor with the R-BY44771 haplogroup. The genealogies of the test participants indicate that this common ancestor lived in the late 1600s to early 1700s.
I don't know much about William Brock Skaggs and that's unfortunate because he was the common ancestor for two testers in the Skaggs Y-DNA project. He was a grandson of the Rev. James "Longman" Skaggs of the Long Hunter group of Skaggs, born about 1796. He married Nancy Warren about 1815 and lived out his life in Green County, Kentucky dying sometime after the 1860 census. William Brock Skaggs had the R-BY114454 haplogroup in the Skaggs genetic lineage, shown below:
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?
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.
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.
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."
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 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.
In a recent post regarding the Long Hunters I referenced two deeds from 1769 where James Skaggs Sr. deeded land to two sons, Henry and James Skaggs Jr. I think it's worth looking at one of these two deeds in detail since Skaggs ancestors were involved with several important historical figures from the New River area of Virginia when these deeds were signed.
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.
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?
Calvin Skaggs is the President of Lumiere Productions, a documentary production company in New York City. He has directed or produced more than 30 films for cinema and television. He's a descendant of one of the Long Hunters, as shown below the fold.
I've usually stayed away from writing about the Long Hunter Skaggs since they are the most documented branch of the Skaggs family. I've rarely felt I could add anything new to the discussion about these guys, with a few exceptions. However, there is some new research regarding Henry Skaggs that deserves attention.
We have uncovered two Skaggs mysteries from the 1790s that seem to lead to brick walls:
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