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.

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.

Marker for Lawrence County, Kentucky Militia Company

Francis "Big Frank" Lemaster was militia captain in 1826 in Lawrence County, Kentucky.  Local residents want to commemorate their service by commissioning a stone monument to the men of that militia company, and they currently are raising funds on Facebook to fund the project.  Some interesting names will go on that monument.

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. 

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.

More Skaggs and the Chickamauga Expedition of 1779

A while back I wrote a post about the Chickamauga Expedition of 1779. Basically, it was a water-borne attack on hostile Cherokees by the Virginia militia.  We know from his pension deposition that William Skaggs was a part of the expedition. Some family historians believe that kidnapped white Virginians were rescued from captivity, perhaps even Ruth Skaggs and daughters Rachel Skaggs and Darky Gothrin.  Now we have evidence that the Skaggs Long Hunters, John, Aaron and James Jr. were junior officers or non-commissioned officers under Captain Thomas Mastin on this expedition.

Thomas Bailey Christian and the Moses Skaggs Estate Papers

As I mentioned in a previous post, Thomas Bailey Christian is known to several Skaggs family researchers.  He is referred to as the husband of Lydia Harmon, the daughter of Mathias Harmon and Lydia Skaggs, in the Moses Skaggs Estate Papers.