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.
A Sullivan family descendant took a Big Y DNA test at Family Tree DNA and matched the Skaggs for Y-DNA. This has led us all down a rabbit hole of Sullivan(t) genealogy to try to find out how this tester could be related to the Longhunter branch of the Skaggs family.
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
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.
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.
Skaggs researchers working thorough 17th century records may encounter the time-waster Capt. Thomas Stegge (a.k.a. Stagge, Stagg, Stegg). In 1651 he was sent to America by the English Crown to subdue the colonies of Virginia and Maryland. He was lost in an Atlantic storm on his return to England. He left a son, Thomas Stegge Jr., who died c. 1671 without male issue.
I've written a lot about Zachariah Skaggs, about how he was not the father of Old Peter, about how he is frequently confused with a much younger Zachariah, etc. Skaggs family Y-DNA testing has determined that Zachariah was closely related to the William Scaggs of the New River Valley of Virginia who married Esther.
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| Montgomery County, Virginia |
Old Peter Skaggs had a wife, Martha, whose last name has been described as Cothron, Catherine, Cohun, etc. Below the fold is a photocopy of Rev. Richard Whitt's minister return for Montgomery County, Virginia in 1788 that shows Peter Skaggs married to Martha C____?
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.
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.
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.
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