DNA Testing: Thomas Bailey Christian, Indian or Not?

It’s a familiar situation for family historians researching Appalachian ancestors; an ancestor was historically described as “Indian” but modern DNA testing shows no indication of native American ancestry.  This happened to descendants of a man some Skaggs researchers may be familiar with, Thomas Bailey Christian.

DNA Testing: Martha Cothon - A Brick Wall Crumbling or a Wild Goose Chase?

A descendant of Old Peter has reported DNA matches with two descendants of the Catron family.  The Catrons appear to have been German immigrants originally named Kettering who immigrated through Philadelphia in 1765 and traveled south to Virginia the following year.  These folks may have come as the Kettering family, but once in Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee they became the Catron, Ketron, Katron, Cattron, Ketring, etc. families.

Patrick Brown: Indian Trader

We frequently see online genealogies that claim Old Peter Skaggs' wife, Martha, was the daughter of Patrick Brown, an Indian trader and an Indian wife.  We have recently seen that DNA testing has challenged the common belief that Martha was an Indian by blood.  Does the evidence support the belief that Martha was the half-Indian daughter of Patrick Brown?

Zachariah Skaggs: You Usually Can't Find Someone to Marry You after You're Dead

In family history, frequently two or more historical figures get merged together into one.  We see this a lot in the Skaggs family because there were so many different John, James, Charles, etc. in the family, even in the same generation.  There is an irritating life to many of these merged individuals and it becomes harder to correct the record over time.  One such individual was Zachariah Skaggs.

Skaggs Pioneers in Alabama

Back before there was an Alabama, there were Skaggs pioneers in the area known as the Mississippi Territory.  First there were the Skaggs intruders on Indian land, part of the Sims Settlement, who the government ran off the land in 1810.  But that wasn't the last of the Skaggs in the Mississippi Territory.