Pounding on Brick Walls: Elizabeth Skaggs

A few months ago a correspondent presented me with a Skaggs mystery.  I must admit I've spent some time working on it and am stuck.  This mystery involves an Elizabeth Skaggs whose parents disappeared prior to the Civil War.  I'm posting what information I know hoping that someone out there can piece together the puzzle of who were Elizabeth's parents.

FamilySearch: It's All Starting to Come Together

I can recommend updating FamilySearch with Skaggs family tree information.  The LDS genealogy site has attracted a lot of Skaggs activity from all branches of the family: e.g. the Long Hunters, and this crowd-sourcing has substantially improved the quality of the family tree information on that site.

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.

Famous Skaggs: "Brother Skaggs" the Gambler

A few years ago I wrote a post about two Skaggs brothers from Western Kentucky who made a living gambling along with other pursuits.  One of the brothers, E. H., was evidently quite famous and wealthy from Faro gambling.  From the book Sucker’s Progress: An Informal History of Gambling in America by Herbert Asbury:

His name was Elijah Skaggs, but he was better known as "Brother Skaggs, the preaching Faro dealer" because of his costume, which never varied throughout his professional life regardless of climate or weather - frock coat and trousers of black broadcloth, black silk vest, white shirt with high-standing collar, white cravat of the choker type wound several times around his scrawny neck, black stove-pipe hat and black patent-leather gaiters.

The New York Skeggs

The 1840 census shows a family of Skeggs in Erie County, New York.  These guys just don't seem to fit into any of the known Skaggs family groups.  In later years, these Skeggs also start showing up in New York City.  Who were they, and are they related to us?