Skaggs Y-DNA Testing Update

Since it's a new year I thought I would give an update on where we stand with Skaggs Y-DNA testing. Based on our testing results to date it appears there are two distinct Skaggs families in America:

• Old Peter, the Longhunters, the Safeway Skaggs, James and Susanna, etc. whose descendants test with a Y-haplogroup of some flavor of R-M417.  These Skaggs match the Keig test-takers from the Isle of Man.
• Descendants of the Thomas Skaggs born 1728 in Maryland who migrated to the Greenbrier region of West Virginia.  These Skaggs test with some flavor of R-M269

The 1809 Tazewell County Virginia Personal Property Tax List

A reader recently contacted me with some research based on my earlier post about the 1818 lawsuit between Old Peter Skaggs and Richard Damron.  The researchers used the 1809 Personal Property Tax List for Tazewell County, Virginia to confirm the presence in Tazewell County of many of the witnesses involved in the lawsuit.

The Wilderness Road Crossing at New River

The Wilderness Road was a colonial road enabling settlers to travel from southwest Virginia to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap. It crossed the New River just upstream from present-day Radford. The Skaggs family had a presence in this area throughout most of the last half of the 1700s.

Calling all Skaggs! Volunteers needed!

There is news from our cousins on the Isle of Man. Chris Keig is starting a project to test whether we are descendants of the Viking kings who ruled the Isle of Man over 800 years ago and he needs our help.

Famous Skaggs: Tyler Skaggs

Tyler Skaggs is a professional baseball player currently pitching for the major league Los Angeles Angels.  He was drafted in the 2009 draft from Santa Monica High School and previously pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks.