Richard "Long Hunter" Skaggs and Morgan's Rifles

Richard "Long Hunter" Skaggs was one of the Longhunter brothers, sons of James and Rachel Skaggs of the New River valley of Virginia.  His more famous brother, Henry, is the one we usually think of when we think of adventurers, however, Richard had a well-documented three-year military career during the American Revolution as a member of the 7th Virginia Regiment of Foot (Infantry) and the Provisional Rifle Corps, otherwise known as Morgan's Rifles.

Famous Skaggs: Albert Chadwell "Chad" Skaggs

"Chad" Skaggs wasn't a person most would consider famous, however, he was a very interesting guy who was a soldier, journalist, teacher, musician and outdoorsman. Any of these careers would have been enough for most, however Chad did all of them.

An excerpt from his obituary is below the fold.

Skaggs Family Groups based on DNA Testing

It's time for an update on the Skaggs Y-DNA testing.  We currently have 19 Skaggs who have taken the Big-Y DNA test and are descendants of Viking ancestors from the Isle of Man.  We call these guys R1a Skaggs.  We also have a few other Skaggs who are not part of this Isle of Man family and we call them the R1b Skaggs.  Both are Skaggs, just two completely different families. Both are really interesting, however, in this post I'll discuss the R1a Skaggs and group them into families based on their DNA.

Zombie Killing with the Long Hunters

Does William Skaggs + David Skaggs = William David Skaggs?  I don't think so, even with the New Math, however, somehow the genealogical lines for two of the Skaggs Longhunter brothers got crossed this way and a mutant "William David Skaggs" has taken on a life of his own.  I'm going to risk wading into the shark-infested Long Hunter waters to try to drive a stake through the heart of this zombie.

Update on the Mystery of Elijah Skaggs

I haven't posted in awhile since during the coronavirus lockdown I've been helping with a project to document all the Skaggs lines in the United States since 1850 on FamilySearch.  The researchers have completed virtually all of California, Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Colorado and it's been a lot of work.  If you have Skaggs ancestors on those lines it would be great if you could go back and check the accuracy of the work and attach any straggler documentation that we missed to the proper person.




Our friend from the Isle of Man, Chris Keig, and his Big-Y DNA test subjects have been working hard as well on the DNA end of things.  One apparent revelation that has come from this DNA testing is regarding the mystery of who were Elijah and Harriet Skaggs of Green County, Kentucky c. 1860.  You may recall that this Elijah Skaggs died in the Civil War in 1863 and was a brick wall for many Skaggs genealogists for years.  Through DNA testing and the diligent genealogical research of one of Chris' test subjects it appears that this mystery may be solved.  Both DNA and genealogical evidence suggest that William Brock Skaggs and Nancy Warren were the parents of this Elijah Skaggs.  William Brock Skaggs was the grandson of James "Longman" Skaggs and Mary, the Longhunter son of James and Rachel Skaggs of New River, Virginia.


1 James Skaggs m. Rachel
     2 James "Longman" Skaggs m. Mary Thompson
          3 Henry Skaggs m. Nancy
               4 William "Brock" Skaggs m. Nancy Warren
                    5 Elijah Skaggs m. Harriet Skaggs


FYI, below is the current genealogy for Elijah's wife, Harriet Skaggs:


1 James Skaggs m. Rachel
     2 James "Longman" Skaggs m. Mary Thompson
          3 Jeremiah Skaggs m. Rebecca Mayes
               4 Matthew Skaggs m. Catherine Long
                    5 Harriet Skaggs m. Elijah Skaggs