Green County, Kentucky Tax Books and the Long Hunters

A big challenge when researching the Long Hunter Skaggs is the lack of 1790 and 1800 census records. These records were burned by the British when they invaded Washington during the War of 1812 (thanks guys). Tax records can help during this time period in establishing where someone was in a given year. I've noticed that FamilySearch has unlocked the tax records for Green County, Kentucky and it's a gold mine for Skaggs Long Hunter research. 

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.