Morgan County, Indiana Skaggs

The Morgan County, Indiana Gazette published a three-part series on the Skaggs family on April 22, 1971.  Part 1 is copied below.  Parts 2 & 3 are lengthy and can be obtained from the Morgan County Public Library in Martinsville, Indiana.

Zachariah Skaggs: Mistaken Identity

Too many fake family trees on the internet are changing reality. A specific case of this for Skaggs researchers is Zachariah Skaggs. The internet seems convinced that the Zachariah Skaggs who lived in Virginia in the late 1700s to 1818 was married to a Nancy Annie Wilcox. I've posted about this error before and how two Zachariahs from different times and places and two Nancys have been confounded into a fake marriage of a young Kentucky girl, Nancy Wilcox, with a dead Virginian, Zachariah Skaggs. So once again:

• Zachariah Skaggs from Russell County, VA, father of Jeremiah, was married to a Nancy (Annie), but NOT Nancy Wilcox, and he died in Virginia in 1818
• Born prior to 1747, likely in Maryland
• Heir-at-law to John Scaggs who died in Montgomery County, Virginia c. 1779
• Estate passed to grandson John Skaggs in Russell County in 1818
• Zachariah Skaggs, from Barren County, KY, grandson of John Skaggs, the disabled war veteran from the family of Long Hunters, was married to Nancy Wilcox in Kentucky in 1822
• Born in 1801 in Kentucky
• Died in Bartholomew County, Indiana c.1830
• Widow Nancy Skaggs appeared in the 1830 Bartholomew County census
• Widow Nancy (also known as Anna) Skaggs remarried in 1832 to Daniel Reynolds in Bartholomew County, Indiana

Absolom Elkins and His Ancestors

I know the Elkins aren't Skaggs but we can't ignore that one of the great remaining unproven Skaggs legends is that a Ruth Elkins firstly married John Scaggs and secondly John Bishop.  The Elkins and Scaggs lived nearby in Halifax County, Virginia in the 1760s and later in the 1770s on Little River in Montgomery County.  Absolom Elkins eventually inherited that property on Little River so let's hear what Elkins researchers have to say about him.

Aaron Skaggs' Sons and the Adultery Charges

Back in colonial Virginia there was an Aaron Skaggs who many researchers believe was one of the Long Hunter brothers.  He died prior to 1800 so he would not have necessarily been considered in the Moses Skaggs court case later in the 1800s.  Anyway, this Aaron had two sons, Henry and Aaron, who were brought up on adultery charges in Washington County, Virginia in 1781.

Are Richard Scaggs and Sarah Selby Buried Here?

There was a Scaggs family in Prince George's County, Maryland beginning about 1750 on a farm called "Chew's Folly."  I posted about this family here.  Several family members appear to be buried in a family cemetery in present-day College Park, Maryland.