Jacob Skaggs: The Silent Frontiersman

Jacob Skaggs: The Silent Migrant of the Western Frontier (c. 1763 – 1830)

Jacob Skaggs, the youngest son of the Long Hunter family, lived a life of quiet persistence on the shifting edge of settlement—from Virginia’s Clinch River to Kentucky’s Green County, and finally to the Chickasaw lands of West Tennessee. Never a soldier, never a land baron, Jacob left no will, no pension, no grave marker—only the footprints of his sons in tax books, censuses, court orders, marriage bonds, and a widow’s pension declaration. His story, reconstructed from primary sources, reveals a man who married twice, fathered four documented sons, and died in the same year his wife later swore he did—1830—after the census taker had passed through Weakley County.

Early Life and Virginia Roots (1763 – c. 1788)

Jacob Skaggs was born c. 1763 in what is now Montgomery County, Virginia (then Augusta), the youngest of twelve children of James Skaggs Sr. and Rachel—a family of Long Hunters who mapped the Cumberland Gap and hunted beyond the Clinch. His brothers Henry, Moses, Charles, James, John, and Richard appear in Fincastle County tithables and militia rolls; Jacob, born last, does not.

No record places him officially before 1781, but his first child, William, was born c. 1780—proof that Jacob was active and independent by age 17.

Sources:
31 March 1781 Montgomery County, VA Daniel Trigg's militia muster roll - Jacob listed as "under 18"

1784 Washington County, VA Personal Property Tax List - Henry Smith's return lists Jacob Scaggs with two horses and two cattle.

1786 Washington County, VA - Simon Cockrell assigned 100 acres of land to Jacob Scaggs.

1786 Washington County, VA Personal Property Tax List - Jacob Skeggs with 4 horses and 4 cattle.

1787 Russell County, VA Personal Property Tax List - Jacob Scaggs with two horses and five cattle.

1788 Russell County, VA Personal Property Tax List - Jacob Scaggs with three horses.

Jacob appeared to sell his cattle in 1788 in preparation for his upcoming move to Kentucky.

Kentucky Years (1789 – 1797)

Jacob migrated to Kentucky and appeared in the 1789 and 1790 Nelson County tithables lists.  Nelson County was part of Virginia at the time but became part of the new state of Kentucky in 1792.  That part of Nelson County became Green County upon statehood in 1792.

In 1794-97 Jacob Scaggs appeared in the Green County, KY tax lists with both cattle and horses until 1797 when he just had two horses and no cattle.  Once again, it looks like Jacob sold his cattle in preparation for moving, this time to Tennessee.

Family: Wives and Children

1836 Moses Skaggs Estate Case (Green Co. Circuit Court #3871) – heirs list Jacob as youngest brother

First Union – Common-Law with Fanny Whitten (c. 1786 – 1790)
By c. 1786, Jacob had formed a common-law marriage with Frances “Fanny” Whitten (b. c. 1780), daughter of William Whitten of Green County. No marriage bond exists—common-law unions were legal in Kentucky until 1852.

Children:
William Skaggs – b. c. 1780, Montgomery Co., VA
Henry Skaggs – b. c. 1785, Washington Co., VA

The union ended c. 1792. Fanny remarried John Samples on 24 December 1798 in Green County, KY.

Sources:
1836 Deposition of Frances Samples (now Skaggs):
“Jacob Skaggs and I were married for many years… we only had one child, William Skaggs” Green Co. Circuit Court #3871, 27 Apr 1836

 
1798 Marriage Bond – John Samples & Fanny Whitten (Green Co. Marriage Book A, p. 47)

1800 Green Co. Tax Book – William Skaggs, 1 white male 16–20

1850 Taylor Co., KY Census – William Skaggs, age 72, b. 1778

Second Marriage – Mary Jane Gore (c. 1790 – 1792)

By 1792, Jacob had married Mary Jane Gore (b. ~1758, South Carolina), a twice-widowed Revolutionary pensioner’s wife (Fletcher Edwards, d. 1781; Richard Warnell, d. 1789). Their marriage, likely formal but unrecorded, produced two sons.

Children:
Mastin Skaggs – b. 1796, Green Co., KY
James Skaggs – b. c. 1800, Green Co., KY (or Tennessee)

Sources:
1845 Pension Declaration (R9250) – Mary Jane Gore Skaggs:  “Jacob Scaggs died… 1830” Miller Co., MO, 10 Oct 1845

Migration to Tennessee – The Final Chapter (1798– 1830)

Jacob migrated again, this time to newly opened land in Tennessee.

1803 Jacob Skaggs appears in the Jackson County, TN tax list in Capt. Smith Hutchinson's district.

By 1828, Jacob had followed his son Mastin to Weakley County, Tennessee—newly opened Chickasaw lands.

1828 Mastin & James Skaggs taxed (1 poll each) Weakley Co. Tax List 1828–1832
1829–1832 Mastin acquires 200 acres Same tax series
1830 Jacob (66) in Mastin’s household 1830 Weakley Co. Census, p. 339
1830 James (25) heads own household, married in same census

Jacob died after 1 June 1830—the census date—but before 1840, when he is absent from Mastin’s Missouri household.

Sources:
1830 Weakley Co. Census – 1 male 60–69
1840 Pulaski Co., MO Census – Jacob not present
1845 Pension – Mary Jane: Jacob “died 1830”

Widow and Legacy in Missouri

Mary Jane Gore Skaggs migrated to Missouri without Jacob, living with Warnell kin.

1845 Mary Skaggs Pension application Miller Co., MO (R9250)
1850 Age 92, head of household Miller Co., MO Census

Sons’ Final Locations (1850):
William – Taylor Co., KY (age 72)
Henry – Osage Co., MO (age 65)
Mastin – Miller Co., MO
James – Miller Co., MO (with Mastin)

Legacy

Jacob Skaggs was no hero, no speculator, no diarist—just a father who moved west, one frontier at a time. He crossed three states, married twice, raised four sons, and died in a log cabin on the Tennessee frontier—exactly when his widow said he did.

He left no stone, but a few primary records—tax lists, censuses, court orders, marriage bonds, and a widow’s sworn word—to carve his name into history.

References

• 1800 Green County, Kentucky Tax Book (John Chandler’s District) – William Skaggs, 1 wm 16–20
• 1802 Barren County, Kentucky Order Book B, p. 207 – John Crow vs. William Skaggs
• 1798 Green County, Kentucky Marriage Book A, p. 47 – John Samples & Fanny Whitten
• 1836 Moses Skaggs Estate Case, Green Co. Circuit Court #3871 – Deposition of Frances Samples
• 1828–1832 Weakley County, Tennessee Taxpayer Lists – son Maston Skaggs (1 poll), son James Skaggs (1 poll)
• 1830 U.S. Census, Weakley County, Tennessee, p. 339 – son Mastin Skaggs (Jacob, 60–69); son James Skaggs (20–29)
• 1840 U.S. Census, Pulaski County, Missouri – son Mastin Skaggs (Jacob absent)
• 1841 Green County, Kentucky Marriage Book B, p. 121 – William Skaggs & Jane Nichols
• 1845 Revolutionary War Pension File R9250 – Mary Jane Gore Skaggs, Miller Co., MO
• 1850 U.S. Census, Taylor County, Kentucky, p. 185A – son William Skaggs, age 72
• 1850 U.S. Census, Osage County, Missouri, p. 437A – son Henry Skaggs, age 65
• 1850 U.S. Census, Miller County, Missouri – Mary Jane Skaggs, age 92