Solomon Skaggs: Peter's Shadowy Sibling

Solomon Skaggs (c. 1767 – c. 1828)

Solomon Skaggs was the full brother of Peter Skaggs (c.1765–1841) and one of only two men in their generation who carried the rare Y-chromosome haplogroup R-BY99605, a private mutation that arose in their unnamed father on the New River frontier of Virginia. Modern Big-Y testers descending from Solomon’s son Miles and from Peter’s many sons all share this identical marker, proving the brothers’ common paternity beyond any doubt.

Born about 1765–1766 in what is now Montgomery County, Virginia, Solomon grew to adulthood alongside Peter in the New River settlements. The two brothers appear together as taxable white males over 21 in Montgomery County tax lists from 1788 through 1795, living as close neighbors amid a wider Skaggs kin network. After defeating a lawsuit brought by the powerful Ingles and Russell families in March 1796, Solomon and Peter left the New River country forever, resurfacing in Russell and later Tazewell Counties, Virginia, by 1803–1809.

While Peter and Peter’s eldest son Lewis crossed the Cumberland Mountains into Kentucky as early as 1811, Solomon remained stubbornly on the old Louisa Fork homestead in Tazewell County for eight additional years, taxed alone every spring from 1811 through 1818. Only sometime after 9 April 1818 did he finally sell out and follow his brother to the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy. He reached the new Lawrence County, Kentucky, between 1818 and 1820 and, in 1825, at nearly sixty years of age, entered 200 acres in his own name – the only time in his entire recorded life he ever appeared as a Kentucky landowner.

Solomon married Eleanor “Nelly” (maiden name still unknown) around 1790–1795, probably in Montgomery or Russell County, Virginia. In late 1827 or early 1828, Solomon and Nelly died within hours of each other – family tradition says “holding hands in bed” – and were buried somewhere on the hillside above their farm. They left no wills and no marked graves, but they left seven children and an unbroken paternal line that still carries R-BY99605 across eastern Kentucky today.

Children of Solomon Skaggs and Nelly (in birth order)

• (James?) – b. c.1805–1810 VA; present 1820 census; mentioned once in 1824 Big Blaine church minutes; dead before 1833 tax lists
• John T. Skaggs – b. c.1817 VA; m. Margaret Holbrook 7 Oct 1842 Lawrence Co., KY; d. after 1880
• Amos Skaggs – b. c.1811 VA; m. Rutha Skaggs (1st cousin) 18 May 1832; d. after 1880
• Peter Skaggs – b. c.1813–1815 VA; m. Mariam Holbrook 4 Apr 1834; d. after 1880
• Malinda Skaggs – b. 28 Dec 1815 VA; m. William Lyon 18 Nov 1835; d. 17 Dec 1895 Johnson Co., KY (gravestone)
• Miles Skaggs – b. c.1817–1822 VA/KY; m. Mary “Polly” Johnson c.1842; d. 1894 Morgan Co., KY
• America Skaggs – b. c.1818–1820 KY; m. Daniel Nunley 23 Feb 1836; d. after 1880 (probably Johnson Co.)

Primary-Source References

• 1788–1795 Montgomery Co., VA personal property tax lists (Solomon & Peter taxed together)
• Mar 1796 Montgomery Co. Order Book 9 – Ingles & Russell v. Solomon Skaggs dismissed
• 1803–1818 Russell & Tazewell Co., VA personal property tax lists (Solomon taxed alone 1811–1818)
• 1820 Floyd Co., KY U.S. census – Solomon Skaggs household (1m 45+, 1m 10–15, 3m <10, 1f 26–44, 2f <10)
• 1823–1827 Lawrence Co., KY tax lists (Solomon Sr. appears; 1825 entry shows him with 200 acres)
• 18 May 1832 Lawrence Co. marriage – Amos Skaggs & Rutha Skaggs
• 4 Apr 1834 Lawrence Co. marriage – Peter Skaggs & Mariam Holbrook
• 18 Nov 1835 Lawrence Co. marriage – Linney Skaggs & William Lyon
• 23 Feb 1836 Lawrence Co. marriage – America Scaggs & Daniel Nunnelley
• 7 Oct 1842 Lawrence Co. marriage – John T. Scaggs & Margarett Holbrook
• 1 Nov 1856 Morgan Co. birth – Andrew Scaggs, son of Peter Scaggs & Miram Holbrook
• 1850 Morgan Co., KY U.S. census – households of Amos, Peter, and John T. Skaggs living consecutively
• 1860 Morgan Co., KY U.S. census – Miles Scaggs household next door to brother Peter
• 17 Dec 1895 Johnson Co., KY – gravestone of Malinda Lyon (b. 28 Dec 1815)
• 1918 Pike Co. death cert of Mary Adkins – parents John Skaggs & Margret Holbrook
• 1936 Morgan Co. death cert of Amos Skaggs – parents John Skaggs & Margaret Holbrook
• Modern Big-Y700 Y-DNA results (multiple testers via Miles Skaggs → Amos Skaggs and via Rev. Peter Skaggs’ sons) – all terminal SNP R-BY99605

Solomon Skaggs was the quiet, tenacious rear-guard of the R-BY99605 line – the last to leave Virginia, the last to claim Kentucky land, and the last of the old brothers to close his eyes on the Big Sandy. His children and grandchildren kept the farm, kept the faith, and kept the marker alive in the hollers of Lawrence, Morgan, Johnson, and Elliott Counties for two centuries after he was laid to rest beside Nelly on the hillside in the winter of 1827–28.