The Sullivans and the Skaggs

Alfred Sullivan (9 September 1811 – 21 June 1899)

Alfred Sullivan was a 19th-century frontier farmer whose long life was marked by repeated migration across the Upper Mississippi Valley and by a surprising genetic link to one of early Kentucky’s most famous pioneering families.

Born 9 September 1811 in Kentucky to parents who were also native Kentuckians, Alfred married Sarah Fountain (born ca. 1813–1815 in Delaware or Maryland) on 10 February 1838 in Cass County, Michigan. The marriage appears to have been the sole reason for their brief presence in Michigan; within months the young couple crossed the Mississippi River and settled in the newly opened Iowa Territory.

For the next forty-five years Alfred and Sarah moved only short distances along the Iowa–Missouri border, chasing better farmland:

  • 1838 – ca. 1853: Southeastern Iowa (Lee County in 1840; Van Buren County in 1850). Their first five children (Saloma, Solomon, Byron, Ellen, and Roxa/Julia) were born in Iowa.
  • ca. 1853 – 1899: Lewis County, northeastern Missouri. The family is found in Reddish Township or adjacent Township 62 Range 9 in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses. Their younger children (Iola, Blanche E., and William A./J.) were born in Missouri.

Alfred spent the longest and final portion of his life — approximately 46 years — farming the rich bottomland near the Des Moines River in Lewis County, Missouri. He never returned permanently to Michigan, despite occasional later family recollection placing him there (likely because several of his children eventually migrated to Cass and adjoining counties in southwestern Michigan).

A farmer of modest means, Alfred left no evidence of military service, public office, or notable wealth. He lived through the Mexican–American War, the Kansas–Missouri border troubles, the Civil War (as a Union-leaning but quiet farmer in a divided border county), and the arrival of the railroad era.

Alfred Sullivan died 21 June 1899 at the age of 87 and is buried in Midway Cemetery near Lewistown, Lewis County, Missouri. Sarah probably died in the same area a few years later.

Genetic Ancestry

Big-Y testing of a direct male-line descendant places Alfred in haplogroup R-BY44771, a rare and very young subclade (TMRCA ~1450–1550 CE) that originated on the Isle of Man. This is the identical terminal SNP carried by documented patrilineal descendants of the celebrated “Long Hunter” Skaggs family of colonial Virginia and Kentucky (Henry Skaggs, Charles Skaggs, et al.). The Sullivan testers differ from the main Skaggs line by only a single consistent marker, indicating a non-paternal event (adoption, illegitimacy, or name change) that occurred in Virginia or Kentucky in the late 17th or early 18th century. Alfred Sullivan was therefore a close genetic paternal cousin of the famous Long Hunters, despite bearing a classically Irish surname.

R-BY44771 progenitor highlighted in orange

References

  • Michigan County Marriages, 1820–1941 (Cass Co.), Alfred Sullivan & Sarah Fountain, 10 Feb 1838
  • 1840 U.S. Census – Van Buren Twp., Lee Co., Iowa Territory
  • 1850 U.S. Census – Farmington, Van Buren Co., Iowa
  • 1860 U.S. Census – Reddish Twp., Lewis Co., Missouri
  • 1870 U.S. Census – Township 62 Range 9, Lewis Co., Missouri
  • 1880 U.S. Census – Reddish Twp., Lewis Co., Missouri
  • Find A Grave Memorial ID 6995368 – Alfred Sullivan (1811–1899), Midway Cemetery, Lewistown, Lewis Co., Missouri
  • FamilyTreeDNA Skaggs/Keig Y-DNA Project – confirmed placement of Sullivan descendant at R-BY44771 (identical to Long Hunter Skaggs lineage)
Location: Lewis County, MO, USA

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