Who was Peter Skaggs?

Biography of Peter Skaggs (c. 1765 – 1841)

Peter Skaggs was born about 1765 in the New River frontier of southwestern Virginia (then Fincastle, later Montgomery County). He belonged to the extended Skaggs clan that produced the famous Long Hunters, but Y-DNA testing has proven he was not a biological son of any of the Long Hunters. Instead, he and his brother Solomon descended from a parallel cousin branch (R-BY99605) that split from the main Long Hunter line (R-BY44771) around 1700–1750. His exact father remains unidentified — most likely an unrecorded brother or close cousin of James Skaggs, father of the Long Hunter brothers.

On 21 April 1788 in Montgomery County, Virginia, Peter married Martha “Patty / Patsy” Cothon (c. 1770 – after 1860). The marriage bond is damaged but typically read as “Cohun”; the clerk’s register misspelled the bride as “Marthy Cothon” (phonetic error). William Lester (husband of Rachel Skaggs, daughter of Ruth Bishop) served as bondsman.

For the next two decades Peter and Martha lived a hard, landless life on the Virginia frontier, taxed yearly in Montgomery → Russell → Tazewell Counties with 0–1 horse and no land. He lost a civil assault-and-battery suit to William Romine in Russell County in 1805 and was ordered to pay $30 plus costs.

Between March 1810 (still in Tazewell County, Virginia) and mid-1812 (when relatives and children began marrying in Floyd County, Kentucky), Peter, Martha, and their large family migrated ~200 miles west to the Big Sandy valley. They settled in what became Lawrence County when it was formed in December 1821.

In Kentucky Peter finally prospered modestly:

• 1816 – appointed road surveyor “from his house to the county line”
• 1817 – received his first land survey (100 acres)
• 1818 – recorded a livestock earmark and sued Richard Damron & Thomas Christian
• By 1825 his holdings peaked at ~162 acres
• Sons reached taxable age 1822–1826; he sent children to school and served on road survey crews

Peter wrote his will on 23 September 1833, leaving everything to wife Patty for life, $50 to youngest son Christian, the remainder to be divided equally among “my loving children,” and naming son Solomon executor. He died in Lawrence County in late summer/autumn 1841 (after the 1840 census, before the will was proven 22 November 1841). Son Solomon qualified as executor in 1841/1842 and had the personal estate appraised.

Martha survived him and was living as a widow in Lawrence County in the 1860 census.

Proven Children of Peter Skaggs & Martha “Patty” Cothron

(all confirmed by a combination of Peter’s 1833 will, tax lists, censuses, marriage bonds naming Peter as father, and the 1857 death register)

1. Lewis Skaggs (c. 1788 – 1857) m. Nancy McDowell
2. Solomon Skaggs (c. 1791 – 1863) m. (1) Sylvenia Caines 1817, (2) Tabitha Middleton 1838 – executor of Peter’s will
3. Nancy Skaggs (c. 1792 - 1868) m. Miles Terry 1812 (Peter named on bond)
4. John Skaggs (c. 1796 – 1857) m. Mary Woods – 1857 death record names parents Peter & Martha
5. Jeremiah “Jerry” Skaggs (c. 1799 – 1864) m. Amelia Holbrook
6. Moses Skaggs (1802 – 1885) m. Elizabeth Holbrook
7. Peter Skaggs (Jr.) (c. 1803 – 1872) m. Clarinda Prince – (Y-DNA: R-BY114642)
8. Christian Skaggs (1809–1881) m. Elizabeth Perry “my youngest son Christian” in will ($50 bequest)
9. Rutha Skaggs (c.1811 – 1880) m. Amos Skaggs (1st cousin, son of Peter's brother, Solomon)

Primary-Source References (all facts above are taken directly from these originals)

• 21 Apr 1788 – Montgomery Co., VA marriage bond & register (Peter Skaggs & Martha Cothron)
• 1788–1810 – Montgomery/Grayson/Russell/Tazewell Co., VA personal property tax lists
• 1805 – Russell Co., VA Law Order Book 3 (Romine v. Scaggs assault suit)
• 1812 – Floyd Co., KY marriages of relatives/children
• 1816 – Floyd Co., KY court (road surveyor from his house)
• 1817 – Floyd Co., KY surveyor’s book (100-acre survey)
• 1818 – Floyd Co., KY earmark & circuit court suit v. Damron & Christian
• 1820 – U.S. Census, Floyd Co., KY
• 1822–1826 – Lawrence Co., KY tax lists (land growth, sons taxable)
• 1830 & 1840 – U.S. Census, Lawrence Co., KY
• 23 Sep 1833 – Peter Skaggs Sr. will, Lawrence Co., KY (names wife Patty, executor/son Solomon, youngest son Christian)
• 22 Nov 1841 – Lawrence Co., KY court (will proven)
• 1841/1842 – Lawrence Co., KY court (Solomon qualifies as executor, appraisers appointed)
• 1857 – Lawrence Co., KY death register (John Skaggs names parents Peter & Martha)

Peter Skaggs spent half his life as a poor, landless Virginian and the second half as a modest but respected Kentucky farmer. Descendants of all of Peter's known sons have Y-DNA tested, with only the descendants of son Peter Jr testing as R-BY114642. All other descendants tested as R-BY99605, therefore Peter Jr was the beginning of the R-BY114642 mutation.

(Click on diagram to make bigger)

This biography is 100 % primary-source documented — marriage bond to estate appraisement — with Y-DNA providing the final clarification on Peter Jr. and the Long Hunter family connection.