Aaron Scaggs, Early Maryland Planter

Aaron Scaggs (variants: Scraggs, Skaggs) was a small tobacco planter of Prince George’s County, Maryland. No secular record of his birth, parents, immigration, land ownership, taxable status, will, or burial has ever been discovered. He is estimated to have been born about 1684, most likely in Maryland.

About 1708–1709 he married Susanna (some say last name Hyatt). They lived within Queen Anne Parish and worshipped at St. Barnabas Church, in Leeland. They had three children:

• Charles Scaggs (bapt. 9 Dec 1709 – died between 28 Mar and 18 Apr 1749, Frederick County, Maryland) Married Elizabeth (surname unknown). By the 1740s had removed to the Monocacy River region of what became Frederick County. Owned the 50-acre tract “Scaggs Delight”. Died leaving a will that named his wife Elizabeth (executrix) and three sons: Charles, James, and Samuel. His estate was inventoried 1750–1751 and finally settled 15 May 1755. The plantation passed to his widow for life, then to his eldest son Charles, however, Elizabeth Scaggs lost the plantation to John Johnson for debts the estate incurred during probate.
• Moses Scaggs (bapt. 10 Jul 1714 – living 1733) Appears once more as “Moses Scraggs,” a taxable in New Scotland Hundred, Prince George’s County in 1733 (age about 19). No marriage, land, will, or further record has been found. He either died unmarried, left no surviving issue, or migrated without leaving a paper trail.
• Susanna Scaggs (born 11 Aug 1716 – posthumous daughter) Baptized five and a half months after her mother’s remarriage. No further record has been located; she presumably married or died in Prince George’s County.

Aaron died in Prince George’s County between approximately October 1715 (when his widow conceived their last child) and 28 February 1716/1717 (the date she remarried), aged about 31–32.

His widow Susanna Hyatt Scaggs remarried twice at St. Barnabas Church:

• 28 Feb 1716/1717 to John Mobberly Sr.
• 6 Nov 1728 to Henry Boulton

Aaron Scaggs remains one of the most sparsely documented yet genealogically significant early Maryland Skaggs ancestors. His existence and family are known solely from parish-register entries; every later Skaggs/Skaggs line that traces to colonial Maryland descends from him through his eldest son Charles.

Primary-Source References

1. 9 Dec 1709 – Baptism of Charles, son of Aaron & Susanna Scaggs. St. Barnabas Church, Queen Anne Parish (FamilySearch HYG6-D9MM).
2. 10 Jul 1714 – Baptism of Moses, son of Aaron & Susanna Scaggs. St. Barnabas Church (FamilySearch HYP9-28MM).
3. 11 Aug 1716 – Birth of Susanna, “daughter of Aaron Scaggs and Susanna his wife” (posthumous). St. Barnabas Church register.
4. 28 Feb 1716/1717 – Marriage of John Mobberly Senr. to “Susanna Scaggs the widow of Aaron Scaggs deceased.” St. Barnabas Church register.
5. 6 Nov 1728 – Henry Boulton married Susanna Moberly. St. Barnabas Church register.
6. 1733 – Moses Scraggs (b. 1714) taxable, New Scotland Hundred. Calendar of Maryland State Papers No. 1: The Black Books, p. 43.
7. 28 Mar 1749 (proved 18 Apr 1749) – Will of Charles Scaggs; names wife Elizabeth and sons Charles, James, Samuel. Frederick County Wills, Liber 1, folio 17.
8. 1750–1751 – Inventory and accounts of Charles Scaggs, filed by executrix Elizabeth Scaggs. Frederick County Administration Accounts, vol. 1 (FamilySearch images 48–49).
9. 15 May 1755 – Final estate account of Charles Scaggs passed by Elizabeth Scaggs. Frederick County Administration Accounts, vol. 1.
10. 28 Apr 1755 – Deed of gift from James Skaggs to his mother Elizabeth. Frederick County Land Records, Liber E, p. 714.
11. 27 Nov 1755 (rec. 1 Dec 1755) – Elizabeth Scaggs conveys “Scaggs Delight” (50 acres) to John Johnson as security for her sons’ portions. Frederick County Land Records, Liber E, pp. 929–930.

These eleven records are the complete surviving 18th-century documentation for Aaron Scaggs and his immediate descendants.