| Notes |
- Of the four SKAGGS listed in White's "Abstracts of Rev War Pension Files, " three were born in the Carolinas but served in Virginia during the War-- William, Archibald and Henry. [The fourth, James Skaggs, was born in SC and fought there.] WILLIAM SKAGGS was born 1757 in North Carolina, andARCHIBALD SKAGGS (son of Charles) and HENRY SKAGGS (son of Aaron) were both born 1759 in South Carolina. Their pension applications state that Archibald and Henry were cousins.
Why was this Rev War generation of Skaggs born outside of their ancestral state Virginia? For an understanding of that, I consulted Dale Van Every's "Forth to the Wilderness, The First American Frontier 1754-1774", for a depiction of the place and times.
JAMES SKAGGS SR had settled sometime abt 1750 (likely earlier) in the neighborhood of Draper's Meadows. In 1751 he was buying additional land from Col. James Patton on Meadow Creek. [Kegley.]
Van Every describes James Patton as a remarkable man. He had been an English sea captain who made many transatlantic crossings with shiploads of hopeful immigrants and redemptioners. At some point he took it into his mind to do more than transport settlers-- he would get a large tract of Virginia land and supervise the settlement of it himself. Governor Gooch granted him 120,000 acres of land beyond Virginia's then western frontier. By 1748 he had a station at the New River-- the first English settlement on the western slope of the Allegheny Divide.
James Patton died at the onset of the French and Indian War. According to Dale Van Every, "Draper's Meadows was overwhelmed by the first Indian attack of the French War to strike the Virginia frontier. On July 8,1755 , the day before Braddock's disaster on the far-off Monongahela, a Shawnee war party swept in upon the little settlement. James Patton himself was present, being engaged with the help of young William Preston in distributing a fresh supply of ammunition to the more outlying stations. He was then 63 but the old sea captain was as freshly vigorous as ever. He cut down two Indians with his broadsword before being borne down by numbers. "His companion, William Preston, escaped-- and was Henry Skaggs' colonel during the Revolutionary War. Many others in the settlements were killed or captured, including Mary Ingles and her children. Her story was dramatized recently on television.
During the War (1755- 1762), the Virginia frontier suffered both from repeated attacks and from the perpetual threat of attack. Many people fled, some southwards to the Carolinas, where the Cherokee and the Catawbas were (at that time) peaceful. In fact, the Virginia governor was pleading with the SC governor to send up troops of Cherokee and Catawba to fight the Shawnee. In a meeting in March 1756, the Cherokee agreed to go to Va to help IF, in return, the Governor of SC would erect an English fort to protect the Cherokee women and children while the warriors were away fighting. The SC Governor agreed, and several Virginians came down in the summer of 1756 to assist in the building of a fort.
It was in this period that at least two SKAGGS-- Charles and Aaron, and a possible third (William's father-- if he is not Aaron's son)-- ventured themselves down into the Carolinas. Were they-- perhaps at the prompting of the Mrs. Skaggses-- escaping the misery of the Virginia frontier? Did they move to SC to assist in building a fort for the Cherokee? We may never know their exact motivation. But we can agree that after mid-1755, the ambience of North and South Carolina was much more salubrious than Virginia's, and apparently fruitful-- hence,WILLIAM; hence ARCHIBALD; hence, HENRY.
By the way, in 1762 James Skaggs SR made a payment for his land to Col. James Patton's estate. [Kegley]
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1739 - Yes, date unknown
