The Skaggs-Files

Events

Parents

Families

Pedigree

1. Skaggs, James
   1. Thomson, Susanna Mary
      1. Skaggs, William Squire
      2. Skaggs, Jeremiah
      3. Skaggs, Stephen
         1. Andrews, Nancy
            1. Skaggs, Sarah
            2. Skaggs, James
            3. Skaggs, Henry S.
            4. Skaggs, Jane
            5. Skaggs, Stephen Jr.
            6. Skaggs, Mary
            7. Skaggs, Elizabeth
      4. Skaggs, Henry
      5. Skaggs, James III
      6. Skaggs, Rachel
      7. Skaggs, Virginia
      8. Scaggs, Loveless

Ancestors

Source References

1. Deed of 450 acres to sons Henry, Stephen and James - 15 Nov 1793
   1. • Source text:

        Know all men I, James SKAGGS, have bargained & sold unto Henry SKAGGS, Stephen SKAGGS & James SKAGGS all that tract of land situated on Brush Ck. in Green Co. containing 450 acs. being the same tract or parcel of land that was granted by patent from the state of VA. to me, served the 2nd day of July, 1784 which land I will forever defend from me & all manner of persons claiming under me unto them, their heirs or assigns forever for the sum of 100 pds. to me in hand paid the receipt is hereby acknowledged given under my hand & seal the 15th of Nov, 1793. (signed) James SKAGGS Wit: John EMERSON, Alexander VANCE.

         

      • Citation:

        https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLX-K9B6-8?i=8&cat=111257

2. Tax books (Nelson County, Kentucky), 1792-1894 - Stephen Scaggs
   1. • Source text:

        Mary Scaggs, 1 white male 21+(scratched out), 1 horse.
        Stephen Scaggs, 1 white male 21+, 1 horse.

      • Citation:

        https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMQ-VSZM-S?i=240&cat=156788

3. 1800 Nelson County, Kentucky Tax Book - Stephen Skaggs
   1. • Source text:

        Stephen Skaggs, 1 white male 21+, 2 horses.

         

      • Citation:

        https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMQ-VSCT-2?i=323&cat=156788

4. 1801 Green County, Kentucky Tax Book - John Hutcheson's District; pp. 16-17.
   1. • Source text:

        15 Jun 1801 Henry Skaggs, 117 acres, 1 white male 21+, 1 white male 16-20, 3 horses. (patented to James Skaggs)
        25 Jun 1801 Jno. Skaggs, 200 acres, 1 white male 21+, 1 white male 16-20, 2 horses.
        15 Jun 1801 David Skaggs, 80 acres, 1 white male 21+, 3 horses.
        26 Jun 1801 James Skaggs, 131 acres, 1 white male 21+, 3 horses. (patented to Henry Skaggs)
        26 Jun 1801 Henry Skaggs Senr, 43 acres, 1 white male 21+, 3 blacks 16+, 5 total blacks, 8 horses. (patented to Henry Skaggs)
        26 Jun 1801 Jeremiah Skaggs, 100 acres, 1 white male 21+, 1 black 16+, 1 total blacks, 2 horses. (patented to James Skaggs)
        25 Jun 1801 Stephen Skaggs, 1 white male 21+, 1 horse.
        28 Jul 1801 Elizabeth Skaggs, 216 acres, 1 blacks 16+, 2 total blacks, 3 horses.
        26 Jun 1801 Solomon Skaggs, 73 acres, 1 white male 21+, 1 blacks 16+, 1 total blacks, 3 horses. (patented to Henry Skaggs)

      • Citation:

        https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3J-F95S-2?i=143&cat=155623

5. Green County, Kentucky Order Book #6; p. 196.
   1. • Source text:

        September 23, 1816
        On the motion of William SKAGGS it is orderd that Wm. BARNETT, Nathaniel OWEN & James SCOTT be & they are hereby appointed commissioners to divide a tract of land on Brush Ck., Green Co. agreeable to quanity which was left by James SKAGGS, sr dec'd. to his 3 sons James SKAGGS, Stephen SKAGGS & Henry SKAGGS all since departed this life & divide the said land unto three parts so as to allot to the said representatives, heirs of said James SKAGGS Stephen SKAGGS & Henry SKAGGS their respective parts of said land.

      • Citation:

        Green County, KY Court Order to Divide and Re-Title Land

        https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS79-133D-Y?i=543&cat=125489

6. Arkansas and its people a history, 1541-1930: biographical and genealogical
   1. • Source text:

        WILLIAM LESLIE SKAGGS—Of Celtic and Teutonic stock, members of this branch of the Skaggs family having come from England to Virginia, where they were among the early settlers of that Colony. In England the name is found among the nobility, and the coat-of-arms, granted in 1568, is described in Burke’s “Peerage” and in Fairbairn’s “Crests.” The name, Skaggs, is traced by some genealogists to the Norse and then on to the Gothic; but others, tracing still farther back, give it a very ancient origin, that of Sanskrit, “Skag” meaning “shake,” which is more nearly identical than the Norse or Gothic word.

        James Skaggs, the great-grandfather of our subject, was born and reared in Virginia; he married there, and had a large family before he became a resident of Kentucky. He owned a good tract of land in Kentucky, but did not improve it much; instead, he devoted a great deal of his time to hunting and Indian fighting; being strong and active, and an excellent marksman, he never had a contest with any Indian who could compete with him in any way, not even in a hand-to-hand fight. James Skaggs was over six feet in height, and could run and jump as high as his head.

        Henry Skaggs, a brother of James Skaggs, was a noted hunter and Indian fighter. He and Joseph Drake led the “Long Hunters” into Kentucky. (See Draper’s “Life of Boone’). Henry Skaggs was well prepared to lead such an expedition, for he had been on two or three trips of exploration into Kentucky prior to that of the “Long Hunters.” In 1761, a company of nineteen men—among them Wallen, Skaggs, Newman Blevins, and Cox, went through Mockasin Gap in Clinch Mountain and established a station on Wallen’s Creek, hunting there for eighteen months. (See p. 416, Vol. 2, Collins’ History). The same author states, on page 267, that Henry Skaggs and others were given large tracts of land on Beargrass Creek for having raised a crop of corn there in 1775.

        William Elsey Connelley in his “The Founding of Harmans Station” p. 28, says, “Henry and James Skaggs were famous hunters and explorers.’ These two brothers explored certain parts of Kentucky long before Boone ever set foot on any part of the territory. Henry and James Skaggs with other brothers, all having large families, moved from Virginia to Kentucky at an early date, being among the first settlers there, and becoming permanent residents; their descendants are still in that State by the hundreds. Nearly all of the Skaggs family at that time were Baptists and Democrats, opposed to the Whig doctrine, being disciples of Henry Clay. Elder Thomas Skaggs was one of the most famous Baptist preachers of Kentucky about 1804. (p. 824 Benedict’s “History of the Baptists”). James Skaggs, the great-grandfather of our subject, had a large family, all born in Virginia. The following are the names of his children, who lived to be middle-aged or past, given in order of their birth: William, the oldest, born in 1748, died on Brush Creek, Green County, Kentucky, August 20, 1848; Jeremiah, Henry 2d, James, 2d, Frederick, Stephen, and Mrs. Moses Atherton.

        Stephen Skaggs, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Virginia, came to Kentucky with his parents while a boy, and after becoming a middle-aged man, married Miss Nancy Andrews; one of her sisters, Sallie Andrews, married Nathaniel Holman at Bullet’s Lick, East Tennessee; another sister, Elizabeth Andrews, married John Carr. Stephen Skaggs’ vocation was farming and stock raising. He was very successful and became wealthy, having owned a good farm on Brush Creek, Green County, Kentucky, with plenty of livestock, especially fine horses; he owned several slaves, sufficient in number to give a negro to each of his family when becoming of age. While Stephen Skaggs’ vocation was farming, later in life his avocation was that of a Baptist preacher, which he greatly enjoyed. The names of his children living to be of age are, in order of birth, as follows: Mary, who married John Stinnett; Mrs. Louisa Saulsman; Henry, 3d. and James, 3d, (twins), both of whom further; Mrs. Patterson; Mrs. Jackson; and Stephen, 2d, who is also of further mention.

        James Skaggs, 3d, married Miss Hannah Holcombe, and some of his sons moved to Nevada and to California. He died in Newton County, Missouri. (The sketch of Henry, 3d, twin brother of James, 3d, is placed after that of Stephen, 2d, not coming in order of birth.)

        Stephen Skaggs, 2d, the youngest of Stephen and Nancy (Andrews) Skaggs’ children, was born in Kentucky, in 1814, and died in the seventies. He never resided out of his native state. He was a prosperous farmer and raiser of live stock, owned two good farms, one in Hart County and one in Larue County. He owned several slaves. When the Proclamation freeing the slaves was announced, the younger negroes accepted their freedom and left the farm, but the older negroes would not leave, and remained on the farm until their death. One of the old negroes when informed of his freedom and that he could go to work for himself and do as he pleased, replied: “Ise alredy bin doin dat fo sevul yeahs, dis is my home Ise not gwine to leave heah, ethah; Mr. Linkum is not gwine to trick me outin a good home by dat proxination.” Stephen Skaggs, 2d, married Rachel Long, and after her death, he married Nancy Spraggins. The names of children are: Joseph, born in Kentucky, in 1843, married, and lived there until nearly fifty years of age, then moved to Wyman, Washington County, Arkansas. The next oldest were: James, George, Glass, John, Maggie, and William.

        Henry Skaggs, 3d, twin brother of James, 3d, and father of our subject, was born on Brush Creek, Green County, Kentucky, June 6, 1807, and lived there until he was twenty-six years of age; after accumulating considerable property, about half oi which he had inherited from his father’s estate, he sold out and came to the southeast part of Jefferson County, Missouri, in 1833, bringing with him some fine Kentucky bred horses, and also his slave, a negro man, who had been given to him by his father, Stephen Skaggs (1st). Henry Skaggs entered and purchased five hundred acres of the best land on the Isle au Bois Creek; it takes a skillful surveyor now to run some of the zigzagging lines marking his land; the lines were run to just take in the creek bottom, extending into the hollows and indentures at the foot of the ridges, leaving out all the glades, bluffs, and poor ridge land. A certain amount of the good ridge land adjoining the creek bottom was purchased. He began at once clearing this land, building a residence of hewed logs, and a barn of unhewed logs, which he covered with clap boards that were hand rived with a frow; the barn was also boxed up on the sides with clapboards; he devoted the rest of his life to clearing and improving this tract of land, and to farming and stock raising, especially to the breeding of fine horses.

        Henry Skaggs, 3d, married on February 3, 1836, Miss Mary Eaglebarger (German Egelberger). She was born October 7, 1814, on the Plattin Creek, Jefferson County, Missouri. After several years of hard work and good management by both himself and his wife, he became one of the most prosperous farmers in the county. They were blessed with good health, neither of them scarcely ever being sick for a day; they were strong and active to the day of their deaths. Mr. Skaggs was five feet, ten inches, in height and weighed one hundred and forty-five to one hundred and fifty pounds; he possessed not one pound of surplus flesh, and was fair-complexioned, with blue eyes and medium brown hair; he was a good wrestler, fleet of foot, a good jumper, especially standing and going three hops, at which he never was excelled; he could lift a one hundred pound anvil with one hand by grasping the horn; and he participated in such sports to the day of his death. He trained all his boys in the old “Olympic” games, and they were all experts along that line of physical exercise; he had only a common school education, but was well read, especially in United States History; he had a large development of mirthfulness, a keen sense of the ridiculous, and was the fun maker at all social parties. He was courageous and very determined, though he never had but one altercation in adult life.

        His wife, Mary (Eaglebarger) Skaggs, was fair complexioned, had black hair and eyes, was five feet and eight inches in height, weighed one hundred and thirty-five to one hundred and forty pounds, and was strong and active; among her physical accomplishments, she was a good horse-back rider, and swimmer, and could shoot with accuracy. She was a woman of superior intelligence and firmness of character. She had only a common school education but was well read; in current literature her favorite periodicals were Frank Leslie’s and the Phrenological Journal. At about thirty-five years of age, she began the study of Wilson’s “Human Anatomy,” Carpenter’s “Physiology,” and Churchill’s “Midwifery,” using Dunglison’s “Medical Dictionary,” by self-instruction mostly, and within six or seven years’ time, she became one of the most successful obstetricians in the county.

        Mr. and Mrs. Henry Skaggs, of Jefferson County, Missouri, were members oi the Missionary Baptist Church; he was a Mason and a Democrat; though a slave owner, he was at the beginning of the war in 1861, a Union man, but the unlawful and outrageous capture of the Missouri State Militia at “Camp Jackson” by Lyon, caused him to become a Secessionist; Lyon not only violated the PriceHaerny Agreement for Missouri to remain neutral, but it was a defiant violation of the State law that provided for the organization and training of the Missouri State Militia; this law was enacted about 1845, many years before Claiborne Jackson was elected Governor of Missouri; about half of the members of these two regiments of Missouri State Militia were strong Union men, and later joined the Union Army or took no part in secession. The field officers of the Ist Regiment of this militia, and a majority of the privates were Union men. Lieutenant-Colonel John Knapp, commanding regiment, when captured by Lyon was soon made colonel of a Union militia regiment. Henry Skaggs, 3d, died on his farm September 9, 1866, of the Asiatic cholera. His wife, Mary, died one week later, September 16, 1866, of the same painful disease.

        Henry Skaggs, 3d, and his wife, Mary (Eaglebarger) Skaggs had the following children: 1. John M. Skaggs, born November 13, 1836, married in Jefferson County, Missouri, August 8, 1867, Martha A, Pilliard. He was a farmer and gunsmith; died August 30, 1912, on his farm near Pocahontas, Arkansas. 2. Josephine C. Skaggs, born October 7, 1838, married in Jefferson County, Missouri, William S. McCormack, a wealthy farmer, and for some time county judge; he died on his farm, March 4, 1907. Mrs. McCormack died on their farm, April 1, 1909. 3. James Henry Skaggs was born August 2, 1840; after receiving a common school education he was for several terms under the instruction of Robert M. Booth; received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Cambridge, England; other subjects he studied, Latin, German, and mathematics to calculus; in June, 1861, he joined the Southern Army, Company D, 2d Cavalry Regiment, 1st Division, Missouri State Guard for six months, then Bob McCulloch’s 4th Missouri Cavalry Battalion, Provincial Army, C. S. Following this, he taught school a few years, giving his spare time to the study of medicine; he also dealt in livestock for a while. In 1870 he came to Clay County, Arkansas, purchased five hundred and fifty acres of land, and farmed and dealt in livestock, near what is now Knobel. He married April 7, 1872, Eliza James, of Randolph County, daughter of Bartlett James, and by her he had two children: Bartlett R., born February 26, 1873, who died July 7, 1874; and James H., Jr., born January 25, 1875, who died in infancy. Mrs. Eliza (James) Skaggs died March 19, 1875. Mr. Skaggs then went to Pocahontas, Arkansas, where he was employed as collecting agent for Levi Hecht and Brother, merchants, which he followed for twenty-two months; he then married on December 17, 1875, Mrs. Serena J. Russell, of Randolph County and again began farming and stock raising. In 1882 he was elected surveyor of Randolph County, in which work he was very efficient, being the first surveyor Randolph County ever had who could make his calculations of area by latitude and departure as required by the Arkansas statute. After buying several hundred acres of land, he conducted an extensive timber business in connection with farming, in all of which he was prosperous. He was fair-complexioned, had blue eyes and medium dark brown hair; he was five feet, ten inches in height, and weighed in middle age, one hundred and eighty pounds; later in life he weighed over two hundred pounds; he was an athlete, and enjoyed physical contests as long as he lived. He died on his farm at Skaggs Ferry, five miles east of Pocahontas, Arkansas, September 4, 1895, possessed of $15,000 worth of personal property and more than 4,000 acres of good bottom land, with 1,000 acres in cultivation. 4. Hepsie Skaggs, born December 24, 1841, died in infancy. 5. Stephen F. Skaggs, born in March, 1843, was a farmer. He was fair complexioned, had blue eyes, black hair, was six feet in height, weighed one hundred and fifty pounds, was well versed in the old Olympic games, and he never was excelled in swimming. He was manager of his father’s farm at the time of his death, September 11, 1866, of the Asiatic cholera, aged twenty-three years. 6. Louisa Skaggs, born June 2, 1845, died September 8, 1866, of the Asiatic cholera. 7. Janey Skaggs, born June 14, 1847, married on March 1, 1866, William Hinton, a farmer, a native of Illinois, born March 3, 1836. During the Civil War he served three years in the Union Army as a private in Company A, 4oth Illinois Infantry; he was as honest, honorable, and courageous a man as ever shouldered a gun. He owned a fine farm of as rich soil as existed in the American bottom, near Sugg’s Landing on the Mississippi River in Monroe County, Illinois. On account of bad health, he sold out and moved to Texas County, Missouri, buying a good farm three miles southeast of Licking, where he died December 9, toor. Mrs. Janey Hinton died April 6, 1930, in Salem, Oregon. 8. Francis M. Skaggs, born January 7, 1849, was a carpenter and cabinet-maker in early life, but later, became a music teacher; he was for some time a professor of violin, piano tuning, and a director of conservatory orchestra in the Western Conservatory, Rolla, Missouri. Since he was fifteen years of age, he had devoted a good deal of time to the study of music. His first wife was Millie Oliver, of Montrose, Missouri; his second wife was Carrie Hensley, whom he married December 26, 1909. Francis M. Skaggs was six feet in height and weighed one hundred and sixty to one hundred and sixty-five pounds; he was dark-complexioned, with blue eyes and brown hair, and was a very strong man, fairly active, and a champion standing broad jumper. He died at Nevada, Missouri, May 13, 1916. 9. Bettie Skaggs, born December 4, 1850, married in October, 1869, John B. Weller, of Texas County, Missouri. J. B. Weller was born and reared at Washington, C. H., Ohio; he was a carpenter. Mrs. Weller died at Cabool, Missouri, on November 27, 1910, and J. B. Weller died at Rolla, Missouri in 1914. to. Julia Skaggs, born April 4, 1853, died in 1862 of scarlet fever. 11. Lilly Skaggs, born November 2, 1857, died in 1862 of the scarlet fever. 12. William Leslie Skaggs, subject of this review, of whom further mention is made. All the children were born on Isle au Bois Creek, Jefferson County, Missouri. The maternal great-great-grandfather of our subject, William L. Skaggs, was John Carlin from near Carrickfergus, County Antrim, North Ireland.

        Unity Carlin married John Martin Eagelberger (Anglicized to Eaglebarger). He was born in Germany in 1784, came to the United States in 1800 to escape the compulsory military service of Germany; he landed at Savannah, Georgia, and lived there a few years with Isaac Grey under whom he learned the gunsmith trade. He then came to Plattin Creek, Jefferson County, Missouri. He purchased a rich tract of land, mostly in Plattin Creek bottom and began improving it; he married Unity Carlin, maternal grandmother of our subject, in 1811. She was courageous and determined. By industry and economy, Mr. Eaglebarger became one of the most prosperous farmers in the county; being opposed to slavery, he never owned any negroes. He died on his farm, July 3, 1829, his wife surviving him many years. Their children were: 1. Elizabeth Eaglebarger, born February I, 1812; she married Isaac Rutledge, and the names of their children are: Mary A., married Fred Ames, a native of Maine; John M., married Octavia Henry; George W.; Susan; Martha; and William M., who married Annie Skaggs, third cousin to Henry Skaggs, 3d. They both died at Sulphur Springs, Texas. 2. Mary Eaglebarger, born October 7, 1814, married Henry Skaggs, 3d. (See preceding pages). 3. Louisa Eaglebarger, born on Plattin Creek, July 15, 1817, married William Strickland; no issue. He died a few years after the Civil War, and Mrs. Strickland died November 15, 1878, on her farm on Plattin Creek, Jefferson County, Missouri. 4. Susan Eaglebarger, born in January, 1820, married on January 8, 1846, Henry Posten, who was born September 30, 1819. The names of their children are: Milton G. and F. Josephus. Susan Posten died April 26, 1848, and Henry Posten died April 10, 1860. 5. Frederick G. Eaglebarger, born December 7, 1822, married Jane McCormack, born July 7, 1833; their children were: James F., Mary A., L. C., Charles L., Rev. Perry R., a logical and studious preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Little Rock, Arkansas; J. Martin, and Theodore E. Mrs. Jane Eaglebarger died at Paris, Texas, September 9, 1887. Frederick G. Eaglebarger died at Paris, Texas, in November, 1895.

        Standing in the foremost ranks of American educators, William Leslie Skaggs, of Paragould, son of the previously mentioned Henry and Mary (Eaglebarger) Skaggs, filled thirty-five years of his active life by contributing to the educational advancement of Missouri and Arkansas, most of that period having been spent in Arkansas. He is a man of rare erudition, a finished scholar and a conscientious student, devoting himself principally to studies of education, government, and American History. He is a descendant of pioneer stock of Kentucky and Missouri and has never lost sight of the traditions of that race in its conception of the duties devolving upon citizenship. Arkansas has been fortunate in possessing a citizen and an educator of his standing, who has devoted his life to promoting the general standing of the public institutions that have come within the purview of his activities.

        William Leslie Skaggs was born on his father’s farm on the Isle au Bois Creek, near Danby in the southeast part of Jefferson County, Missouri, forty miles south of St. Louis, on June 23, 1861. He was reared partly in each of the following counties: Jefferson County, Missouri; Monroe County, Illinois; and Texas County, Missouri. His first attendance at school was two months before he was six years old, at Danby, a half mile north of his birthplace; he had been taught at home to read and spell, and to do some number work. His first lesson at school was XXVI in Webster’s Elementary Spelling Book; and so well were all his lessons recited, he was promoted to McGuffey’s Second Reader at the close of the first day. He worked on a farm till he was nearly sixteen years old, attending school on an average of six months each year; he then attended Licking Academy for three years, giving his spare time, evenings and mornings, to the study of anatomy and physiology under the direction of Dr. D. T. Collier; and during vacations, he devoted his time to learning the carpenter’s trade; after finishing at the academy, he studied hygiene and nervous diseases under the direction of Dr. James A. Prichard. He then entered McCune College and completed the four years’ scientific course in 1885, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science.

        Mr. Skaggs began the study of music on violin, when twelve years old, with his brother Francis M. Skaggs as teacher; as he grew older he progressed in the theory of music, studying thorough bass, harmony, counter-point, musical composition, musical form, instrumentation and orchestration, history of music, etc., by private teachers, and in the music departments of literary colleges, teaching and studying music through summer vacation. In the summer of 1882, he taught music in Houston, Missouri, where he organized and directed the first orchestra Texas County ever had, composed of the following: first violin, second violin, viola, violoncello, double bass, flute, clarinet, cornet, and piano. In the summer of 1883, he taught music in DeSoto, Missouri, and took two lessons a week on violin in St. Louis from Professor A. W. Waldauer, director of Beethoven Conservatory; in summer of 1884, he taught in DeSoto and took lessons on violin from Professor E. Spiering of St. Louis College of Music, Professor Robert Goldbeck, director. In 1885-86, Mr. Skaggs taught his first school at Victoria, Missouri. During the school term he gave his spare time and after the close of the six months’ term his entire time through spring and summer to the unusual subjects of anthropology, Anglo-Saxon and the Irish language under the tutorage of Rev. C. F. O’Leary, and on examination later, he was given credit on each of the subjects at McCune College. At the close of his six months’ term at Festus, Missouri, 1886-87, he entered Carleton College, Missouri, for the spring and summer terms, where he studied the unusual subjects of Ethnology, Rustic, and Low Latin under Professor Julian Feldt, Ph. D. The latter subjects were not as difficult to Mr. Skaggs as the Irish was, for he had previously, for five or six years, studied the Classical Latin. In the years of 1887-80, he was principal at Pocahontas, Arkansas, for two ten months’ terms; during the two summer vacations, he studied Low German under the tutorage of Mr. John Henke, familiarizing himself with some of the prose and poetry of Fritz Reuter, and as a preparation for this, Mr. Skaggs had studied High German for two years. For ten months, in 1889-90, he was principal at Black Rock, Arkansas, and for nine months, in 1890-91, he was principal at Corning, Arkansas, then for four months or until the last of December, 1891, he was principal at Brinkley, Arkansas. The public school money becoming exhausted, he left there and entered the University of Missouri the last of January, 1892. (Mr. Skaggs’ reputation as a teacher enabled him to secure such an increase in salary from place to place that within six years his monthly salary had increased more than one hundred per cent.).

        Mr. Skaggs entered the University of Missouri as a special student, where he completed a semester’s work in Anglo-Saxon and Middle English, ancient and modern governments, pedagogy, and elementary law; (and attended a course of lectures on the Constitution of the United States, given by Alexander Martin, A. B., LL. B., Dean of the University Law School). In June, 1892, he returned to McCune College and passed his final examination for the degree of Bachelor of Music. (The degree of Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science was a prerequisite for the degree in music).

        During the summer of 1893, Mr. Skaggs was a student in St. Louis, under Dr. C. C. Morris, of the anatomy and physiology of the human brain including the dissection of the brains of a few cadavers. (C. C. Morris, A. M., M. D. was superintendent and chief surgeon of the St. Louis Baptist Hospital, and was at the same time professor of surgery in the St. Louis Woman’s Medical College). Mr. Skaggs received a year’s credit in each of the following: anatomy, physiology, hygiene, and nervous diseases, and a half a year’s credit in anatomy and physiology of the brain by passing an examination at McCune College, conducted by S. B. Ayres, M. Sc. M. D., professor of Physiology.

        Mr. Skaggs was a student in 1893-98 of the classical course of Carleton College (Missouri); and in 18941895 he was a student in the graduate department of Ohio University in psychology and pedagogy under Professor John P. Gordy, Ph. D., and in Teutonic philology under Professor Charles W. Super, Ph. D., where after variots examinations and an approved thesis, he received the degree of Master of Science in June, 1895. Mr. Skaggs now had the most unusual procedure, among educators—he returned to undergraduate study, entered Carleton College, in September, 1895, and completed the four-year classical course in December, 1808, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts, the following June; he accomplished this during the two years of 1895-96, 1896-97, and the summers of 18096, and 1897 and the spring and summer of 1898, passing final examination, December 28 and 20, 1808, for a small portion of the study done in absentia.

        Mr. Skaggs was principal at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, during two six months’ terms in 1897-98 and 1898-99. He was a graduate-student of the S. E. Missouri State Teachers’ College during the spring term of 1899. And he was principal at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas for three months during the fall of 1899. In the last week of November (about 27th), 1899, Mr. Skaggs again entered the graduate department of University of Missouri, where with the study of a previous summer he completed a year’s course in the science, history, and philosophy of education and after various examinations, and an approved thesis, he received the degree of Bachelor of Pedagogy, June 6, 1900. (The University of Missouri at that time required all persons to possess the degree of Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science from a standard college before entering for the degree of Bachelor of Pedagogy).

        Mr. Skaggs was principal of Doswell Institute, Newport, Arkansas in 1900-01; and he was superintendent at Paragould for six years, 1901-07. The greatest and most unusual educational opportunity Mr. Skaggs ever had, to study at first hand, real original work, was when he was a student visitor of the St. Louis World’s Fair* for fourteen weeks during the summer of 1904, where he made a fairly systematic study, taking notes each day of all the most important things seen and heard—and, as he thinks, it was of vastly more importance than an ordinary trip around the world, or of a year of graduate study; and he knows of no other person giving it the time and attention that he did.

        During the summer of 1905, and the year of 19071908, Mr. Skaggs was a student in Peabody College in English, education, history, and government; (he also attended a course of lectures on Diseases of Children, and Physical Diagnosis in the medical department, University of Nashville); a part of this was graduate study. For all the preceding study mentioned, Mr. Skaggs has his grades or credits, and all his degrees are attested by diplomas. He is also a holder of two life State certificates.

        In addition to all the foregoing, Mr. Skaggs has devoted twenty-four summers to original research work in many libraries; in twelve of these, including the Library of Congress, he studied in each not less than three months, and in one of them, the Library of the State Historical Society of Missouri, he studied eight summers—twenty-four months. For this original research work, he has not yet received credit—the thesis not being finished. The thesis is entitled: “The Missourian Regiments, Battalions, etc., with their Field Officers in the State Guard and the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, War of 1861-65.”

        The records in the War Department, Washington, District of Columbia, are incomplete, only accounting for about one-third of the actual number in the Southern Army from Missouri. Mr. Skaggs began this investigation more than forty years ago in a casual way, but assiduously since 1895; he has traveled hundreds of miles, visited all the large cities, and a majority of the large towns in Missouri, attended many Confederate reunions—county, State, and general—interviewed more than 3,000 old Missouri soldiers; has received 1,400 letters in answer to inquiries; has read all the files of Missouri newspapers published in 1861-65 which have been preserved (that he has heard of), has read all the books and pamphlets about the war in Missouri; has read all the county, and sectional histories of Missouri containing many hundreds of short biographies to obtain the Confederate service, if any, of the man; he read several thousand pension applications of Confederate soldiers in the adjutant-general’s office, Jefferson City, Missouri; visited the State Homes of Confederate Soldiers; has read forty volumes of the official records which relate to the war affairs in Missouri. All of this reading and inquiry was for the purpose of obtaining the names of the colonels, lieutenant-colonels, and majors and their regiments or battalions, the muster rolls of which had been lost or destroyed.

        Returning now to the chronological point of this sketch: During the year of 1908-09, Mr. Skaggs edited and published at Paragould, the “Educational News”; and for the next three years, 1909-12, for one year each, he was superintendent at Walnut Ridge, Black Rock, and Corning. For the next six years, 1912-18, he was superintendent at Rector, Arkansas, where for three years, 1915 to 1918, he had the champion school of the State.

        The year 1918-19, he devoted to historic research. During 1919-20, he was superintendent at Pocahontas, after which on account of poor health for awhile, he ceased teaching. There is one accomplishment of Mr. Skaggs that is not generally known to his later acquaintances; in middle life he was an excellent violinist, but he has not played in public for more than a quarter of a century. A rustic amateur poet, as to “the time” and “the tune,” explains: He now only plays occasionally at home for pastime, Mrs. Skaggs constituting the entire audience. Mr. Skaggs considers his greatest success has been in public school education—his having originated and developed the most efficient method or system of public school education extant, based strictly on the principles of human nature, is truly exemplified in his having taken two of the worst and poorest schools in Arkansas and in three years’ time made them the champions of the State, and having maintained that superiority of each school for three years. This most efficient system will probably never be adopted, because the main factor is extraordinary and judicious industry on the part of both teachers and pupils; a majority of superintendents, principals, and teachers oppose this main factor in education. His annual challenge to all other schools in the State embraced twelve essential points of a good school. But to be brief, the two main points were: (1) that the pupils of Superintendent Skaggs’ school could pass a better examination, grade for grade, in the elementary schools on the subjects prescribed by the State Law, and that the pupils of the high school could pass a better examination, grade for grade, on the subjects recommended by the State authorities, than any other school in the State; (2) that this superior teaching was accomplished at less expense than the school entering the contest: Mr. Skaggs was the first public school teacher of Arkansas to earn by resident study for one year a master’s degree in science or arts from a State university having a graduate department.

        Mr. Skaggs was never a candidate for a public, elective office, but was appointed acting county examiner of Randolph County in 1888, while Dr. C. E. Witt, the county examiner, was in St. Louis attending medical college. Mr. Skaggs is the author of the annual report to the State superintendent, dated September 25, 1888, in “The Northeast Arkansas History,” by Goodspeed, on pages 369-70; the report was signed: “C. E. Witt, County Examiner, Per W. L. Skaggs, Acting County Examiner.” But the copyist or compositor of that item omitted the Per signature. In November, 1807, Mr. Skaggs was appointed county examiner of the Eastern District of Lawrence County. In 1904 he was deputy examiner for C. D. Threlkeld, who was teaching out of the county most of the time.

        Mr. Skaggs was appointed a member of the Greene County School Book Board and served six years elected, or the place tendered him. Later in life his salary became a matter of less importance for he regarded teaching in the public schools as State charity to produce good citizenship—public schools were instituted for the special benefit of the pupils— not as a pension institution for teachers. Mr. Skaggs was usually selected, to remedy the bad financial condition of the school and also to control a few supposed to be incorrigible students who were impairing if not destroying the efficiency of the school. He never had a pupil he could not control, and he subdued contentious fathers even if they were street bullies or aristocrats, by the same method he applied to the bad pupils; and later, in nearly every instance, these pupils and their parents became his strong supporters. Though Mr. Skaggs usually taught for about two thirds of the salary such sized schools paid their superintendents, at two different times when he was voted a large increase in salary by the directors, he would not accept it because the district was not able to pay more. At other places he could have had a raise in salary merely by asking for it, but the income of the district, as he thought, did not justify it. His services were sought for higher institutions, but he chose to continue in public school work; during the ‘nineties he had an opportunity to become president of two different church colleges; about ten years later he was considered for the presidency of a State university until he informed some of the trustees that though he was grateful for their. kindness, he would not accept. Later, he was solicited and urged by Governor Jefferson Davis and other trustees to accept a professorship in the University of Arkansas, but he kindly declined this offer even at a salary of two and a half times the amount he was receiving, because after three years of the most strenuous, persevering, and dangerous procedure, his school had just reached such high pedagogic attainment that he could challenge any other school in the State on twelve essential points of a good school with almost a certainty of excelling on eleven points and perhaps all twelve, and further Mr. Skaggs wished to prove that this near perfection was not merely the result of an exhausted effort, but that this efficiency could be maintained, which it was for three years—as long as he remained superintendent.

        Some of the best friends Mr. Skaggs ever had were trustees of the University of Arkansas, among them: Colonel V. Y. Cook, deceased; Professor Thomas A. Frutall, deceased; Professor George B. Cook, deceased; Hon. George T. Breckenridge, formerly of Paragould, but now of St. Louis, Missouri, and Hon. Gustave Jones, of Newport, Arkansas. Many of the leading educators of the State— college men, town and city superintendents, teachers, journalists, and leading citizens, solicited and urged Mr. Skaggs to become a candidate for superintendent of Public Instruction. Some of them offered to campaign the State for him, but this solicitation was kindly declined to the disappointment of his many friends and the great delight of a few enemies. He was tendered positions in large schools and could have secured the superintendency of larger schools where his whole time would have been required for superintending, but he preferred smaller schools where he could teach two or three classes—second, third and fourth year high school—and have time to attend to most every detail in the management of the school.

        Mr. Skaggs has had experience in one-room schools, teaching seven grades, as principal of elementary schools, teaching the intermediate grades, several years as principal of one, two, and three-year high schools, and fourteen years as superintendent, teaching three classes a day and superintending the rest of the day, not loafing or losing one minute of the time, being on the school premises ten or more hours each day. In all his teaching he was never away from his school but four and a half days—three days as a witness in court while at Black Rock, I9to-11, one half day at Rector, when sick, and one and a half days at Pocahontas, 1919-20, when sick of an intestinal ulcer; at this time, by extraordinary effort and against the advice of his physician, he returned to his school work and finished the term; but not feeling able to teach, he quit the work the last of May, 1920, and has not taught since. Mr. Skaggs has just now finished ten years of reading and research work, averaging more than ten hours a day for that long period of time. He has a private library of 5,000 rare and choice volumes. He and Mrs. Skaggs have taken and read an average of twenty-five journals and papers a year for the last ten years.

        Mr. Skaggs looks to be in good health, weighs one hundred and seventy pounds, is five feet ten and one-half inches in height, fair-complexioned (his hair was formerly dark brown but now partly gray), has dark brown eyes, has a full set of natural and sound teeth except two or three molars, eyes strong and of equal strength, ears also of equal strength and hearing good. Among other physical stunts, he can turn a hand spring and walk on his hands. He was taught boxing, wrestling, jumping, and running, when a small boy, and has always enjoyed such sports; he thinks that even now he can defeat any man, within ten years of his age, in any of these four physical exercises with their practical subdivisons requiring at least eight contests. Mr. Skaggs claims a man who is not skillful in all four of these old Olympic games is not an athlete—that he is only a piece of one, and that it takes more than a ball player to be an athlete.

        Although Mr. Skaggs was reared with whiskey in the home and with no restriction whatever as to its use, he has never been in the slightest degree intoxicated and though he is not a teetotaler, he has not tasted an intoxicant since the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment, nor did he for fourteen years before its adoption; however, should he think it necessary to do so, he would drink a sufficient amount of it. He never uses cigarettes or tobacco in any form, or an opiate of any kind, drinks but one cup of coffee a day, and some days none. No person who used _ cigarettes or tobacco in any form, or was a drug addict of any kind, was ever permitted to teach in a school while Mr. Skaggs was its superintendent. Mr. Skaggs has always paid more attention to school economy and finance than he has to his own personal affairs. While teaching he gave a large per cent. of his low salary to his schools and to indigent persons, and he never accumulated much property. He owns a ferry on Black River, five miles east of Pocahontas, and a tract of good bottom land of three hundred and forty acres, with one hundred and fifty acres in cultivation, which he inherited in 1895 from his deceased brother, James Henry Skaggs, of which the net income to him as rent last year (1929) was $2,100, Mr. Skaggs is a member of the American Historical Association, the State Historical Soicety of Missouri, the Arkansas Historical Association, has Mr. Skaggs is independent in politics, voting for the man and measure—the political issue; he seldom if ever votes a straight ticket, and sometimes votes for neither the Democratic nor Republican nominee, when he thinks both are incompetent and not trustworthy.

        On August 29, 1920, in Iowa City, Iowa, Mr. Skaggs married Miss Buena C. (Dot) Thompson, a native and resident of Greene County, Arkansas, but - at that time, she was a graduate-student in the University of Iowa. Mr. Skaggs never married till late in life; he was fifty-nine years of age before forming a matrimonial alliance, and thus having no family to support, he was given a fine opportunity, when not teaching, to obtain a good education, enabling him to be a student in some of the leading educational institutions.

        Mrs. W. L. Skaggs, née Beuna Chloe Thompson, was born and reared at Marmaduke, Arkansas; she is the daughter of James T. and Martha (Ross) Thompson. The parents of James T. Thompson were James and Lydia (Terrell) Thompson, who moved . to Tennessee from North Carolina in 1825. Martha (Ross) Thompson was the daughter of James Alexander and Mary (Joyner) Ross, of Kentucky, and Mary (Joyner) Ross was a descendant of the Joyners and Wootens of North Carolina.

        James T. Thompson, father of Mrs. Skaggs, was a Confederate soldier, having served first in the 5ist Tennessee Infantry Regiment until its capture at Fort Donelson; but he succeeded in making his escape and in August, 1862 enlisted in the 14th Tennessee Cavalry, Company C (Captain Zelman Voss), in General Forrest’s command. After the war he returned to Jackson, Tennessee, where he remained until 1870, when he moved to Green County, Arkansas. At the time of his death Mr. Thompson was a druggist and local Methodist preacher at Marmaduke. His wife, who survived him many years, died in Paragould, July 11, 1926.

        Mrs. Skaggs received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Ouachita College in 1920, and the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Missouri in 1924. Since 1924 she has attended summer sessions in George Washington University (1925), University of Missouri (1926), and George Peabody College for Teachers (1927).

        As a teacher, Mrs. Skaggs has had a varied experience, having taught in all grades from the first to the twelfth, inclusive, and in rural, village, and city schools in Greene and in Craighead counties, and was principal of the Marmaduke High School one year. Her tenure in the Paragould schools includes four years as head of the department of mathematics, and four years as head of the history department in the high school. In 1928 she was elected superintendent of Green County School by the County School Board, which position she now holds. RIES),

      • Citation:

        Bio of William Leslie Skaggs and his Ancestors

        https://archive.org/details/arkansasitspeopl0004vari/page/490/mode/2up?q=skaggs

7. NANCY SKAGGS' BILL TO HER HUSBAND'S ESTATE FOR CARE OF THEIR MINOR CHILDREN
8. Green County, Ky Circuit Case #5676 1828
9. L15J-KTL FamilySearch.org
   1. • Source text:

        From the Green County Review:
        "Stephen Skaggs another son of the founder of Skaggs' Station had md. Nancy ANDERSON in Nelson Co. on 3 Sep,1799. He was evidently also a Baptist minister as Rev. Downs wrote Song #67, "On the death of Stephen Skaggs".

        Green Co. Cir. Court suit #5676 concerns the settlement of Stephen Skaggs' estate. His wife was listed as Nancy, which indicates a 2nd marriage. The date of his death is given as about the yr. 1814.

        Green Co. Deed Bk. 9, pgs. 500-502, dated 9 Oct,1820. The children of Stephen SKAGGS are listed as - Henry, James, Stephen, Polly STINNET, Jane SKAGGS, Sally SKAGGS & Betsy SKAGGS

      • Citation:

        https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L15J-KTL

   2. • Source text:

        From the Green County Review:
        "Stephen Skaggs another son of the founder of Skaggs' Station had md. Nancy ANDERSON in Nelson Co. on 3 Sep,1799. He was evidently also a Baptist minister as Rev. Downs wrote Song #67, "On the death of Stephen Skaggs".

        Green Co. Cir. Court suit #5676 concerns the settlement of Stephen Skaggs' estate. His wife was listed as Nancy, which indicates a 2nd marriage. The date of his death is given as about the yr. 1814.

        Green Co. Deed Bk. 9, pgs. 500-502, dated 9 Oct,1820. The children of Stephen SKAGGS are listed as - Henry, James, Stephen, Polly STINNET, Jane SKAGGS, Sally SKAGGS & Betsy SKAGGS

      • Citation:

        https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L15J-KTL

10. Stephen Skaggs, "United States Census, 1810"
    1. • Source text:

         Name Stephen Skaggs
         Event Type Census
         Event Date 1810
         Event Place Greensburgh, Green, Kentucky, United States
         Page Number 254
         Affiliate Publication Number M252
         Affiliate Name The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

          

       • Citation:

         "United States Census, 1810", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH2C-9K2 : Sun Mar 10 15:18:14 UTC 2024), Entry for Stephen Skaggs, 1810.

          

    2. • Source text:

         Name Stephen Skaggs
         Event Type Census
         Event Date 1810
         Event Place Greensburgh, Green, Kentucky, United States
         Page Number 254
         Affiliate Publication Number M252
         Affiliate Name The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

          

       • Citation:

         "United States Census, 1810", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH2C-9K2 : Sun Mar 10 15:18:14 UTC 2024), Entry for Stephen Skaggs, 1810.

          

    3. • Source text:

         Name Stephen Skaggs
         Event Type Census
         Event Date 1810
         Event Place Greensburgh, Green, Kentucky, United States
         Page Number 254
         Affiliate Publication Number M252
         Affiliate Name The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

          

       • Citation:

         "United States Census, 1810", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH2C-9K2 : Sun Mar 10 15:18:14 UTC 2024), Entry for Stephen Skaggs, 1810.

          

11. Stephen Skeggs, "Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954" marriage register
    1. • Source text:

         Name Stephen Skeggs
         Sex Male
         Spouse's Name Nancy Andrew
         Spouse's Sex Female
         Event Type Marriage
         Event Date 10 Sep 1799
         Event Place Nelson, Kentucky, United States
         Page Number 2
         Stephen Skeggs's Spouses and Children

         Nancy Andrew
         Wife
         F

         Name Stephen Skeggs
         Sex Male
         Spouse's Name Nancy Andrew
         Spouse's Sex Female
         Event Type Marriage
         Event Date 10 Sep 1799
         Event Place Nelson, Kentucky, United States
         Page Number 2

       • Citation:

         "Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V65Q-LC4 : Sat Feb 24 06:34:00 UTC 2024), Entry for Stephen Skeggs and Nancy Andrew, 10 Sep 1799.