Charity Ann (Bayne) Skaggs (abt. 1838 - 1908)

Born about Mar 1838 in Shelby, Kentucky, United States

Wife of Robert Skaggs — married 30 Sep 1870 in Jefferson County, Kansas, United States

Died 18 May 1908 at about age 70 in Douglas County Kansas, United States

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Biography

Charity (Bayne) Skaggs is a part of US Black heritage.

Charity was born in 1838 in Shelby County, Kentucky. She was the daughter of Unknown Freeman and Henrietta Bayne Freeman. Her slave owner was William "Will" G. Bayne. In his interview with the Kansas Historical Society, Marcus Lindsay Freeman stated that his sister, Charity, was brought to Kansas by Marcus's slave-owner, Thomas Bayne. Charity's slave-owner, William Bayne, Thomas Bayne's first cousin and step-brother, left Charity with Thomas Bayne when he went to California in the 1850s.

According to her brother, Marcus, in his interview with the Kansas State Historical Society, Charity and Robert Skaggs were married before they were taken by Robert's slave owner, Jimmie Skaggs, to Texas in Dec 1860, where they stayed for about nine years. However, Charity married Robert Skaggs in Jefferson County, Kansas on 30 Sep 1870.^[1] The marriage record stated Charity was 24, which would have made her year of birth 1836, not 1838.

When they left Texas, they returned to Jefferson County, Kansas, where they rented some land from Thomas Bayne, her brother Marcus's former slave owner.^[2] The 1870 U.S. census lists Robert Scaggs (sic) living in Sarcoxie Township, Jefferson County, Kansas, with his wife, Charlotte (sic), and two children, Charley, 15, and Ann, 12. (The Bayne family owned land in Sarcoxie and Kentucky Townships.)^[3]

In 1880, the couple and their 15-year-old adopted son, Thomas Graham, were living in Lecompton Township, Douglas County, Kansas, where Robert was a farmer.^[4] In 1885 and 1895, the Kansas census listed them in living Lecompton Township, Douglas County, Kansas.^[5][6]

The 1900 U.S. Census lists Charity and Robert Skaggs in Lecompton Township, Douglas County, Kansas. Charity's birth date is given as March 1835. Charity is said to have borne seven children, of whom six were then living. They owned an unmortgaged farm.^[7]

They were enumerated in the Kansas State 1905 census, Lecompton Township, Douglas County, Kansas.^[8]

On April 30, 1908, the Perry Mirror reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Bayne spent Sunday afternoon with Robert Skaggs and wife."^[9] On May 28, 1908, the Mirror reported, "Mrs. Charity Skaggs died at her home Monday afternoon of creeping paralysis. Funeral was held at the colored Baptist church in Perry and interment was at Big Springs Wednesday afternoon."^[10]

Charity passed away in 1908. Burial was in the Eastview Cemetery, Big Springs, Douglas County, Kansas. She shares a marker with her husband, Robert Skaggs, and mother, Henrietta Freeman.^[11]

Slave Owner

William G. Bayne

Sources

1. ↑ Kansas County Marriages, 1855-1911, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q293-NLYP : 2 April 2020), Robert Skaggs and Charity Freeman, 30 Sep 1870; citing Marriage, Jefferson, Kansas, United States, district clerk, court clerk, county clerk and register offices from various counties; FHL microfilm 1,631,681.
2. ↑ Kansas Historical Society, Kansas Memory, Item Number: 3450: https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/3450: 15 Jan 2022
3. ↑ 1870 U.S. Federal Census: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4264485_00428?pId=21894217 : 11 Jan 2022
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFPY-WHS : 12 August 2017), Charity N Skeggs in household of Robert Skeggs, Lecompton, Douglas, Kansas, United States; citing enumeration district ED 70, sheet 146C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,254,380.
5. ↑ 1885 Kansas State Census: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1088/images/ks1885_41-0392?ssrc=pt&treeid=167487134&personid=162175616703&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.117328134.1862923256.1641836675-137768268.1629899950&pId=1639333 : 11 Jan 2022
6. ↑ 1895 Kansas State Census: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1088/images/ksv115_43-0027?pId=6040191 : 11 Jan 2022
7. ↑ 1900 U.S. Federal Census: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4120142_00347?pId=16687414 : 11 Jan 2022
8. ↑ "Kansas State Census, 1905", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPDR-LVLN : 23 September 2019), Charity Scaggs, 1905.
9. ↑ Perry Mirror, 30 Apr 1908: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/92349938/bayne-skaggs-visit/ : 11 Jan 2022
10. ↑ Perry Mirror: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/92350375/charity-skaggs/ : 11 Jan 2022
11. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/53344434/charity-ann-skaggs : accessed 01 May 2022), memorial page for Charity Ann Bayne Skaggs (1838–1908), Find a Grave Memorial ID 53344434, citing Eastview Cemetery, Big Springs, Douglas County, Kansas, USA ; Maintained by Topeka Tom (contributor 47257078) .

See also:

• Kristen Epps, Slavery on the Periphery: The Kansas-Missouri Border in the Antebellum and Civil War Eras. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2016. https://www.kristenepps.com/publications