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My Dugger FamilyDaniel Dugger (c1695-1776) and Mary Scarborough of Virginia (Surry and Brunswick) Introduction - A History of my research on this family My Dugger Family - Data on my Dugger ancestors IntroductionMy grandmother (Luella George Grant) knew we had Duggers in the family, but she had never met any of them, though she had heard her elders speak the name on occasion. All she knew for sure was that they were from somewhere in TN. I thought it was an unusual enough name to be an easy research assignment. Well, was I ever wrong! I had good solid proof from my grandmother back to her Dugger ancestor Mary Dugger, wife of Jacob Smith. They were of Carter Co, TN, and probably of NC or VA before that. Mary was born in the 1750's (per the 1830 census), and she died ca 1836. For a couple of years I accumulated some data on the various Dugger families that were in the area. I found a Julius Dugger and William Dugger in the same area with Mary, both were about her age, and it seemed likely they were siblings. I also found a Benjamin Dugger in the next county over (in NC) who was also their age, so I assumed he was another brother. Soon I found the book A History of Watauga County, North Carolina. with Sketches of Prominent Families by John Preston Arthur. Richmond: Everett Waddey Co. 1915. This book contained some data on Benjamin Dugger and his brother Julius and another brother Daniel (see my web page commenting on this book). This book seemed to confirm my findings, at least about Julius and Benjamin. Finally (in 1989) I found another Dugger researcher named Geneva Taylor. She and her brother James M. Dugger shared some of their research with me. About the same time (1989) I heard from Gene Blair who was from the same lineage. Gene shared a lot of data with me as well. After awhile, I was hearing from several Dugger researchers (all via "snail-mail"). We swapped a lot of information back and forth. We all had a common problem, and that was we were basing our early data on information published in other books, such as Arthur's book above, and some earlier researchers of the family (Such as a Ms. Vaught and her sister Ms. Carringer) who had some data published in Tennessee Records - Tombstone Inscriptions and Manuscripts in 1933. This data and several compilations that were made afterwards have been the source for most of our early Dugger data. All of these early histories stated that my Mary, Benjamin, Julius, and William were children of Julius Caesar Dugger (Sr). None of us could find documentation to back up everything that was printed, in fact the evidence seemed to be against some of what was in print. In 1991 I wrote to Barbara Browder who shared a ton of her research materials with me. Her data was mainly in Surry and Brunswick Co, VA, but it was comprehensive. She had abstracted and typed up all the deeds, tax lists, court minutes, and other Dugger records in Brunswick Co, VA and some in Surry Co, VA. It was a great amount of work she had done. Around 1992 or so, I more or less quit working on the Dugger family for several years. After awhile, I got real interested again, especially when I decided to start putting my research on the Internet. At that time I discovered most of the Dugger descendants (the East TN and western NC lines anyway) were still quoting the Julius C. Dugger Sr material. I decided that I would try to get to the bottom of it once and for all, and try to document every single Dugger I could find, at least up to ca 1850-1860 timeframe. After nearly 20 years of researching this family, I've found the Dugger family to be one of the most interesting to research. Every single early Dugger left some kind of paper trail for us, and some left extensive records behind, some only left a few items, but all left something. Based on deeds, court minutes, wills, marriages and other public records, I was able to come up with a pretty good outline of the family. I added the shared research of my online Dugger cousins to what I had found and most of it held up to scrutiny just fine. All, that is, except for "Julius C. Dugger". It was incomprehensible to me that a person this famous and celebrated didn't leave us one shred of contemporary evidence of his existence. This was really the heart of my quest to document the Dugger family, particularly since he was supposedly my own ancestor. Based on available evidence, I came to the conclusion (as did several others) that my Mary, Benjamin, Julius (1760) and William were not children of someone named Julius Caesar Dugger, but were children of William Dugger Sr instead. Julius Dugger (born 1760, the one generally called "Jr") was actually the first to bare that name. He was probably the person the descendants were thinking of when they talked about their ancestor "Julius C. Dugger", and the "pioneer" Julius Sr was probably actually William Dugger Sr, with the names mixed up (family tradition often attributes events to a person in the wrong generation, and gets the names wrong, it is a very common problem). I recently found out that Robert T. Nave had come to these same conclusions, long before I did (about Julius C. Dugger), and even had published some data on that subject in a Dugger book by Francis Dugger Rowan. So I am doubly confident about these theories being correct. Since I started this research, I have heard from numerous Dugger researchers who are from the Daniel and Mary Scarborough Dugger line, and several from other Dugger lines. They have each shared some data with me, some had little or nothing new to share, but I'm glad to hear from them anyway. So, I'd like to give a special thanks to several people who have been of great help to me on this family (and forgive me if I leave out someone): Barbara Browder, Gene Blair, Geneva Taylor, Ralph Dugger, Rich Switzer, Carol Dugger, Joyce Blocker, Robert Nave, Margaret Hougland, Mary Floy Katzman, Judy Luers, and Tom Ward. These aren't the only ones. Check the researcher list for the names of others who may have contributed. My Dugger ancestorsDaniel Dugger was born ca 1695. He may have been born in VA, as there was a "John Dugard" there by 1674, who many speculate could be his father. An "Abraham Dugard" was there by 1689. We don't suspect him because the name "Abraham" didn't ever get used in our Dugger line. Daniel Dugger married Mary Scarborough prior to 1717 in Surry Co, VA. They had numerous children, including William Dugger Sr who was born ca 1720 in Surry Co, VA. William Dugger Sr was married possibly three times, based on deeds and other records. He left Surry Co, VA for Brunswick Co, VA and was there as early as 1741 and was there until ca 1752 when he moved to Granville Co, NC. Between 1758 and 1762 he moved to Pittsylvania Co, VA and was there just a few years. Between 1768 and 1771 he moved to the frontier regions of North Carolina and settled in what is now the border area between Wilkes County and Watauga County, but was then part of Surry County. This is where he died ca 1772/1773. He is thought to be the father of Mary, Julius, William, Benjamin and others. Mary Dugger is my line. She married first Drury Goodwin, who died during the Revolution, and she then married Jacob Smith who was my ancestor. Jacob and Mary resided in Carter Co, TN. Daniel Dugger Sr's descendants were found in several places by 1850 especially in TN (all over the state) and also in western NC, in KY, IL, IN and with a number of suspected descendants in GA, and several others in various states. I have set up several web pages, each containing documentation, for different branches of this family. Follow the links below for more information. For information on other Dugger families but who are not related to my Dugger family, go to my Dugger Families page My Dugger Family:Commentary on possible origins of the Dugger family Daniel Dugger (c1696-1776) and Mary Scarborough (c1695-1783)
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