The Isaac and Frances Fyffe Skaggs Family Photo, 1915-1918

Front row, L to R: Virginia Elizabeth, Isaac Skaggs, Polly Mandy (Pauline), Sebra Frances Fyffe Skaggs, Jannie Esther.
​Back row, L to R: James Termon, Roscoe (Ross), Bertha May.

​​The Isaac Skaggs Family Circa 1915-1918
 
My mother fell and broke both of her legs in 2000 and went to live in Pickaway Manor in Circleville, Ohio. My cousin Eleanor Westenhaver Skaggs had a hip replacement and went to the same nursing home. My daughter Michele and I visited my mother every Sunday. Since Eleanor was there too, we visited her as well. Eleanor and her late husband Russell Skaggs (son of mama’s brother Ross) had no children of their own and adopted David and Mary Lou. We often talked with David when we visited there. Though she was younger than my mother, Eleanor did not get well and passed away.
 
We continued to visit my mother and often passed Eleanor’s house on Walnut Creek Pike. One Sunday, when we were going home, we noticed David’s car there while cleaning out Eleanor’s house. We decided to stop and visit for a minute.
 
My sisters Kathleen, Jean and brother Bob had gone on a genealogy trip to descendants of my Uncle Termon and seen a photo belonging to Eleanor of my mother’s family. When Eleanor returned home, she said she couldn’t find the photo and no longer had it. Consequently, I asked David if he knew anything about it. Shockingly enough, he walked in a bedroom and came out with it. Michele and I had never seen it before. I think because he was adopted and the photo was not of his blood relatives, he gave it to us.
 
Michele and I walked out of the house that day in shock and our mouths open in unbelief. We took it to my mother, who said that she thought she was about nine years old in the photo. And what did she say about our good fortune? “I think you’re lucky!” We didn’t think it was luck. We thought it was miraculous. It has been in a fire safe ever since and this is the first time we have published it. Enjoy!

©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2023
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck