By the time Ezekial shows up in the census again, it's 1860 Taylor County, Georgia. The three daughters shown in the 1840 census aren't with him, but would be old enough to be married and on their own. At this point, I have no information on them at all.
Ezekial was 52 when he went to fight in the Civil War. He was captured at Seven Pines, Virginia, at the beginning of 1863. According to his widow's 1901 application for his soldier's pension benefits, Ezekial was paroled early, in December 1863, due to age and infirmity. W.M. Gibbs, who fought with Ezekial in Company E, 49th Georgia Infantry, was one of the witnesses for the widow Scaff's pension application. The other was her step-son-in-law, W.H.(Horton) Keene. They supported Elizabeth (Dunn) Scaff's contention that she qualified for the pension due to poverty. The pension application had to be renewed annually, and the last one was done in 1905, so this is probably the year that Elizabeth died.
In the 1880 census for Wilcox County, Georgia, there is an "Elisbeath Scoff", age 55, living as a servant in the home of the William Stone family. This is most likely Ezekial's widow, who was born 26 Feb 1826. I don't know anything about the Stone family.
- Unknown daughter, b. 1825-30
- Unknown daughter, b. 1835-40
- Unknown daughter, b. 1835-40
- Sarah A.E. Scaff, b. abt 1842; m. Warren Simmons
- Emily Elizabeth Scaff, b. 31 Dec 1845; m. William Horton Keene
- John Early Scaff*, b. 18 Dec 1848; m. Elizabeth J. Fitzgerald
*Elizabeth Fitzgerald was the daughter of Miles Fitzgerald, son of John Fitzgerald and Rebecca Adams.
Elizabeth Hill Scaff died around 1850; in 1853, Ezekial married Elizabeth Dunn, and together they had the following children:
- Margrett Scaff, b. about 1855; m. John Gibbs
- Laura Scaff, b. about 1858
- Martha E. Scaff, b. about 1859
- Mary Scaff, b. about 1862
- James Scaff, b. about 1864
Margrett's death certificate and gravemarker show her birthdate as 18 Aug 1853. Jasper William Gibbs, Margrett's son, gave "Miss Hill" as his maternal grandmother's name when providing information for Margrett's death certificate. There are several other records, however, that contradict these two pieces of information. In two consecutive censuses, 1860 and 1870, Margrett's age indicates that she was born in 1855. Also, Ezekial Scaff's second wife, Elizabeth (Dunn), says in her application for his soldier's pension benefits that they married in Aug 1853.
Family lore always said that Margrett's mother died giving birth to her, but another Scaff researcher has stated that Elizabeth Jane Hill died in 1850. The gap in years between Margrett and her next oldest sibling would better support the idea that she is the child of Ezekial's second wife.
