Logan County, West Virginia Biography of E. FLOYD SCAGGS This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: ********************************************** ***The submitter does not have a connection*** ********to the subject of this sketch.******** ********************************************** This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 553 Logan E. FLOYD SCAGGS. From the quality of work he has done in elevating the standards and promoting the efficiency of the schools of Logan County E. Floyd Scaggs is a notable leader in West Virginia educational affairs. With long experience and at the same time with youth, at his com- mand, his earnestness and high ideals are the qualities most needed in a state where the educational processes are being made to serve the insistent requirements of modern life. Mr. Scaggs, who is county superintendent of schools, was born on his father's farm near Latrobe on Buffalo Creek, Logan County, January 30, 1889. His grandfather, Joseph Scaggs, was a pioneer of Logan County, served as a Confederate soldier in the Civil war, was taken prisoner on Huff's Creek and was confined at Johnson's Island in Lake Erie during the greater part of the war. After the war he resumed farming, and he was killed by a falling tree on his farm at the age of sixty. Rush F. Scaggs, father of the county superintendent, was born in Montgomery County, Virginia, December 27, 1857, and was a child when the family moved to Nightbert in Logan Connty. He has been a farmer as well as a carpenter, and for four years was justice of the peace in the Tridelphia District. Rush F. Scaggs married Louisa Chambers, who was born on Rum Creek in Logan County, November 20, 1867. Her father, Capt. L. E. Chambers, was commander of what was known as the Logan Wild Oats in the Confederate army. His home was at the mouth of Bum Creek. He twice served as a member of the State Legislature, was chairman of the Democratic County Committee several times, was an official member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and served on the Board of Education. He built the Chambers Church and school. Captain Chambers died in 1916, at the age of eighty-nine. Bush F. Scaggs and wife now live at Man in Logan County. Of their seven children three are teachers, Floyd, Alfred D. and Ina M. E. Floyd Seaggs acquired his early education in the graded schools of Logan County, and without means be- yond his own earnings he had to secure his higher educa- tion through his own efforts and in the intervals of his career as a teacher. While teaching he took extension work in the University of West Virginia, pursued courses in Marshall College and at the Concord Normal at Athens, and took a course in law with the American Correspondence School of Law of Chicago. He began teaching at the age of eighteen on a third grade certificate, at a salary of $30 per month, paying $5 a month for his board. He taught his first school on Bum Creek, and after that he taught every year until he was elected county superin- tendent in 1916. Mr. Scaggs taught the graded schools at Man, Earling, Rich Creek and Accoville. He continued his own studies constantly while teaching. As county superintendent he has largely reorganized and systematized the school work of the county, and all the modern school buildings have been erected under his supervision. In 1913 he married Miss Emma Burgess, daughter of Park Burgess, of Man. They have one son, Luther L. Mr. and Mrs. Scaggs are members of the Nightbert Me- morial Methodist Church of Logan, and he is teacher of the Bible Class in the Sunday school. In Masonry he is affili- ated with the Masonic Lodge, Logan Chapter, R. A. M., Scottish Rite degrees, Beni-Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston, and belongs to the Odd Fellows Lodge at Amherstvale, and the Elks Lodge at Logan.