Ezekial married the first time probably between 1830 and 1835. In the 1830 census, he was still living at home and single. But by the 1840 census, he had three daughters, including one reportedly aged 10-15. As the two other daughters were under the age of 5, it's likely the oldest daughter was actually 5-10 and simply tallied in the wrong column by the census taker.
The name of Ezekial's first wife comes from the Legislative Blue Book bio of their son John Early Scaff, who served Hamilton County in the 1915 Florida House of Representatives. Elizabeth Hill's middle name is generally given as Jane, though I've seen no records at all for her so I don't know how accurate that is. I don't yet know who her parents were but there are a number of good candidates in Darlington County, including the Hill families that two of Ezekial's sisters married into.
Elizabeth died in about 1850.
Ezekial wasn't enumerated in the 1850 census - he might have been in transit between South Carolina and Georgia, or maybe he was simply missed. He showed up next in 1860, tenant farming in Taylor County, Georgia. He was remarried and his household included the younger children from his first marriage as well as the children from his second. The three daughters who were shown in the 1840 census weren't with him, but they would have been old enough by then to be married and on their own. There was a C. Scaff [probably Chloe], age 20, living in Darlington with Ezekial's sister and brother-in-law, Chloe and Ezekial Hill, and I would guess this is one of the three daughters from 1840.
Ezekial must have moved to Wilcox County, Georgia, pretty soon after the 1860 census, as he enlisted there in early 1862. Family lore said he was captured at Seven Pines, Virginia, at the beginning of 1863 and paroled early in December 1863 but his compiled service record doesn't really match up with that timeline. Ezekial survived the war, and died in Jan 1872, according to his widow's pension application.
In 1880 the 55-year-old Elizabeth (as "Scoff") was living as a servant in the home of the William Stone family in Wilcox County. She applied for a widows pension on Ezekial in Feb 1901. Affidavits of support were provided by W.M. Gibbs, who fought with Ezekial in Company E, 49th Georgia Infantry, and her (step) son-in-law, W.H.(Horton) Keene. She renewed her application annually through 1905 and died on her 79th birthday (Feb. 26th) that year.
Elizabeth Dunn:
John Early Scaff's legislative bio states that his stepmother Elizabeth Dunn was from Houston County. According to her widows pension application, Elizabeth lived all her life in Georgia; census records suggest she was born in South Carolina but her family moved to Georgia when she was a child. She might actually have been born in Darlington County as that's where her family was living in 1820 and 1830. Elizabeth's youngest brother Elijah was born in Georgia in 1832, so the family probably relocated during that two-year span.
Elizabeth's father Joseph Dunn was born about 1797 in North Carolina. Her mother Mary was born about 1794 in South Carolina. They married between 1810 and 1820, possibly in Darlington, and lived in Darlington through the 1830 census. They were in Houston County, Georgia, in 1840 (surname indexed as Dums), 1850 (indexed as Pann) and 1860.
I haven't yet found a marriage record for Ezekial and Elizabeth in Houston or elsewhere. A Ruthy Dunn married George James Wright in Houston on 12 Dec 1841 and this was possibly Elizabeth's sister - according to the 1850 census she was born in 1822 in South Carolina. Two other Dunns living in 1850 Houston may be more distantly related to Elizabeth - Isaac, 29; and Rebecca (Dunn) Hatcher - both of these Dunns married in Crawford County and were probably the children of the William and Elizabeth Dunn who were residents there (William was born about 1810 in South Carolina).
Elizabeth's brothers Elijah and Zachariah Dunn were on the Wilcox County 433rd GMD muster roll of Sept 1861 (the surname "Scaff" was also listed without a given name). They both enlisted in the same unit (Co E, 49th Georgia Infantry) in the same place (Abbeville) and on the same day (March 4, 1862) as Ezekial. Elijah was a 24-year-old school teacher, according to the 1860 census. His compiled service record is indexed under "Eliph J. H. Dunn", obviously due to transcription error as many of his cards show the name as Elijah. Zachariah was a farmer, aged 30, in 1860. He died of pneumonia at General Hosptial No. 2 in Lynchburg, Virginia on Dec 17, 1862 (one card says Jul 17, 1862).
- Unknown daughter, b. 1830-1835
- Unknown daughter, b. 1835-40
- Chloe Scaff , b. ca 1840
- Sarah A.E. Scaff, b. abt 1842; m. [possibly Moses] Simmons
- Emily Elizabeth Scaff, b. 31 Dec 1845; m. William Horton Keene
- John Early Scaff, b. 18 Dec 1848; m. Elizabeth J. Fitzgerald (daughter of Miles Fitzgerald, son of John Fitzgerald and Rebecca Adams)
Elizabeth Hill Scaff died around 1850.
Children with Elizabeth Dunn:
- Margrett Scaff, b. about 1855; m. John Gibbs
- Laura J. Scaff, b. about 1858; m. Norman McDuffie
- Martha E. Scaff, b. about 1859; m. John D. McDuffie
- Mary Scaff, b. about 1862
- James Scaff, b. about 1864
Ezekial was about 17 years older than his second wife.
According to family lore, Margrett's mother died giving birth to her and her father quickly remarried to provide a mother for his children. This was obviously what her son, Jack Gibbs, believed: as the informant for her death certificate, he gave her date of birth as 18 Aug 1853 and "Miss Hill" as her mother's name. However, this information is contradicted by more contemporaneous accounts. Margrett's older (half-)brother, John Early Scaff, said that his mother, neé Elizabeth Hill, died when he was two (about 1850). Elizabeth Dunn Scaff said in her widows pension application that she and Ezekial married in Aug 1853, which may be where that date came from. Census records for 1860 and 1870 consistently show a birth year of 1855 for Margrett and a relatively large gap between her and the next oldest child, John Early. I have no idea why Jack Gibbs believed his maternal grandmother was Ezekial's first wife, but it's almost inarguable that Margrett was the daughter of Ezekial's second wife, Elizabeth Dunn.
