The bulk of John Scaff's estate was left to his son, Riley, with his widow, Emmilla, having the use of it for the remainder of her life or her widowhood. John had apparently already deeded some of his land to Riley, and another 243 acres was to go to him on his mother's death or remarriage. From the sale of certain stock and property, Chloe Scaff Hill was to receive $100 and the remainder was to be divided between John's wife and other children. Bequests were provided to the children of John's daughter, Zilpha, and her husband, John Riley Seymore; i.e., Sarah Oliver (wife of Ira Oliver), John Riley Seymore and William Alexander Seymore. There are some younger children (a boy 5-10 and a girl 10-15) living with John and Emmilla in 1840, along with a male and a female aged 20-30. The male is probably their son Riley, who hadn't set up his own household yet; son Ezekial was living nearby with his first wife and their children. Purely conjecturing here, it's possible that the young adult female living with John and Emmilla is a widowed and expectant Zilpha Scaff Seymore, and the two children in the home are hers.
Riley Scaff's marriage notice, which appeared in the 31 August 1843 issue of the South-Carolina Temperance Advocate, notes that Riley Scaff, Esq., was from Sparrow Swamp, Darlington District, South Carolina (shown on a 1779 district map linked below). His bride, Jane E. Newbery, was from Molly Branch in that same county. The nuptials were officiated by her father, the Rev. James Newbery, who was later a witness to John Scaff's will.
Ezekial was the oldest living son of John and Emmilla, so it isn't clear why Riley was the primary beneficiary of John's estate. I've seen nothing on Ezekial Scaff to suggest he was so prosperous in his own right that he didn't need a more generous bequest than he received; more likely, he was passed over in favor of Riley because of some tiff between him and his father.
John Scaff was listed as head of household in Darlington County censuses from 1800 through 1840. In the 1790 census for Cheraws District (Darlington was created from Cheraws in 1798), there is a Martha Scarff, obviously a widow, with two males under the age of 16 and two other females living in the home. The males are probably John and his brother, Isaac. Mickey Scaffe believes that Isaac was the elder brother, but I'd disagree with this based on other information I've seen, including later censuses.
Dr. John Scalf (see Sources below) suggests that the Scaffs, Scarf(f)s, Scalfs and Scaffes all descended from a John Scarfe who died in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, in 1751. This is entirely possible and the slight variations in surnames would appear to be immaterial: in the censuses from 1800 to 1840, John and Isaac are variously recorded as Scaff, Scarf or Scalf. The following is pulled from Dr. Scalf's document and that of the earlier researchers whose work he built on, supplemented by my own research and conjecture:
The aforementioned John Scarfe's will lists wife Mary; children James, John, Edward, Jonathan, Israel, Anne Richardson and Mary Jones; grandsons John (s/o James), James (s/o John) and William (s/o Edward). James's descendants gradually migrated westward into Kentucky and Tennessee, and eventually into the Plains and Pacific states; by the Revolutionary War they were pretty much going by Scalf (see here for more on this and related lines).
Son John's descendants migrated into Tennessee and then Texas, though John himself died in Pasquotank County in 1781. His will names wife, Sarah; sons, James and John ; and daughters, Elizabeth Harris, Susannah Scarfe, and Ann Smith; grandson Joseph Scarff, son of John, is named in a codicil. This may be the same Joseph Scarff who served in the Revolutionary War, starting out with the North Carolina Continental Line but eventually transferring to the continental troops out of South Carolina. Joseph was awarded 200 acres of war bounty land which a plat survey dated 12/23/1784 describes as situated on a branch of Eighteen Mile Creek in Ninety Six District, South Carolina. Joseph reportedly married Lydia Stewart in Norfolk County, Virginia, in 1789, however, so he isn't likely to be the progenitor of the Darlington County Scaffs.
Edward, the third son listed in the 1751 John Scarfe will, seems a more likely candidate. He sold the land he inherited in 1756, and was involved in various court activities (civil actions, juror, etc.) up until 1759, after which his name doesn't appear in Pasquotank County records any more. There is record of a 200-acre plat in Brunswick County, North Carolina, being surveyed in Edward's name in 1766, though he apparently left the area without taking possesion of the tract; the acreage is described as "on the East side of the Waccamaw River below William Morris's." It has been noted that the Morrises and Scaffs were frequently neighbors across the years and geographic locations, and suggested that the William J. Morris who was the son-in-law to my Darlington County John Scaff and one of the executors to his will was most likely descended from this same Morris line.
In 1782, an Edward Scalf bought 130 acres on Lake Swamp in what eventually became Darlington County, and sold it less than a year later; this is the same area where John Scaff bought 443 acres in 1837. Edward Scalf's transactions, fortunately, were part of a listing compiled before a fire destroyed the Darlington court house in 1806. This compilation was preserved in the South Carolina State Archives and appeared in The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research (Spring 1979 issue). There's evidence to suggest that Edward purchased additional acreage in the same area: the state archives have record of an 8/6/1793 plat survey in Lake Swamp for Thomas Hickson, with Scaffs listed among the neighboring landowners (there is also a Solomon Richardson listed and it would be interesting to see whether he is in any way related to the family Edward Scarfe's sister, Anne, married into).
Edward Scalf/Scarf probably died sometime between 1783 and the 1790 census (making Martha a widow). There is an Edward Scarf listed in 1790 Georgetown District, South Carolina, which may be an older son of Edward and Martha. Elmer Scalf did suggest that Edward Scarfe's wife might have been named Martha though he surmised that it was the elder Edward in the 1790 census, the son of John Scarfe who died in 1751; this is a reasonable assumption since he probably was not aware of Edward's Darlington connection.
The 1790 Georgetown Edward Scarf household includes an additional male over 16 and 6 females. Also in Georgetown is a William Scarf whose household includes a male over 16 and a female. In 1800 Williamsburg County, there is a William Scaff household with a male 26-44 and a female 16-25; presumably this is the same family. I could find no Edward Scarf in Williamsburg or elsewhere in SC in 1800, though I did finally find a Ned S. Caff there, in the same general area as William (Marion District, Williamsburg County), with 1 male under 10, 1 male 16-25, and 1 female 16-25; if Ned is a Scaff/Scarf, he must have been the other male 16 and over found in Edward's household in 1790. Where that Edward and his wife or widow are is unknown.
Further frustrating search efforts, there are no Scaffs, Scarf(e)s, Scarffs, Caffs, Scelfs, Skelfs or Sealfs listed in Mary Bondurant Warren's South Carolina Wills 1670-1853 or Later. John Scaff's will is listed as Scoff there and elsewhere, and it's the only Scoff listing in the book.
- Ezekial Scaff, b. Mar 1809; m. Elizabeth Jane Hill, Elizabeth Dunn
- Riley Scaff, b. ca 1815; m. Jane E. Newbery
- Sarah Scaff, b. ca 1821; m. William J. Morris
- Mary Scaff, b. unknown; m. Thomas Hill
- Chloe Scaff, b. unknown; m. Ezekial Hill
- Zilpha Scaff, b. unknown; m. John Riley Seymore
