A long, long time ago, I wrote a post about an ancestor I was stuck on researching my genealogy. I even offered 100 steem bounty (that's how long ago it was) for anyone who could provide definitive proof of his ancestors but without any luck.
As I've done what research i can in the years since, I've come to the conclusion (though there still isn't any proof). That his father was someone named Richard Wade who founded the town of Wadesborough in Louisiana.
Though there is nothing resembling proof, circumstantial facts seem to point in this direction. There was a Nancy Skaggs in Kentucky at one point who, along with her husband Richard Wade was named in a lawsuit. This Nancy Skaggs was a cousin of another Skaggs that Richard Wade Skaggs ended up living with in young adulthood. It's not clear while Richard Wade Skaggs would have ended up using his mother's last name. However, I did hear from a relative once that Richard Wade Skaggs did not get along with his father and did not think he treated his mother well. I suspect he left home (probably in Louisiana at the time) and moved in with relatives in Kentucky.
It's interesting to note that at the time that Richard Wade settled Wadesborough, it was in a still disputed territory that had been part of West Florida.
I believe the greatest difficulty in determining who the parents of Richard Wade Skaggs were is the fact that most records at the time of his birth have been destroyed. Apparently there was a courthouse fire in Louisiana where such records were stored at some point. While I am reasonably confident his parents were Richard Wade and Mary Ann Skaggs, I may never know for sure.
You can see the original post with a bunch more info here: https://hive.blog/genealogy/@darth-azrael/genealogymystery-richard-wade-skaggs-100-steem-bounty-1558021050294