Volume 1 Number 1

Summer 1984

The Skinner Kinsmen Update

Contributions

The Ancient Skinner Lines

Jonathan Skinner, A Soldier of The American Revolution

IL, Lisbon Cemetery Inscriptions

Thomas of Malden Descendants

Gregg Legutki, Skinner Lineage

The Savage Correction from The Boston Evening Transcript, 8 Aug 1904

The Skinner Family, a Sketch

Where’s Thomas From?

Patricia Jean Nurre, Skinner Lineage

Index Page

Thanks to William Weiler for transcription of this article.

My profession has taught me to procure all the available evidence, before arriving at a conclusion, in giving an opinion. In this sketch I shall make no assertion of facts unless I have the evidence to prove them; and suggestions or beliefs will be given as such.

The emigrant patriarch of our family, which, for convenience I have termed the New Jersey-Pennsylvania Branch, was Richard SKINNER, who came over from England with Phillip CARTERETT, first Governor of the Colony of New Jersey; and with the first colony of English settlers in that Province, landing in Hew Jersey in August, 1665. Their first settlement was Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth, N.J.).

On May 1, 1666, Richard SKINNER was married to Susanna POULAIN, who is supposed to have been of French descent, and to have come with other colonists. I have a copy of the record of their marriage.

Soon after their marriage they removed to Woodbridge, N.J. They were evidently the grandparents of the first, or older, Rev. Nathaniel SKINNER, although I have not been able to obtain positive proof of that fact; but the circumstantial evidence is sufficient to establish the fact beyond doubt.

The tombstone of the first Rev. Nathaniel SKINNER in the graveyard of the Jersey Baptist Church in Turkeyfoot tp., Somerset Co., Penna. shows - "born at Woodbridge, N.J. died - 1801, aged 95 years." A part of the inscription is illegible, but that quoted is plain to read. This shows that he was born 1706. He settled on a farm near where he is buried about 1771, as his name appears on the first tax lists of Turkeyfoot tp., made in 1772 for year 1773.

The records of the Jersey Baptist Church where he is buried show that the church was organized in 1775, and he and his son Reuben and Reuben's wife Sarah were charter members. This church is still in existence, and the records are well kept and preserved.

I have no knowledge of who Nathaniel's wife was, and believe that she died before he came to Penna. as no grave of hers has been found, and no wife joins in the only deed he is known to have made in Penna. I have not even the name of all of his children; there was Robert, Reuben, & James that we know of only; and we are concerned, in this sketch, with only Robert and Reuben, the writer being descended from both of them, as will be shown later on.

Reuben SKINNER, son of 1st Rev. Nathaniel SKINNER, is buried in the same graveyard as his father, and his tombstone shows that he died April 21, 1814, aged 78 years. This shows that he was born in 1736. His wife's name was Sarah. We do not know her maiden name. They had 9 children, as follows -

1-Mary, who married Jacob RUSH; 2-Nathaniel, whose first wife was Elizabeth HARNED, and 2nd wife was Hannah KING; 3-Joseph whose wife's name is unknown; James, whose wife is unknown; 5- Anne, or Nancy, who married Thomas KING; 6-Samuel, who married Mary RUSH; 7-Phoebe, who married Samuel Hull; 8-Richard, whose wife is unknown; 9 - Reuben, whose wife is unknown. In this sketch we will not try to trace the descendants of any of Reuben's children except those of Nathaniel.

This Nathaniel, son of Reuben, was born about 1776, and died in Belmont Co., Ohio, in 1824, and is buried in a graveyard near Bealsville, in that County. The records of the Jersey Baptist Church in Somerset Co. Penna. above referred to, show that he was ordained as a minister at that church, Oct. 8, 1797. His first wife was Elizabeth HARNED, and by her had 3 children -- 1 - Amy, married Samuel RUSH; 2 -- Sarah, married John IMEL; 3 -- Samuel B. married Elizabeth HAZELTON. After the death of his first wife, he married Hannah KING, by whom he had the following children:

Phillip, b. Sept 13, 1793, m. Hannah COON
Jacob, b. May 5, 1802. m, Rachel SEALS
Phoebe, b.-- d. unmarried
James, b, July 2, 1804, m. Elizabeth JUMP
Rachel, b, Dec. 18, 1806 m. Henry MOORE
Nancy, b.-- m. George STEWARD
Catherine, b. Jan. 19, 1809 m. Lemuel MOORE
Rhoda, b. Mar. 20, 1811 m. Utty MOORE
Lavinia, b. - 1813 m. Solomon SEAL
Wm. 0., b. Mar. 15, 1816 m, Rachel SEAL (cousin of Jacob’s wife)
Charlotte, b, May 9, 1818 m.David WATSON

In this sketch I shall only follow the descendants of Samuel B. SKINNER only son of 2nd Rev. Nathaniel SKINNER by his first wife, as by that way I follow my own line of descent, which will enable anyone whom this will be sent to trace the line of relationship, as their immediate ancestors are given above.

Samuel B. SKINNER married Elizabeth HAZELTON, Jan 23, 1817, in Penna. and they immediately removed to Perry Co., Ohio. Their moving time was winter, and they traveled in a sled. They settled on a claim, quarter section about 1

I will now refer to Robert SKINNER, the other son of the 1st Rev. Nathaniel SKINNER, with which we are concerned. Robert died in Somerset Co. Penna., Mar. 22, 1822. I have not, so far found his grave, (it is probably unmarked), and do not know his age at death, or his wife’s maiden name. The suit brought in 1823 to divide the land owned by him at his death, shows that he had the following children 1-John, who married Susanna--; 2-Wilets, who married Sarah COLBORN; 3-Frances, who married Burget MINOR; 4-Sarah Olive, who married John SMALL; 5-Mary, who married David RUSH; 6-Elizabeth, who married John COLBORN; 7-Courtland, who married Sarah JONES and who had died before his father, leaving five children--to wit--Jabez, Elinor, Elizabeth, Martha, William H,(the writer’s father).

When my grandfather, Courtland SKINNER, died, (his wife having died before him) his five children, which included my father, who was the youngest, were taken to Ohio, and reared in the family of Thomas and Nancy (or Anne) SKINNER KING.

My father, William H. SKINNER, grandson of Robert, and my mother, Polly SKINNER, great grand daughter of Reuben SKINNER, were married Dec. 5, 1843. My father died May 10, 1844. I was born Nov. 26, 1844, I never saw my father, and knew but little of his family until I had traced it out, a little at a time. I show by this that I am descended from 1st Rev. Nathaniel SKINNER on both sides, I have almost a complete genealogy of the descendants of his sons Robert and Reuben, and expect to complete it and have it printed in the near future, if enough of the family want to pay the expense of printing.

signed---W.H.SKINNER