Volume 2 Number 2

Spring 1985

Letter From the Editor

IL - Chicago Records

Defendant's Index

Chancery Division

Immigrants Three

Clyde M. Senger

- Skinner Ancestry

Ancient Skinner Lines

Letters of Asahel Skinner

- 30 June 1817

Dr. Elisha Skinner

Ruth Skinner Ancestry

Where's Thomas From?

- The Continuing Saga

Queries

Index Page

Thanks to William Weiler for transcription of this article.

In the last issue of the update, I mentioned that the information that was being collected by the Skinner Association in the computer files was split into two major areas. One is the descendants of Thomas of Malden and the other is loose ends. This is where the MAJORITY of information is grouping. We are getting some information on the other two known major Skinner lines in the U.S., descendants of John and Mary (Loomis) Skinner of Hartford and descendants of Richard and Susanna (Poulain) Skinner of Woodbridge. Specifically, there are currently about 1300 names that are descendants of Thomas of Malden, about 100 descendants of John of Braintree, Sussex and Hartford, about 100 of Richard and Susanna of Woodbridge and another 600 that don't connect to any one of the families

What we need to do is get all those bits and pieces that you have been collecting over the years that don't fit into your family, or those that you have seen in your searches and said "They're not from my line," and then sent the ·book back to the shelf. Especially needed are those short biographies that are found in many local histories. These are invaluable and generally not available. Many of them have just that one bit of information to link families together. Along with that, by putting many of these two or three generation histories together one can end up with complete lines. I know from personal experience that this method works. When I was researching my Cornell line I got together whatever I could and then started piecing together. Some from Newberry in Chicago, some from LA, and some from New York and voila, my line was connected!

So what I would be interested in getting copies of is those local biographies, listings, (especially from local courts, church records, etc.), and all those whatnots that you have laying around. The stuff that's generally available in libraries we may already have and we'll deal with that later. What it boils down to is we'd like to get anything that has the Skinner name on, in, or around it. I received an obituary from someone who said he can't figure out how this Elmer Skinner [UN 6548] was related, but apparently from the obit Elmer was a locally prominent man. (see SKU 18(4):97; ref: E85.0117.01) We may not have Skinner presidents or statesmen, but we have fame in our own right, and we need to share this information.

Let's get it out of the woodwork and off the shelves and get it into the Update and the computer.

Lastly, on the other side of the coin, thanks to Sande Skinner of Chicago for sending the application for entry of the Association in the Genealogical Helper's Listing of Associations and Societies. If anyone knows or has heard of another such listing where we can be to help those newcomers into the Skinner lines, send me a copy of the application and I'll get if off ASAP. We not only want to get all of this information into one place, we want to make it available to whoever wants it.