Volume 2 Number 3

Summer 1985

Letter From the Editor

Albert C Skinner Obituary

Debrett Ancestry Search

Ethnic Skinners

Gasoline Alley

Dolorose Skinner Legutki Celebration

miscSKINNERlaneous

NY, Sherburne

Christ's Church Cemetery

PA, Mill Run

Skinner Family

Queries

Resurgence

S.A.L.E.

Skinner Allied Lines Exchange

Scot's Skinner Reminisces

Skinner - Davis Scrapbook

Skinner Kinsmen Letter

Skinner Name of

Scottish Origin

Skinner Settlement

John Skinner's Will

Truck Driving Granny

Index Page

Thanks to William Weiler for transcription of this article.

Most Scot names weren't assumed until after the 11th century, and the larger proportion of them came into being since the 13th century.

In Scotland, whoever joined a clan took the surname of its Chief to show loyalty to this leader. Thus, those who bear the same appellation aren't necessarily descended from a common ancestor.

Originally, ALL Scottish surnames had a meaning, but corruptions in spelling were many, and the orthography of them has only been fixed during the last 2 centuries. Thus, the true meaning may have been lost.

The original form of Skinner appears to have been SKENE. Even today it has many variations (SKINER, SKYNER, SKYNE, etc.).

A skene was a dirk or a knife (used in slaying as well as skinning animals). The Scottish Dirk, worn in the clansman's stocking when English law forbade him to carry a sword and later kept in his Scottish regalia, was the 'Skene-dhu' or black dirk.

The story goes that Struan Robertson rode with the King in Stocket Forest in Athole, Scotland. Apparently they were attacked or feared they would be attacked by a wolf, and drawing his dirk, Robertson killed the beast in the King's presence.

For this deed, he received the name of Skene, which signified his dirk, and was given a coat of arms bearing 3 dirks with points in pale.

- This information was published by J. Munsell of New York in "Origin and Signification of Scottish Names," dated: 1862, as well as in other name sources.