- Volume 3 Number 1
- Winter 1986
- American Ethnicity
- Ancient Skinner Lines
- Myrtle S. Bohme Lineage
- Clan MacGregor
- Cook Co., IL Census
- Cook Co., IL Wills
- Thelma C. (Browning) Dalberg Lineage
- Dead Briton - KGB
- Debrett Update
- Elephant two-step
- Guild of One Name Studies
- History of Eugene, Oregon (Chapter 1)
- Letter From the Editor
- Medical Quirks
- miscSKlNNERlaneous
- New Jersey Settlers
- New Jersey Update
- Off Broadway
- Passages
- Queries
- Resources
- Skinner-Hope Family Record
- Jane Skinner Obituary
- John Skinner of Hoodbridge
- Josiah Skinner Will
- Robert Skinner Line
- William Skinner Lineage
- Skinner Places
- Skinner Variants
- Skinner's a hit
- Vision Quest
- Worshipful Company of Skinners
- Winter 1986
Thanks to William Weiler for transcription of this article.
REVISITED
by William Thomas Skinner
One must be very careful dealing with the Skinner surname. This surname can be found in almost all countries and in most languages. This comes as a result of its root being based in the tanning trade. Many Skinner families are unrelated by blood. Be especially wary of a Skinner Coat of Arms. Most are fallacious. I am reminded of a common notion bandied about that William the Conqueror's mother was named Charlotte Skinner (of course, it is well known, too, that he was a bastard). I had occasion to meet Mr. John P. B. Brooke-Little, Esquire Norroy and Ulster King of Arms from the College of Arms in London, England, and posed this question to him. His answer is highly enlightening...
". . .It is known that William's mother was Herleve (died circa 1050), daughter of Fulbert, a tanner of Falaise. She is known to history as she was also the mother of William's well-known half
"She was also known as Arlette, or Arlott, and it just occurs to me that by some mad mental process Arlott became Charlotte and a skinner and a tanner being engaged in similar trades, imagination ran riot! Especially as the French for skinner is `fourreur!' If you add that to the fact that there were no surnames as we know them today in early 11th Century times the whole thing becomes totally absurd."