Richard Alexander SKINNER

Father: Cornelius SKINNER
Mother: Sarah -

Family 1: Adaline VAN_DEVENTER
  1. Isaac SKINNER
  2. John SKINNER
  3. Richard SKINNER
  4. Peter SKINNER
  5. Nelson SKINNER
  6. Catherine SKINNER
  7. Polly SKINNER 
                      _Francis SKINNER _
 _Cornelius SKINNER _|
|                    |__________________
|
|--Richard Alexander SKINNER 
|
|                     __________________
|_Sarah - ___________|
                     |__________________
INDEX

Notes

!.....Holcombe, LG. Descendants of Richard Alexander Skinner of Loudoun County, Virginia. p.6: Richard Alexander Skinner, 3rd son of Cornelius, Sr., b. 1740 NJ; d. 27 June 1811 (Mrs. Rowland reports that he died before 15 August 1810); m. 1764, VA to Adaline Van Deventer; bur. Loudoun Co., VA; migrated from NJ to VA with his father in 1773; soldier in the Revolutionary War. This information obtained from the War Dept.; was a private in the company of Capt Thomas Mathews; in Capt William Cherry's Company: 4th VA Regt commanded successively by Col James Wood and Col John Nevill; in Capt George Wall's company 4th VA Regt. commanded by Col John Nevill, and Capt John Steed's company, 3rd and 4th VA Regt commanded by Col John Nevill. He enlisted 1 Apr 1777 to serve three years and his name appears in company muster and payrolls thereafter to the latter part of 1779, last on muster roll dated at camp near Morristown 9 Dec 1779, without remarks. The date and manner of his separation from service is not shown. On different rolls from Nov 1777 to and including March 1778, he was reported on furlough. On roll call April 1778, he was reported "deserted when returning from furlough." His name next appears on roll for July 1778, dates at White Plains, which shows "deserted but joined 27th instant." On roll Aug 1777, July 1778, Jan 1779, and July 1779, he was reported "sick at Sumer Set 20 May." The records further show that on June 2, 1783, a balance in full of 60 pounds, 19 shillings, and 7 pence was paid him on account of his service. It was the custom in the Revolutionay army that if a service man failed to answer roll call, his record was marked "deserted." In present day parlance, it would be comparable to AWOL. A service man on furlough in the war, and even in the Civil War might allow ample time to return to his outfit; however there being no transportation, the delays and hazzards of walking several hundred miles were probably the cause of these so called desertions. Before continuing with the record of the descendants of Richard Alexander Skinner, I will introduce a map of the home neighborhood. The main highway (50), west to east, runs from Winchester through Middleburg, Aldie, and on to Washingon, D.C. and Alexandria, VA. The north-south highway, (15) from Leesburg south on the east side of Bull Run Mountain to the south state line. The quadrangle east of Aldie intersected by U.S. 50 represents the location of the plantation owned by Peter Skinner, approximately 400 acres. The home buildings which were of stone have been replaced by smaller buildings. This home was on the southwest corner of the intersection of Route 50 and 612 and 631. A short distance from the house may be seen a grown-up patch of weeds and brush in which are the graves of Peter Skinner, his wife, and others. Some stones are fallen which may be the markers of Richard and his wife Adaline Van Deventer. These graves cannot be visited in the summer because of rattlesnake infestation. It is belied that this area is the original purchase of land by Cornelius Skinner, Sr., and later occupied by his son Richard Alexander. It was here that his family was born and grew to maturity. His sixth child, Peter, purchased the land and built it into a very prosperous plantation. The farm was not left by will to any of his children, but instead was ordered sold and the proceeds distrubuted. This property had been in the possession of the Skinner family for 86 years. Moving two miles south, there is shown a triangular tract of land divided as follows: on the west end of this tract are lots 1, 2, and 3, each containing about 86 1/2 acres. These lots are those which Nathaniel Skinner, acting executor of the will of Corneluis Skinner, the elder, deeded in 1837 to Nathan Skinner (lot 1), to Henry Taylor (lot 2), and to Samuel Skinner (lot 3). The shaded part seems to be what Cornelius Skinner, Sr. deeded to Cornelius, Jr. in 1787; if so, Cornelius Skinner of 1837 must have been the Cornelius Skinner, Jr. of 1787. This 66 acre tract was a part of a tract of land purchased from Anthony Buckner. The remainder of the triangle on the east end, double outlines, is that which was deeded by Nathaniel Skinner, executor of the estate of his father, Nathaniel Skinner, to Isaac Skinner of Culpepper Co., in 1835, and was deeded back to Nathaniel Skinner later that year. This tract contained 208 acres. There are two other tracts of land of 251 1/2 acres and 31 1/2 acres in Prince William Co., described in a deed of partition in 1834, which reads in part as follows: "Whereas: Nathaniel Skinner and Cornelius Skinner did in the year 1774 purchase a tract of land jointly, in Prince William and Fauquier Counties, containing upward to one thousand acres, lying on the Bull Run Mountain, and afterwards sold to Alexander Long, all that part of said purchase which lies on the west side of said mountain for their joint benefit, and more recently they sold and conveyed to Lewis Berkley 220 acres on the east side of said mountain, and the south end of said tract for the exclusive benefit of the said Cornelius Skinner. Now the said Nathaniel Skinner, being dead, the said Cornelius Skinner and Nathaniel Skinner, the son and representative of the said Nathaniel Skinner, deceased, have surveyed and divided the residue of the aforesaid tract of land by mutual agreement in order to convey each one to the other, so much thereof as each one is justly entitled to, to enable the said Executor to dispose of the part alloted to him agreeably to the last will and testament of the first aforesaid Nathaniel Skinner, deceased." It is not known if the 251 1/2 acre tract which Nathaniel's executor received adjoining lot 1 of the Corneluis Skinner land is correct. It may be west of that. The 31 1/2 acre tract that Corneluis received was south of the 251 1/2 acre tract.

!.....E89.0304.32a Martin, Anna

Created by Sparrowhawk 1.0 (4/17/1996) on Sun Oct 22 19:50:34 2006