Old Gravestones and Acid Rain

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The gravestones of our ancestors are deteriorating quickly, largely due to acid rain. This is a genealogical tragedy as it makes locating and reading the gravestones of our ancestors continually more difficult. Below you will see two photos I took of the gravestones of Jacob Skillman (born in 1735), his wife Ann (unknown last name) and daughter Tamson. These gravestones are in the Kingston Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Kingston, Somerset County, New Jersey. The earlier photo was taken in 1972 and the later photo in 2007. The difference in legibility between the stones in the two photos in just 35 years is significant. In another 35 years they may be completely illegible.
 

Jacob, Ann & Tamson Skillman gravestones in 1972.jpg

Jacob, Ann & Tamson Skillman gravestones in 2007.jpg

For this reason, I urge all members of the Skillman Family Association who may have photos of their ancestors’ gravestones to join Find A Grave and create perpetual memorials for your ancestors by adding the photos of their gravestones. (For more information on Find A Grave, please see the blog post entitled Find A Grave — An Invaluable Genealogical Resource.) This will preserve their gravestones on the internet for posterity while acid rain does its best to erase their memory.

John E. Skillman III
President
 

Editor’s Note: The color change between the photographic technologies and reproduction over 35 years is obvious, as is the differnce in groundskeeping. However, the odd situation of the height of the headstones remains. Judging from the dingbat characters (—•—), the center stone (Jacob) has not moved an inch, while the headstones of Ann and Tamson have either sunk dramatically or been purposefully reset lower. It is difficult to imagine that the two outer headstones have sunk uniformly a foot or more over the course of only 35 years while the center stone has remained completely stationary, although the techniques employed at time of burial may be the cause. Without verifiable documentation or a proper archeological dig, we may never know the true circumstances.

A Meaningful Book for Skillmans and Their Cousins

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Would you enjoy reading detailed stories about the lives of your Skillman cousins? If so, my book Beyond DNA: Inheriting Spiritual Strength from the Women in Your Family Tree is for you! The book includes stories about your cousin Annie Skillman (later Mrs. Isaac Henry Bosman), her son (Rev. John T. Bosman), her grandson (George LeCato Bosman, Esq.), and her grandson (John Bosman). Annie Skillman was the daughter of F. Robert J. Skillman (1813-1890) of Baltimore (see the Skillman Tree for more on his ancestors).

Beyond DNA by Selena PostMy book, while written to encourage women toward a new twist on genealogy (seeking to learn of the spiritual lives of their female ancestors), includes chapters about ANNIE (with reflections on her Skillman family and ancestors — thanks to Bill Skillman’s help), MAMIE (wife of Rev. Bosman including the story of his life and siblings), MARIE (wife of George LeCato Bosman and includes his story), GRACE (my mother and wife of John Bosman where you’ll meet your cousin John and his child — me).

For more details about my book, go to www.amazon.com where you’ll see the cover, a description, some reviews, and you can use the “search inside” tool to read parts of the book. Mamie, Annie, Marie, and Grace are pictured left to right in the top row of photos on the cover.

If you would like more information, please e-mail me at selenapost@sbcglobal.net, and I’d be happy to e-mail the surname key (giving you last names of all the 15 women whose chapters inhabit my book) as well as a list of names of women as they appear in photos on the cover. Since many of the women were Methodist and related to Methodist ministers, I also developed a page of information illustrating their kinship to Methodist ministers. If you’d like a copy, just ask.

Looking forward to meeting Skillman cousins at the August 2014 reunion!
Blessings! Cousin Selena

Guest Post by
Selena Post (nee: Bosman)
SFA Member

Our First Skillman Family Reunion

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According to William Jones Skillman in “Skillmans of America and Their Kin,” Thomas1 Skillman arrived in America on August 18, 1664. In 2014 the Skillman Family Association will celebrate the 350th anniversary of that important event. What better way to celebrate than by holding a Skillman Family Reunion?
 

New Jersey's Millstone River Valley
This photo was taken above the town of Kingston, NJ, looking southwest towards Princeton. The body of water is Carnegie Lake, with the Delaware and Raritan Canal running along side of it. The road is Route 27, part of the Lincoln Highway now celebrating its 100th anniversary. Of particular interest is the red building with the black Mansard roof at center right. This was formerly Skillman’s Mill. (Thanks to Peter D. Skillman, SFA Member, for this description.)
 

Beginning in the early 1700s, most of the Skillmans left New York and settled in the central part of New Jersey, primarily in Somerset and Mercer Counties. This area boasts many early Skillman gravestones in the old cemeteries, as well as churches that the Skillmans attended, many original to the period. In a two-day period in 2007 while visiting old cemeteries in central New Jersey, I found and photographed more than 100 gravestones of our 18th, 19th, and 20th century Skillman ancestors.

This area of New Jersey, being replete with Skillman history, is a logical place to hold our first family reunion. Contrary to most impressions of New Jersey, the central part of New Jersey where our early ancestors settled is beautiful with rolling hills, rivers, and farms. We will allow time for you to explore some of the Skillman history in the area. We will also have meetings on subjects such as our Skillman history and family tree, getting started in genealogy, and Skillman DNA. And there will be social time, allowing you to meet your distant cousins.

So please mark your calendar for our first Skillman family reunion in August, 2014, and plan a vacation around it. We will post details on the website as they develop, so please stay tuned. We will also need a Reunion Committee, so please let us know if you are willing to serve.

John E. Skillman III
President

Your Chance to Own an Historic Skillman Homestead

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Trevanna Farms, dating to 1727 for its original structure, is now for sale. Originally on a 900 acre farm, it now sits on a more manageable 11.85 acres in Skillman, Montgomery Township, NJ. In the Skillman family for over 150 years, Trevanna Farms belonged to several generations of Skillmans in the line Thomas5, Thomas4 and Isaac3.
 

Trevanna Farms - Historic Skillman Family Homestead
 

This magnificent home and property can be yours for a mere $1,195,000! For more details, please take a look at the listing.

John E. Skillman III
President

A Skillman GI Wartime Romance for Valentine’s Day

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Let us face it, sometimes genealogy can seem a little dull — name, born, married, children. Yawn, it’s nap time. Then finding a new reference can change everything. For example:

9914. John Edward Skillman (Frank William10, John Edward9, David Sylvester8, Jesse Carl/Carr7, Thomas6, Thomas5, Thomas4, Joseph/Joost3, Thomas2, Thomas1) was born on 11 Apr 1924 in New York. He died on 17 Jan 2001 at the age of 76 in Westerville Care Center, Westerville, OH. John Edward Skillman and Jeannette Iris Gardner were married on 27 Apr 1945. (London Records show wedding as 1946) John Edward Skillman and Jeannette Iris Gardner had the following children: etc.

In another record in an excerpt from an e-mail from Mike Skillman in England:

“I found one Jeanette Skillman in London. I found I already had her marriage in 1946 in London but she was on her own. I found her birth — born in Lambeth, London — but no sign of her husband John E. Skillman.

Nice to have this information, but doesn’t tell you much about them as people. Then after some time I found her sailing over to the USA in 1948 and 1954. In 1954 she had daughters Dianne (4) and Suzanne (2) and she was described as a housewife but, strangely their last permanent home was down as ‘foreign countries.’

Then the answer came…”

Just one more record can add life to the story:

SHIP “ALEXANDER” APPROX. SAILING DATE 1 AUGUST 1946
NAME AGE SEX PP NO. NATIONALITY U.K. ADDRESS
55. SKILLMAN, Jeannette I. 21 F 139460 British 106 Grantham Rd, London S.W.9.
Dependent of: 1st Lt. John E. Skillman, ASN. 0-871303, US Army
33 Liberty Street, Bemus Point, New York

This tells us that American GI John E. Skillman, and English Jeannette Iris Gardner had a romance in war-torn London, married and came to live in America.

History brought back to life!

Jay Skillman
Middlesex, NJ

DNA Confirms Identity of King Richard III's Remains

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As you may have seen on the TV news or in your local newspaper, the skeleton of England’s King Richard III has been located after 500 years under a parking lot! The head archealogist at the University of Leicester, Richard Buckley, announced yesterday that “It is the academic conclusion of the University of Leicester that beyond reasonable doubt, the individual exhumed at Greyfriars in September 2012 is indeed Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England.” The young king was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 by a rival army led by Henry VII.

Richard III’s remain were lost in the religious reforms of King Henry VIII and have been missing ever since. An archeology team used period maps and ground penetrating radar to locate the skeleton in a parking lot of the remains of the Greyfriars friary in Leicester. The skeleton was exhumed about five months ago and study has been going on ever since. Additional confirmation that the remains were those of Richard III was provided by DNA testing of two living lineal descendants of his sister.

More information from various news sources can be found by Googling “Richard III Found.”

Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution

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Many of our Skillman ancestors served as soldiers in the Revolutionary War, either in the Continental Army or the various militias. Many who did not serve in military units supported the cause of America’s independence in other ways, such as service in local municipalities or other acts that supported the cause of the Revolution. Many paid local taxes or otherwise made monetary contributions to support the army, and many gave supplies such as horses and wagons, leather, cattle and wheat. My 4th great grandfather, John4 Skillman of Kingston, NJ, was a tanner who gave sides of leather to the Continental Army. His tannery was discovered by the British and burned to the ground, for which my 4th great grandfather is considered a Patriot.

The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) are lineage societies whose members are descended from a Patriot who either fought or supported the cause of America’s independence is some verifiable way. The websites of the SAR and DAR have a list of Patriots who have already been recognized by these organizations as meeting the qualifications of membership. Since our Skillman lineage dates back to Thomas1 Skillman, the first Skillman who arrived in America four generations before the Revolutionary War, it is quite likely that many members of the Skillman Family Association qualify for membership in the SAR or DAR.

I have been a member of the SAR since 2004 and am currently the President of the Tampa Chapter in Florida. I am experienced in the process and paperwork required for membership in both societies and would be glad to help any member of the Association who wishes to join either the SAR or the DAR. (You can find my contact info in the Membership Directory.) Both are very patriotic societies whose purpose is to preserve the values and history of the Revolutionary War and the founding of the United States of America. As with membership in the Skillman Family Association, membership in these societies is another way to honor our early ancestors.

There are many other lineage or heritage societies for members whose early ancestors may have been recognized for specific events. Included among them are the Society of Mayflower Descendants, the Jamestowne Society, Descendants of Washington’s Army at Valley Forge, and the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. All of these organizations have websites which explain their purpose and membership requirements.

John E. Skillman III
President
 

Fritts, Skillman and Brahin dressed in Continental Army uniform
The author between two other Color Guardsmen of the Virginia Society, SAR

If You Could See Your Ancestors

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By Nellie Winslow Simmons Randall

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row,
Would you be proud of them or not?
Or don’t you really know?
Some strange discoveries are made
In climbing family trees.
And some of them, you know,
Do not particularly please.

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row,
There might be some of them perhaps
You shouldn’t care to know.
But here’s another question
Which requires a different view —
If you could meet your ancestors
Would they be proud of you?

Uncle Remus — Horse Thief

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Various versions of this scam have circulated around the internet for years, often reworked with the names of political foes. But for members of the Skillman Family Association who have not seen it, here is the reworked story of an imaginary Uncle Remus Doe.

Let’s say that your great-great uncle, Remus Doe, a fellow lacking in character, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. A cousin has supplied you with the only known photograph of Remus, showing him standing on the gallows. On the back of the picture are the words:

“Remus Doe: Horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison, 1885. Escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton Detectives, convicted and hanged, 1889.”
 

Remus Doe hanged
 

Pretty grim situation, right? But let’s revise things a bit. We simply crop the picture by editing it with image processing software so that all that is seen is a head shot.

Next, we rewrite the text:

“Remus Doe was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and imitate dealings with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1885, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Uncle Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed.”

Now we have given Uncle Remus a distinguished place inside the family tree, not hanging from it! Needless to say, the Association does not recommend this practice to its members!

John E. Skillman III
President

The Second Generation in America

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The following is extracted from “The Skillmans of America and Their Kin” by William Jones Skillman of Philadelphia, PA. This is the beginning of the first of twelve quarterly issues published in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record from January 1906 through October 1908. William Jones Skillman’s genealogy and history of the Skillman family in America covers the first five generations of Skillmans in this country and it is considered the definitive genealogy of our family. The genealogy in its entirety is available in the “Members Only” section of the website under Skillmans of America.

“2. Thomas2 Skillman (Thomas1), b. 1671…Was Commissioner of Highways, Newtown 1714; joint owner with [others] of a plat, 30 x 22 feet for a School House, May 20, 1721. This building was at Middletown (near Dutch Kills)…Subscribed £5 for erection of Dutch Ref. Church of Newtown, 1731. The first board of Kerck Meesters (wardens or trustees) of this church, chosen 1736, were Peter Berrien, Thomas Skillman, and Petrus Schenck. His pew in this church was No. 1, on the northwest side of the middle aisle, and his family home (which had been his father’s, the homestead), was at Dutch or Maspeth Kills. In 1693, Thomas, m. Annetje, dau. of Adriaen Hendricksen Aten (Aaten, Aate, Aeten, Atje) “immigrant, 1651, 36 y’r” (his age then), from Holland (van Doesburg)…The will of Thomas2 Skillman (Records of Kings County and Queens), dated Feb. 13, 1739,…names his wife, Ann, and all their then living children. Two had died young. They had:

  • Peter3, bap. In Brooklyn (Ref. Dutch Church), March 4, 1694… He d. in infancy.
  • Elizabeth3, twin with Peter, Bap. at same dates with same witnesses and church; m. 1717, Hendrick Van de Water, N. Y. City. Infant dau. Ann, bap. (Collegiate Church), Aug. 29, 1718…Both mother and child died.
  • Jan3, b. 1696.
  • Mary3, b. 1698; m. Johannes Bant (Band, Bandt, Bondt, Bond) of N. Y. City.
  • Mercy3, bap. In Brooklyn (Ref. Dutch Church), Feb. 2, 1701…She m. John Fijn (Fine), son probably of Jan Fin and Aaltje Jans, bap. (Collegiate Church) May 18, 1698…
  • Annetje3, b. 1703.
  • Abraham3, b. 1704.
  • Isaac3, b. 1706.
  • Jacob3, b. 1708.
  • Benjamin3, b. 1710.
  • Joseph3, b. 1712.”

The third and subsequent generations become much more extensive and will not be extracted into a blog. Members wishing to learn more should go to Skillmans of America in the “Members Only” section for access to the entire twelve quarterly articles.

John E. Skillman III
President