Mr John Skillings

• Birth Notes
  • Essex, MA, Qtrly Court Recs, Vol. I:93; Foss Family Records, Foss, B.S.; ME/NH Gen Dict, LND, p 636; MHGR, 2:1:45-49 "~Notes on the Skillings Family"~ by William B. Lapham; Skillin Book, Yates, Edgar, p 1; Skillings 8 Generations, Skillings, D, pp 12-13; Skillings Family, Sargent, W.M., Esq; Skillings Memoirs, Skillings, R.F, pp 6-7; Small Genealogy, Underhill, Lora Altine Woodbury, Vol. II:1136; Winchester Notes, Hotchkiss, F.W, pp 82-83; Dilgard Ancestors, Dilgard, K.; Skillings-Lundstedt Families, Lundstedt, A.P.; and Skillings-Wager Families, compiled by Gregg Wager (greggwager@hotmail.com) at http://www.angelfire.com/music2/greggwager/index.html. (hereafter cited as Skillings-Wager Families, Wager, G).

• Death Notes
  • "Tradition has it that John Skillings died before he was forty years old, but this is evidently wrong as deeds prove that he lived to be about 67 years old; therefore it is probable that he moved to Piscataqua with his family at the breaking out of the second Indian war, and that he died there."
    
    Killed by Indians
    

• General Notes
  • He married twice. He married Mary (Skillings) in Falmouth, Cumberland, ME, 1673.(32) (Mary (Skillings) is #4147.) He married Elizabeth Mary Ingersoll in Falmouth, Cumberland, ME, 1675.(33) (Elizabeth Mary Ingersoll is #1248.) Elizabeth was born 19 Mar 1651 in Gloucester, Essex, MA.(34) Elizabeth was the daughter of Lt George Ingersoll and Elizabeth (Ingersoll) (Lunt?). Elizabeth died aft 1694 in Kittery, York, ME.(35) poss 1718 at Kittery, ME; AF (and Alan Lundstedt) says 9 Mar 1649 or 1 Feb 1648 at Salem, Essex, MA; however, I don't think so.... indications are that she prob survived till 1694
    
    Occupation: carpenter; farmer.(36) He resided in Salem, Essex, MA 1665; 1688/9.(37) farm at Stroudwater, west of Long Creek
    
    He resided in Portsmouth, Rockingham, NH 1667-1668. He resided in Salem, Essex, MA 1675-1676.(38) He resided in Falmouth, Cumberland, ME 1680.(39) Abstract from Skillings 8 Generations by Dorothy Skillings, pp 12-13:
    
    John2 Skillin (Thomas1), carpenter and farmer of Falmouth, ME, Salem, MA, and Stroudwater, ME, was prob b c1644 Salem, MA. He was of Falmouth, ME when he signed a petition protesting Sir Ferdinando Gorges' policies in Aug 1665. As early as 1670, he owned a farm on the Stroudwater River (see Willis, p 189). In 1673, he was at Newcastle, NH having his broadcloths made up, apparently a wife with him (Noyes, p 636). Upon this slim evidence, some writers say he was married twice, but it is more likely that Noyes had an incorrect name for his wife. Perhaps by 1673 he m ELizabeth Ingersoll, b 19 Mar 1651 Gloucester, MA d/o George and Elizabeth (?) Ingersoll.
    
    John was involved in court actions in Jul 1674, was among those who had "departed the garrison at Falmouth" on 6 Oct 1675 (King Philip's War), and was admitted as an inhabitant of Salem on 11 Jan 1675/6. He agreed to finish carpentry work on the Salem meetinghouse in Sep 1677 and was paid for the work in Jul 1678. In Mar 1677/8 he was working for the Pickerings in Portsmouth, NH. John returned to Falmouth in 1680 and was granted lands that confirmed his father's title at Back Cove, Falmouth. He was taxed in Scarborough, ME on 28 Nov 1681 and served as York Co, ME grand juror in 1680 and 1687. In Jul 1873 he swapped a house lot granted to him and his brother Joseph in 1680 for seven acres on Center Street near Monument Square in downtown Portland owned by the Rev George Burroughs (this land became the issue of a long, drawn-out legal conflict). His son, Samuel, conveyed this (part of) Center Street tract (abt 1732) in parcels to William Cotton and others.
    
    John served as constable in 1686. HIs principal farm was at Stroudwater where he lived, about a mile nothwest of Long Creek (Willis pp 298-299). On 23 Nov 1685 he purchased 100 acres and one-half the sawmill rights on Long Creek (Cape Elizabeth) from Webber, paying 42 pounds (MHS, Cape Elizabeth papers, 1805). All his lands were resurveyed and regranted under warrant from Gov Andros in 1687/8. He petitioned Andros for a further grant in 1688 and paid Scarborough taxes in 1689 (York Deed 6:144). He is assumed to have died in 1690 since Elizabeth remarried by Mar 1691.
    
    Abstract from The Skillings Family by W.M. Sargent, p 6:
    
    This John, although not doing his share in the propagation of the race, did the family the good service to prove before the Commissioners on Eastern Claims the family claims to their lands, which was the more convenient for him to do from his residence at Boston. He did not appear to value his interests therein very highly, for he sold out to Westbrook as noted in another place.
    
    The examination of these deeds cited establish to a nicety the number of children in two families and their priority, and necessitates, the addition of one, shown to be the eldest, to John's family, as printed at p. 47, Vol. II., Recorder, and either the removal of one from Josiah's family, Id., p. 49; or else proves that if John be properly assigned to that family, he must have died without heirs before 1733.
    
    Deed 13-93: June 9, 1729, George Frink and Rebecca his wife convey to her brother Samuel Skillings, then of Kittery, all rights, etc., in and to the estate of her father John Skillings, formerly of Falmouth deceased - York Reg.
    
    Deed 14-168: Sept. 12, 1726: John Skillin, of Boston, conveys to Thomas Westbrook all his rights, etc., to any lands, etc., within the Town of Falmouth. Itr is noticeable that no wife signs with hiim, nor is there any mention of dower in this deed. Thus far no proportions are given, but in the next deeds they appear. Id.
    
    Deed 15-279: May 1, 1733, Danforth Phipps and Elizabeth his wife convey to Samuel Skillings, then being of Falmouth, all our rights, one-fifteenth (or one-third of one-fifth) of our rights which we claim under our grandfather John Skillings of Falmouth, or our father Josiah Skillings of Kittery. Id.
    
    Deed 16-5, 16-6: April 30, 1733, Edward Skillings of Scarborough, conveys to Samuel Skillings all my right, two thirds of one-fifth of land and mill at Long Creek, by virtue of my grandfather John, or my father Josiah. His wife Sarah signs releasing her right of dower. Id.
    
    Deed 21-79: April 30, 1733, Roger Dearing and Elizabeth his wife, late the wife of Josiah Skillings of Kittery, deceased, all right or claim by virtue of my wife's marriage with said Josiah; i.e., her dower. By these conveyances, Samuel, owning in his own right by inheritance, 1-5, acquires from his sister Rebecca Frink, her 1-5, from his nephew Edward Skillings 2-3 of 1-5 and from his niece Elizabeth Phipps 1-3 of 1-5 (both of his brother Josiah's) 1-5, totaling 3-5, and shows the fraction remaining to have been in some other child, and that a son of the first John, who must have been older than Samuel, because had he been youner, or had it been a daughter, Samuel would have inherited two fifths. All uncertainty is dissipated by the following deed. Id.
    
    Deed 15-91; 1732-3: Thomas Westbrook owning two-fifths, and Samuel Skillings owning three-fifths, join in one deed and convey to William Cotton one acre upon the Neck, "according to their purchase of said land." It was a parat of the tract obtained by the first John in his exchange with Rev. Mr. Burroughs, already mentioned ante. Id.
    
    These deductions are futher clinched by the recital in a deed 15-109 from Westbrook to Samuel Skillings wherein he expressly declares that certain land is "what I bought of his brother John Skillings."
    
    To recapitulate: the recitals in these deeds prove to a legal certainty that John had four heirs, of whom John was the eldest. They also prove with equal conclusiveness that Josiah left but two heirs surviving in 1733.
    
    Besides the transactions of the first John Skillings as correctly summarized on p. 47, Recorder, and further amplified by these notes, his desertion from the garrison at Falmouth in 1675 (see p. 60, Recorder), is explained by his flight to Salem for refuge. He was probably a victim in the next war to an Indian ambuscade at Long Creek, where some of the flower of this family are said to have fallen, by one of the partriarchs of the name. This comports with the further family tradition that he was cut off in his comparatively early manhood. His widow with their children fled to Kittery, where deeds were interchanged by them. She returned and was afterward dwelling in the old homestead. See ante.
    
    Abstract from Memoirs of Robert F. Skillings, pp 6-7:
    
    John Skillins (2nd son of Thomas) resided in Falmouth and was a prominent man in the early history of the town. During the first Indian war (1675), he continued in Salem, but at its close returned to Falmouth. Willis says, "was an active and useful man, many years, ... a carpenter by occupation." His principle farm was at Stroudwater about a mile northwest of Long Creek. It is probable that at the breaking out of the second Indian war he moved his family to Piscataqua and died there. On this subject, Willis says, "We have it from tradition that John Skillings died before he was 40 years old and that his widow and four children moved to Piscataqua. This was about the time of the second Indian war, of which he may have been a victim. He was living in 1648." And, William Sargent says, "He was probably a victim of the next (second Indian) war to an Indian ambuscade at Long Creek, where some of the flower of this family are said to have fallen, by some of the patriarchs of the name." This comports with the further family tradition that he was cut off in his caparatively early manhood. His widow with their children fled to Kittery, where deeds were interchanged by them.
    
    Abstract from ME/NH Gen Dict by LND, p 636:
    
    1 John(2), carpenter, Falmouth, signed a pet. in Aug 1665. In 1673 at Newcastle having his broadcloth made up (see Russell), appar. a w. Mary with him. From Falm., he was adm. inhab. of Salem 11 Jan 1675/6, made agreem. in Sept. 1677 to finish Salem mett.-ho., and was paid for work in July 1678. Working for the Pickerings in Portsmouth in Mar 1677-8. Falm. 1680; taxed Scarb. 1681; gr.j. 1681, 1687; constable 1686; liv. 1688; prob. an Ind. victim in Falm in 1690. Lists 222c, 223a, 27, 30, 235a, 238a, 34. His s. John claimed marsh up Capisic River, land leased to Collins(2) in 1686, 5 a. and 1/2 of a mill on Long Creek, and ho. and 7 a. exchanged with Rev. George Burroughs. Wid. Elizabeth (Ingersoll 2) m 2d Elihu Gunnison(1). Ch: John, Portsm., (taxed 1722), Boston 1726, when he sold his double share, 2/5, to Thomas Westbrook. List 339. Wife Elizabeth adm to No. Ch 1713, liv. 1726. Kn. ch., bp. in Portsm. mar in Boston: Elizabeth m Nicholas Lash (Robert 1), d 14 Aug 1750 in 44th year. Simon bp 1711. Simeon, bp 1716 m Ruth Phillips. Mary bp 1718, m Thomas Adams, Sarah, bp 1721 m Jonathan Crosby. Prob. John m in 1739 Elizabeth Farmer; Peter, m. in 1744 Mary Sargent. Poss. Joseph of Richmond, m Eleanor Youngman in Roxbury 1731. Note also Hannah, w of Ephraim Sherburne(7).