Re: william skidmore of morgan cty,AL
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In reply to:
william skidmore of morgan cty,AL
Lynda Babic 4/06/02
Below is an extract from the book "The Skidmore family of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, and of Rickmansworth Plantation in Kent County, Delaware, with an account of their descendants in North Carolina, Tennessee, and the west, by Warren and WmF. Skidmore, (2nd edition[with title change], 1997), 234 p.
This family is traced back to England and the 1500s in this book. See our web page at www.skidmoregenealogy.com
These data do not conform to yours. The WV Skidmore family and this family are from different lines and do not connect up in the US.
Wm Frank Skidmore
267 Golf Course Lane,
Winchester, TN 37398
Tel 931-967-2589
www.skidmoregenealogy.com
[email protected]
The extract:
CAPTAIN WILLIAM7 SKIDMORE was born about 1799 in Madison County, Kentucky, the son of Thomas (no. 15) and Charity (Chapman) Skidmore. He married Jane C. Stewart (or Stuart), a daughter of David and Ann (Allison) Stewart on 18 November 1824 in Morgan County, Alabama, and had died there before 5 February 1849. His wife Jane was born 5 April 1803 in Roane County, Tennessee, and died aged 71 on 21 September 1874. She is buried at Somerville in Morgan County near her parents.
William Skidmore spent his youth in Bedford County, Tennessee. He was in Morgan (then Cotaco) County, Alabama, in 1818. He was a juror in 1820 in Morgan County, and commissioned a Captain of Rifleman in the county militia (Second Division, Third Brigade, Sixth Regiment) on 25 August 1821. On 29 July 1822 a poor boy (John S. Chappell) was bound to him, and he became a Justice of the Peace in 1823 (and thereafter) in the new Morgan County.
He and his wife settled on a farm on Cotaco Creek, southeast of Applegrove in the eastern part of Morgan County. A large limestone cave is on this tract, out of which flows a stream of fresh water. Known locally as the “Skidmore Cave Spring” it was used recently to film a Hollywood production of “Tom Sawyer” on location. With time and industry the property was developed into a large plantation with crops of corn and cotton that supported the family as well as over 100 slaves. He was enumerated there in the 1830 census, and was one of the two marshals who took the 1840 census of Morgan County. He made an even more profitable living running a cotton gin at Somerville, and had a large plantation in Brown's Valley near Hartselle.
William Skidmore was an unsuccessful candidate for the Alabama state legislature from Morgan County on 26 June 1834, and served on the Democratic Committee for the county on 5 July 1840.
He left a brief will dated 15 August 1848 appointing his wife Jane C. Skidmore and John Ryan to manage his business and to keep his property for the benefit of his family. His death (before 5 February 1849 when his will was proved) is said to have been the result of a kick from a mule. He was probably buried in a now unmarked cemetery on his home place (or perhaps at what became Skidmore’s Chapel?), but the grave is now lost.
His widow took over management of the estate. Times were particularly hard during the Civil War when most of her slaves fled and all of her five sons were away with the Confederate Army. On one occasion her home was in the path of the army of General Logan which was encamped on her land. A little woman, she was said by Mary (Emerson) Skidmore to have put on her bonnet and went straight to headquarters to get protection from the ransacking soldiery who threatened her house. Her request was granted and her women folk were not harmed. In 1874 she filed a claim (which was not allowed) for $1,011 for horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, corn and provisions which were taken by Federal troops during the war. She lived on until 21 September 1894 when she was buried in the old cemetery at Sommerville next to her parents.
Children:
i. Anne E., born 18 March 1827. She married James L. Lassitter.
ii. Adella H., born 28 March 1830. She married Washington W. Griffin (1812-1881) on 29 September 1850. The ceremony was performed by M. Putnam, a church elder in Morgan County, Alabama; they were living in 1875 in Marshall County, Alabama.
iii. William Thomas, born 28 February 1832. He was living in Marshall County, Mississippi, and called a manager in the 1860 census. He served as a Second Lieutenant in Company D, Fourth (Russell's) Alabama Cavalry in the Civil War. His younger brothers John P., Richard M., and Nathaniel G., all served as privates in the same company. William T. Skidmore was captured near Shelbyville and confined in the prison for Confederate officers on Johnson's Island in Lake Erie off the coast of Ottawa County, Ohio. He died there of small-pox on 27 November 1863 and is buried in the cemetery which is still nicely maintained by the Federal Government. Sam Morrow was appointed administrator of his estate in Morgan County, Alabama, on 30 August 1867.
81. iv. Robert Allison, born 31 May 1835.
82. v. John Paul, born 1 March 1839.
83. vi. Richard Montgomery(twin), born 27 November 1842.
84. vii. Nathaniel Greene (twin), born 27 November 1842.
viii. Margaret J., born 13 December 1845. She died unmarried on 12 February 1897 and is buried in the cemetery at Skidmore's Chapel.
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Re: william skidmore of morgan cty,AL