Source list

Source reference N9 :

Individuals : WALKER Martha Matilda

Source reference N10 :

Individuals : SKIDMORE Joel
396. JOEL8 SKIDMORE was born 12 July 1819 at Brooklyn, Kings County, Long Island (or
New York City according to his death record), the son of Isaac (no. 199) and Mary (Robertson)
Skidmore. He died 28 January 1908 at Canarsie, Long Island, aged 88 years, 6 months, 16 days,
at his home on East 92nd Street near Avenue L. He married (1) Mary Anna Seaman on 21 July
1837 at the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Brooklyn; he is called of Flatlands Neck and she
was from Hempstead. She was born on 12 August 1819, the daughter of Sylvanus and Ann
(________) Seaman, and died 22 December 1886 at Canarsie with a funeral held on 26 December
at the M. P. Church. She was the mother of all of his children. He married (2) Martha Matilda
460
Morgan, who was born in England in August 1846 and died in April 1914 at Canarsie. Joel
Skidmore and his first wife are buried in the Remsen Avenue Cemetery at Carnarsie where his
tombstore calls him ``a beloved husband.. and an affectionate father.´´
In 1843 Joel Skidmore was the proprietor of an ``eatinghouse´´ on James Street near Market in
Brooklyn. However in 1850 he is enumerated as a fisherman at Canarsie. He was elected
Superintendent of the Poor in Kings County on 17 December 1852.
He is frequently called Chief Joel, and was long regarded by others as the last of the Canarsie
Indians. (He is said to have been a ``Chickpenny´´ Indian in the right of his mother according to
his descendants.) In 1872 he became a court officer or crier in the Kings County Supreme Court,
an office he held until a year before his death. He spent his last days fishing and clamming about
Jamaica Bay. A man of high intelligence, he had read law in his youth and possessed a wealth of
information about the history of Jamaica Bay.
His wife Martha Matilda Skidmore had lived for fifty years at 1382 East 92nd Street, Canarsie,
according to an obituary in the New York Times of 1 May 1914. Her will remembers her
stepdaughter Cornelia Ryder, a sister, and her nephews and nieces.
The will of Joel Skidmore dated 23 October 1905 mentions his daughters Cornelia Ryder,
Amanda Mathews, Selina McAvoy, his widow, and a grandson Joel Frederick Cooper of Chelsea,
Massachusetts.
Children: (First wife)
i. Catherine Ann, born 21 May 1838. She married (1) John Denton (1822-1867) after
1860 and was living, his widow, at Canarsie in 1870. She married (2) Henry W.
Schmeelek (1832-____), a widower, on 1 November 1881 at the Evangelical
Reformed Church at Canarsie. He was a native of Hanover, Germany, and in the
fishing business. She died before her father on 15 December 1888 and is buried in
the Canarsie Cemetery.
ii. Julia Emeline, born 13 October 1839. She married James Thomas Cooper
(1833-1922) on 4 February 1856. They lived at Canarsie where she died 31 July
1873. He married Agnes F. Trumble as his second wife on 7 October 1877.
iii. Margaret, born 1845. She was living at home in 1860.
iv. Sarah Jane, born 15 February 1847. She married Martin W. Schmeelk (1841-____)
in 1870 at Grace Church on East 92nd Street in Canarsie. She died on 9 December
1872 and is buried in the Canarsie Cemetery.
v. Amelia, born 26 January 1849. She married Harvey Delancy Allen (1820-1887), a
widower, on 28 June 1868. She died in 1900 and they are buried in the Canarsie
Cemetery.
vi. Joel T., born 1854. He was living at home in 1860.
vii. Amanda, born May 1859. She married Ira S. Matthews (1857-1904), a bayman, in
1877. They were living in 1900 on Stillwell Lane, Canarsie, near her father.
viii. Cornelia, born March 1862. She married Walter Ryder (1853-____), a fisherman,
on 9 March 1879 at Grace Church, Canarsie. They were living in 1900 on East
92nd Street.
ix. Selina, born September 1864. She married Richard McAvoy (1860-____), a pilot,
on 10 June 1881 at Canarsie. They were living in 1900 on East 92nd Street,
Canarsie.

Source reference N11 :

Individuals : BEYREUTHER Louis Francis
Name: Beyreuther, Louis N
Serial Number: 32818603
Residence: Queens, New York
Enlistment Place: New York City, New York
Enlistment Date: 27 February 1943
Grade Alpha: Pvt
Grade Code: Private
Branch Alpha: Bi
Branch Code: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, Usa
Enlistment Term: Enlistment For The Duration of The War or Other Emergency, Plus Six Months, Subject To The Discretion of The President or Otherwise According To Law
Longevity:
Source: Civil Life
Nativity: New York
Birth Year: 1924
Race and Citizenship: White, Citizen
Education: 4 Years of High School
Civil Occupation: Machinists Apprentices
Marital Status: Single, with Dependents
Army Component: Selectees (Enlisted Men)

Source reference N166 :

Individuals : SKIDMORE John (64)
JOHN3 SKIDMORE was born about 1660 at Huntington, Long Island, the son of Thomas (no.
2) and Grace (________) Scidmore, and died there before 17 February 1737. He married Sarah, a
daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Ketcham) Whitman of the same town.
He is first noted on a rate list taken for Huntington in December of 1683 when as John Scidmore,
Senior, he was taxed on £30 of property most of which had been recently inherited from his father.
His cousin John Scidmore, Junior (son of John Skidmore, deceased, of Jamaica), was then living
in the town and taxed on a valuation of £26. His cousin left soon after for Stratford, Connecticut,
but until this time this John was called Senior in the records. John Scidmore owned land at both
Crabmeadow and on Freshpond Neck before 1686 but no deeds are on record either in the Town
Clerk’s Office or in the Suffolk County deed books conveying this to him. Probably he acquired
them at a division of his father’s lands made in 1683 also not on record.
His wife was a great-great-aunt of Huntington’s most famous resident, the poet Walt Whitman. She
was born at Commack, Long Island, after 1660. After their marriage the young couple lived at
Freshpond Neck on Long Island Sound. Their home there passed to their son Thomas who conveyed
it in 1743 to his brother Joseph Scidmore.
John Scidmore and Richard Gildersleeve were partners on 2 August 1688 when we find that â€œThe
farm Hundreds having Right to Divisions. In ye Eastern purchus of ye towne eastward of Cow
Harbor 3 C. In ye 4th farm one half paid by Richard Gildersleeve ye other half by John Scidmore."
On 10 January 1694 John Scidmore and Richard Gildersleeve (again as partners) bought 150 acres
of land on the Nissequoque River from Edward Ketcham of Oyster Bay for £40, together with an
additional 7 1/2 acres at Sunken Meadow. In the same year (1694) Governor Benjamin Fletcher
granted a new patent to the town of Huntington for £50, a not too subtle form of taxation. An
assessment was placed on each of the townsmen to pay for the patent in accordance with their
holdings and ability to pay, and it would seem from this list that John Scidmore was now one of the
most affluent men in the town.
John Scidmore, now in partnership with his brother-in-law John Whitman, purchased an immense
tract of land on 1 November 1698 from seven Indians of Winnecommack (now Commack), Long
Island. A later survey shows that there were 3625 acres in the parcel. The partners engaged Charles
Congreve of London to negotiate a formal patent for the land from Viscount Cornbury, then
governor of New York. On 5 May 1703 Cornbury issued the patent in the name of Queen Anne and
the partners deeded Congreve one quarter of the tract for his troubles. The partners took in three
others (probably to help bear the cost of the patent) and John Scidmore’s share was reduced to a
sixth of the undivided whole. This he later sold to William Johnson and Josiah Higby.
He purchased still another tract on 6 May 1713 at Bread and Cheese Hollow in Smithtown (on the
Huntington line) from Richard and Jonathan Smith for £215. His son John was living on the tract
in 1725 and it passed to him in a formal division of his father’s lands in 1738.
John Scidmore was still living on 10 November 1736 when he is mentioned in a survey taken of a
tract adjoining his Bread and Cheese property. On 17 February 1736/7 his will was proved at the
Surrogate’s Court in New York City. It was dated 10 January 1728, some nine years before his
death. His will provides generously for his wife Sarah who was to have a slave called Cate (and her
infant son Charles), an annuity of £20 to be had from investing £250 at 8% interest, the use of his
dwelling and the orchard, as well as all of the household furnishings and goods she thought fit to
keep. It is not known if she survived her husband or not.
His eldest son Joseph Scidmore together with ``my well beloved friends and brethren Joseph
Whitman and John Whitman, Senior, of Huntington´´ were appointed executors. His three sons were
to divide his lands, but if they could not agree to a fair division then the executors were to make one.
The widow was not to be disturbed in the house or orchard during her life, but at her death it was
to revert to his three sons. The sons were also to divide 118 sheep which had been leased to Daniel
Bates of Smithtown. His two daughters were to divide the movable estate and to inherit the £250
set aside for their mother´s annuity on her death. Abigail Scidmore Smith had married two more
times before her father´s death in 1737. The given name of her Smith husband is unknown, but she
had a son by him named Zophar Smith. as we know from Zophar Smith´s will. He died at
Huntington in 1759 naming his brother John Bayley as one of his executors.
An inventory of the estate was taken on 24 February 1737, one week after his will was recorded.
When the Surrogate´s office was moved many years ago to its present quarters on Chambers Street
in Manhattan the early inventories were discarded as trash. Fortunately a part of these were
recovered (John Scidmore´s among them) and deposited at the New York Historical Society. His
inventory totaled (without real property) £470. Included are a negro man and woman (£68 for the
couple), 56 cattle, Dutch plows, books, flax, wearing apparel, as well as an itemized list of the contents
of the ``North Room´´ and the ``South Room´´ in his home. Also included were bonds to the
value of £192.
Temperance Scidmore was unmarried at the time of her father´s will. She can probably be identified
safely with the Marcy [Mercy] Scidmore who married William Gurwin [Corwin] on 17 July 1729
according to an informal hearsay register of marriages kept by William Salmon (1684-1759) of
Southold, Long Island.
Children:
12. i. Joseph.
13. ii. John.
14. iii. Thomas.
iv. Abigail. She married (1) ________ Smith, (2) John Bailey on 9 December 1729 who
died six weeks later, and (3) Captain Isaac Platt (1699-1763), a widower, on 15
August 1736.
v. Temperance. She married William Corwin on 17 July 1729.

Source reference N167 :

Individuals : SKIDMORE Joseph (32)
12. JOSEPH SKIDMORE, the son of John (no. 6) and Sarah (Whitman) Skidmore, was born
about 1685 at Huntington, Suffolk County, Long Island, and died there shortly before 16 November
1773. He married (1) Elizabeth Tooker [probably a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Ross) Tooker]
who ``eloped´´ from him and died at New London, New London County, Connecticut, on 6 July
1734, and (2) Hannah ________ by 1738 who was living as late as 26 February 1788 at Huntington,
Long Island.
His earmark was recorded at Huntington on 19 March 1711/2. In 1715 he was in the company of
Captain Thomas Higby at Huntington. He was one of the executors of his father and on 3 January
1737/8 he and his wife Hannah deeded a number of tracts to his brothers Thomas and John to settle
the estate as his father´s will directed. John Tooker and Richard Woodhull, Junior, are the witnesses
to these deeds.
His wife Elizabeth was a member of the First Church at Huntington in 1726. Sometime after this
date she deserted her husband and went to New London, Connecticut. Joshua Hempstead (1678-
1758) of New London gives the gossip about her in his diary on Sunday, 7 July 1734: ``Joseph
[widow] Skidmore died yesterday in childbed with her 3rd Child by Ralph Fergo. She was the wife
of one Skidmore of Naharagansett & had Eloped from him & Ralph Fergo having no wife took her
in.´´ Hempstead´s facts are basically correct, but Elizabeth was not a widow and her Skidmore
husband did not live in Rhode Island. Elizabeth (Tooker) Scidmore was the mother of an older son
Benjamin who was baptized 25 June 1732 at Groton in New London County, Connecticut. The name
of Benjamin Scidmore´s father is left unstated and he is identified only as ``son of Elizabeth
Skidmore´´ in the town records. Ralph Scidmore, probably the child born 6 July 1734, seems to have
been brought up on Long Island, perhaps by the Tooker family. He will be noticed subsequently
with his half-brothers on Long Island, but having no great future there he migrated to Hampshire
County, (West) Virginia, and appears to have died while serving in the Revolutionary Army.
Joseph Tooker, Senior, settled late in life at Elizabeth, Essex County, New Jersey, where he left a
will dated 31 December 1753. He is styled a ``gentleman´´ in his will which was proved on 25
February 1754. It provides for the children (unfortunately not named) of his deceased daughter
Elizabeth but does not mention her married name.
Joseph Scidmore was a large land owner at Huntington and Babylon, Long Island. On 3 May 1740
he and 11 other proprietors signed an agreement to divide Sumpwam´s Neck in Babylon once again;
an earlier division had been lost. On 2 May 1749 he paid a shilling for the privilege of mowing
Huntington´s thatch at Page´s Cove, and on 1 May 1750 he was appointed to receive stray sheep
found on the eastern farms. At some unknown date in this period he probably deeded a portion of
his lands to his son Peter Scidmore although the conveyance is not on record.
Joseph Scidmore subscribed £10 towards the building of St. John´s Episcopal Church at Huntington
in September 1747, and later gave another £2 for the windows of the of the church.
On 17 December 1763 he was ``sick and weak in body´´ when he signed a will which was duly
recorded in the town books. He recovered, however, and the will was never probated. It mentioned
his four daughters and two granddaughters (children of his son Joseph, deceased). To his son Isaac
he left ``my old house and homestead where I formerly lived´´ and to his son Samuel ``the house and
homestead .. lying to the Sound where I now live´´ with other lands, described. His son Peter had
moved by this date to Brookhaven and probably already had his portion for he is not mentioned in
the will.
On 31 December 1771 he was taxed on £1,326 6sh 0d at Huntington, a respectable fortune for the
day and place.
His final will is dated 29 March 1772. The provisions are much the same as his earlier will. His
wife Hannah was to have the house and land where they lived and after her death it was to go to his
son Samuel. Several other tracts and ``the old homestead´´ as well as his negroes Tom and Ned were
to go to his son Isaac. Samuel and Isaac were to divide the land not otherwise devised except for
the Sumpwams tract which had been given to his son Peter Scidmore. His granddaughters Sarah and
Elizabeth were to have £5 each. To his wife he left a bed, clothing, and a third of his movable estate.
His daughters Rebecca, Temperence, Elizabeth and Esther were to divide the rest of the movables,
and his sons Samuel and Isaac were to serve as his executors. He was ``in health´´ when the will was
signed and it was not probated until 16 December 1773.
Hannah Scidmore, his widow, ``laboring under great infirmities´´ left a brief will dated 26 February
1788. She devised her entire estate to her son Isaac who was also named her executor. It was
recorded on 11 October 1791.
Children: (By Elizabeth (Tooker) Scidmore, the first wife of Joseph Scidmore)
i. Elizabeth. She married Joseph Saxton of Islip, Suffolk County, Long Island, on 5
February 1742.
ii. Rebecca. She married Joseph Brush (1691-1756), a widower, on 26 June 1746. He
was a cordwainer at Huntington.
26. iii. Samuel, born about 1722.
iv. Esther, born about 1726. She married Israel Ketcham (1724-1818), a Quaker, on 23
March 1752. She died at Huntington on 6 April 1816 ``aged 90.´´
27. v. Joseph.
28. vi. Peter, born about 1726.
Joseph Skidmore took a second wife, but apparently not until after his first wife Elizabeth (Tooker)
had died at New London, Connecticut on 6 July 1734 in childbirth.
(By Hannah, the second wife of Joseph Scidmore)
29. viii. Isaac, born about 1735.
ix. Hannah. She married Josiah Wickes, Junior (1735-1799), of Commack, Suffolk
County, Long Island, on 16 December 1762. She had died before 10 February 1767
when he married Mary Conklin as his second wife. He was a soldier in the American
Revolution.

Source reference N168 :

Individuals : SKIDMORE John
13. JOHN4 SKIDMORE was born about 1690 at Huntington, Suffolk County, Long Island, the
son of John (no. 6) and Sarah (Whitman) Scidmore. He died at Schenectady, Schenectady County,
New York, soon after 24 June 1758 while serving in the French and Indian War. He married
(probably as his second wife) Susanna Smith who was living his widow at Smithtown, Long Island,
as late as 11 December 1771. His youngest son Zophar Scidmore appears to have been born in 1744,
if his age at death is accepted as correct. This certainly suggests that he and his eldest brother David
(who was born about 1710) are not likely to have had the same mother. John Scidmore is sometimes
said to have married a Platt, but this is probably a confusion arising from the marriage of his sister
Abigal Scidmore to Isaac Platt who is later called a ``brother-in-law.´´ The only clue to the identity
of his first wife is the name David given to his firstborn son. He may have been called, a common
custom at this time and place, after his maternal grandfather.
He settled as early as 1725 at Smithtown, on 200 acres of land at Bread and Cheese Hollow
belonging to his father. His brother-in-law, John Bailey, a carpenter at Huntington, died on 19
43
January 1729/30 and his administration was granted on 17 December 1730 to the widow Abigail
Bailey and her brother John Skidmore, yeoman. On 3 January 1737/8 his brother Joseph Scidmore
deeded the Bread and Cheese Hollow tract to him as well as other land at Crabmeadow and at
Sumpwam´s Neck as his share of his father´s estate.
John Skidmore deeded land to his two elder children probably soon after the death of his first wife.
On 30 October 1740 he sold to Joshua Arthur of Smithtown, who was already his son-in-law, about
20 acres atFreshpond adjoining Thomas Scidmore for £95. The other deed is not on record but the
title can be traced so: John Scidmore purchased two tracts from his brother Thomas on 30 April
1743. The first of these was the former home of their father, and the second was a plot of six acres
(with another tract or tracts adjoining) which their father had purchased from Jonathan Lewis on 15
May 1707. It was located at Crabmeadow on the north side of the road leading to Eaton´s Neck.
The ``old orchard´´ of two acres included in this purchase was bounded on the north by Burying Hill,
and the six acre tract was on Bailey´s Creek. On 19 August 1746 Edward Bailey in a deed setting
forth his boundaries stated that David Scidmore (who was probably his first cousin) was then in
possession of the land. This deed (presumably signed between 1743 and 1746) conveying the tract
to David Scidmore has not been found, but the land continued with his descendants for several
generations.
On 4 April 1758 John Scidmore (perhaps anxious to escape from domestic responsibilities) enlisted
in the company commanded by Captain Alexander Smith to fight in the French and Indian War. This
would seem (considering his age) to have been a rash act, and he ``died at Schenectady while in the
provincial service´´ according to his widow´s petition in 1771.
He had made a will dated 24 June 1758 just after his enlistment. He left all of his movable estate to
his wife Susanna while she remained his widow, and at her death or remarriage it was to go to his
daughters Abigail and Susanna. His sons John and Samuel were left only 10sh each, and it seems
likely they had their share of his estate during his lifetime. His son Zophar Scidmore (who was left
``all of my fast estate´´) was the principal heir. There was no mention of David and Sarah Scidmore
(or their families) who had both died before their father, or of his son Smith Scidmore (the eldest
son of of his second marriage) who had probably already settled in New Jersey. His brother Joseph
Scidmore and Jesse Platt were named executors, and the witnesses were Isaac Platt (his brother-inlaw),
and half-brothers Zophar Smith and Isaac Platt, Junior. The last two were nephews, both sons
of Abigail (Scidmore) Smith-Bailey-Platt.
There is considerable oblique evidence which suggests that John Scidmore had not presided over
a happy household before his death. On 11 December 1771 the widow Susanna and her two sons
John and Zophar Scidmore petitioned the General Assembly of New York to set aside certain deeds
made by John Scidmore before his death ``while unsound in mind and for inadequate compensation.´´
Almost certainly they hoped to set aside the deeds to his two elder children by his first wife. We hear
no more of this matter, and David Scidmore and Joshua Arthur (and their posterity) seem to have
remained in possession of both tracts. It does not appear that the widow was given any relief from
John Scidmore´s gifts to her two stepchildren.
It is worth noting that all of John Scidmore´s posterity (except for his grandsons in Saratoga County)
were Loyalists at the time of the Revolution.
44
Children: (First wife)
30. i. David.
ii. Sarah. She married Joshua Arthur of Smithtown on 14 October 1736. She had died
before 10 January 1749/50 when he married Charity Hobart as his second wife. He
died in 1774.
(Second wife)
iii. Smith. He was undoubtedly named for his maternal grandfather (whose given name
is presently unknown). He moved to New Jersey where he served as a Sergeant in
Captain Robert Drummond´s company of the Third Battalion of New Jersey Loyalist
Volunteers at the time of the American Revolution. He and his younger brother
Samuel Skidmore, who died in the service of the King, are both found at Savannah,
Chatham County, Georgia, on a muster roll set down on 29 November 1779. They
are found in the bimonthly musters in February, April, and June of 1781 in the
Ninety-Six District of South Carolina, and in April and June of 1782 in Major
Drummond´s company at Charleston, South Carolina. Sergeant Smith Skidmore is
noticed in the December 1782 muster, and is last found on 23 February 1783 when
he was present with Major Robert Drummond at Dutch Kiln (in Newtown, Long
Island) waiting for evacuation after the loss of the war. Drummond sailed away with
the British army and died on 31 January 1789 at London, England, but nothing more
has been learned of Smith Skidmore after this date. He did not return to New Jersey
(so far as is known) nor is his name found on the lists of the Loyalists who settled
in Canada. On 6 November 1804 Abijah Hunt was appointed the administrator of a
Smith Skidmore and 37 other men called ``deceased soldiers´´ at Cincinnati, Hamilton
County, Ohio. This corner of southwest Ohio was largely settled by families from
New Jersey. As yet nothing has been found to explain Abijah Hunt´s interest, but the
inference must be that the 38 old soldiers had some collective claim for
compensation from some unknown agency.
31. iv. John.
32. v. Samuel.
vi. Susanna. She married Israel Hawkins (1730-1797), a widower of Brookhaven,
Suffolk County, Long Island, on 28 June 1769. They lived for a time at Derby, New
London County, Connecticut. She died before 3 January 1778 when he married
Phebe Brush (1742-1821) as his third wife. He and his wife Phebe are buried in the
Presbyterian Churchyard at Setauket.
vii. Abigail. She married Joseph Davis of Brookhaven on 7 March 1775.
33. viii. Zophar.

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