Source list

Source reference N169 :

Individuals : SKIDMORE Thomas
14. THOMAS4 SKIDMORE was born about 1690 at Huntington, Suffolk County, Long Island,
the son of John (no. 6) and Sarah (Whitman) Skidmore. He died presumably at the same place after
30 April 1743. A family record made by Richard Smith IV (1735-1812) says that Thomas Scidmore
married Lorinda, a daughter of Daniel and Ruth (Tooker) Smith of the ``Bull´´ Smiths of Smithtown,
Long Island. The same record mentions their children Daniel, John and Mary Scidmore.
45
On 30 January 1737/8 his brother Joseph conveyed five tracts to him as his share of his father´s land.
Among them was the property at ``Freshpond Neck where the dwelling of our father John Scidmore
now stands,´´ land at Cow Harbor (now Northport, Long Island) ``where the said Thomas formerly
lived,´´ a parcel of six acres with another tract adjoining ``purchased by our father of Jonathan
Lewis,´´ land at Sumpwams Neck or Island, and a final tract in Smithtown which John Scidmore had
bought from Richard Smith.
On 30 April 1743 Thomas Scidmore sold two of these parcels (the Freshpond Neck land and the
Lewis tract) to his brother John for £200. His father´s former home at Freshpond Neck consisted of
a house and barn and 150 acres of land bounded ``on the north by the Sound´´ and it adjoined Thomas
Gildersleeve, the land of Joshua Arthur (purchased from Philip Udall) and John Brotherton. The six
acres formerly owned by Jonathan Lewis was on Bailey´s Creek, but the adjoining tract seems never
to have been surveyed. This deed was witnessed by Benejah Edwards and Zephaniah Platt, but it
was not recorded until almost 30 years later. On 23 January 1722 Zephaniah Platt (1704-1778)
appeared before William Smith and testified to the signature of Thomas Scidmore and the deed was
recorded at Huntington on 8 June 1772. The date of the deed (30 April 1743) is the last mention
found to him at Huntington. There was no probate on his estate.
Seven Scidmore children were baptized at one time on 5 June 1734 at the First Church, Huntington,
by the Reverend Ebenezer Prime. Daniel, John, Thomas and Peter Scidmore are listed with the
males, and Mary, Deborah, and Temperence Scidmore with the females. Two of these, Peter (then
aged about 8) and Temperence, are doubtless the two youngest children of Joseph Scidmore by his
first wife Elizabeth Tooker. The other five are presumably all children of Thomas Scidmore. It
should be noted that Lorinda (Smith) Scidmore had a sister Deborah which suggets that the young
Deborah Skidmore was her namesake.
Children: (All baptized 5 June 1734 at Huntington, Long Island)
34. i. Thomas, born about 1714.
ii. Deborah. She probably died young.
35. ii. Daniel.
36. iv. John.
v. Mary. She married Obediah Smith on 13 October 1751. (Nothing more has been
learned of this couple on Long Island and it may be that he was the man of this name
who was taxed at Newark. Essex County, New Jersey, from 1779 to 1796.)

Source reference N171 :

Individuals : SKIDMORE Isaac (16)
26. ISAAC5 SKIDMORE, the youngest son of Joseph (no. 12) and Hannah (________) Scidmore,
was born about 1735 at Huntington, Suffolk County, Long Island, and died there before 21
November 1816. He married Hannah ________; she was the sister of Zerviah Arthur who had died
the widow of Reuben Arthur before 3 August 1790. Zerviah was probably still earlier the relict of
Samuel Dunn, since we learn from the register kept by Reverand Joshua Hartt at Smithtown that he
had married Soviah Dunn and Reuben Arthur on 3 February 1782.
The earmark of Isaac Scidmore was recorded on 28 November 1764 at Huntington.
He signed the Association Oath to support the Continental Congress in May 1775. Huntington was
occupied bu the British immediately after the disastrous battle of Long Island on 27 August 1776.
They first requested, then demanded, and finally took everything that they needed from the
inhabitants. On 4 October 1776 he was ordered by Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Birch of the British
army to deliver his ship to the dock at Huntington by the morning tide. On the 17th it was loaded
with a cargo of oil and molasses and sent to New York City for use of British troops there. The ship
was never returned.
In 1782 he filed a claim showing that he had lost £1,500 in damages during the British occupation
of Long Island, including the ship and its cargo, timber, livestock, clothing, ``money stolen,´´
buildings and provisions. Part of his claims were supported by receipts given by British officers
which were sent to New York and laid before a Board of Commissioners instituted in April 1783
by Sir Guy Carleton. Nothing came of this, and the British left without settling any of these claims.
At the end of the war there was no tree over six inches in size, no orchards, and no fence posts left
on Long Island. Churches and town meeting houses were razed for their timber used to keep the
British army warm in New York City.
On 25 March 1791 Isaac Scidmore of Huntington, yeoman, Hannah, his wife, and John Ruland of
the same place, yeoman, gave a bond in the sum of £24 for Hannah Scidmore to serve as
administratrix of the estate of her sister Zerviah Arthur, deceased. Hannah Scidmore had earlier
signed an inventory of the estate taken on 3 August 1790 by Elijah Akerly and Jacob Hawkins.
Mary Scidmore (presumably the wife of Peter Scidmore) and Thomas Treadwell are the witnesses
to the bond. A Samuel Dunn, probably the previous husband of Zerviah Arthur, had signed the
Association Oath at Brookhaven on 8 June 1775. The parentage of Zerviah Arthur and Hannah
Scidmore is presently unknown.
The younger children of Isaac Scidmore are listed as pupils of Reverend Hartt at Smithtown when
he opened a school there on 14 January 1793.
The will of Isaac Scidmore is dated 24 July 1804 but he was head of a family in 1810 and his will
was not probated until 21 November 1816. It mentions his wife Hannah, and his children Timothy,
John, Nathaniel, Hannah Scudder, Mary Bryan, and Deborah Oakes. Also remembered were five
grandchildren by his son Joseph Scidmore, deceased. The executors were John B. Scudder,
Nathaniel Scidmore, and Henry Scudder, Junior. The witnesses were Thomas Bunce, and Phebe and
Henry Scudder.
Children:
77. i. Joseph, born about 1754.
78. ii. Isaac, born 1756.
iii. Hannah, born about 1758. She married John Budd Scudder on 14 March 1787. She
died at Vernon Valley, Long Island, on 11 May 1838, aged 79.
79. iv. Timothy, born about 1760.
80. v. Nathaniel, born about 1766.
vi. Mary, born about 1773. She married Orzel Bryan on 5 January 1796.
vii. Deborah, born about 1776. She married Jesse Oakes on 16 November 1799.
81. viii. John, born about 1780.
Autographed document addressed to Isaac Scidmore and signed by (Ezra) L'Hommedieu (1734 - 1811), a delegate to New York in the Continental Congress from 1779-83 and 1788.
Dated March 29, 1757.
Dimensions: 1 page; 18.5 x 19.5 cm.
Acquired from Alexander Autographs in November 2008.
Processed by Kristen J. Nyitray, Head of Special Collections and University Archives in February 2009.
Historical Context
In this early legal document, Isaac Scidmore has been ordered to appear in the Suffolk County Hall, on October 2, 1757 and to bring with him his grandfather John Scidmore's will and the deeds to a property in order to settle a dispute. A fine of 100 pounds will be levied against him if he fails to appear. The term "per curiam" is written near the end of the document. A per curiam decision is a delivered via an opinion issued in the name of the Court rather than specific justices.
Ezra L'Hommedieu (1734-1811) was born in Southold, Long Island, New York. Born into a Long Island family of Dutch and French Huguenot ancestry, he practiced law in New York City after his graduation from Yale in 1754. L'Hommedieu was a noted patriot of the Revolutionary War era and represented New York in the Continental Congress during the years 1779-87 and 1788. He also served in the State Assembly as a senator and other local offices, and was an author of the New York State Constitution. He helped to design the lighthouse at Montauk Point, a project on which he advised George Washington and also developed methods of scientific farming, including the use of ground seashells to fertilize soils.
Ezra L'Hommedieu served as clerk of Suffolk County from January 1784 to March 1810 and from March 1811 until his death. He is buried in the Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Southold near the grave of his first wife, the former Charity Floyd, whose brother was General William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Transcription
"By virtue of a supena to you directed and here
with shown unto you, all businesses and expenses
whatsoever laid aside you are personally to be and
appear at the County Hall in and for the County
of Suffolk on Tuesday the second day of October
? and bring along with you your Grand
father John Scidmores original will and
also three deeds one from Cornelius Conklin
to John Scidmore another from William
Jarvis, John Mott and John Titus. The other
from John Whitman to said John Scidmore
And this you will not omitt (sic) or paid of one
hundred pounds."
To Isaac Scidmore
Dated 29 March 1757
Per curiam
L'Hommedieu
Clerk

Source reference N172 :

Individuals : SKIDMORE Timothy (8)
79. TIMOTHY6 SCIDMORE was born about 1760 at Northport, Suffolk County, Long Island,
the son of Isaac (no. 29) and Hannah (________) Scidmore. He died at Brooklyn, Kings County,
Long Island, on 8 December 1855 aged 95 years, 5 months according to a newspaper obituary. (His
age at death may be somewhat overstated; in 1850 he was living with his son Isaac at Flatlands,
Kings County, aged 84.) He married Margaret (Peggy), the daughter of John and Sarah (Oakes)
Soper; she was born about 1773 and was the sister of the wife of his brother Nathaniel Scidmore.
They were married 4 August 1793 at Northport; she was dead in 1850.
The earmark of Timothy Skidmore is found recorded in a small leather book set down in 1790 for
the residents of Brookhaven Township. It survives at the Suffolk County Historical Society.
Timothy Skidmore was living at Huntington on 2 April 1811 when he was appointed an Overseer
of Highways.
The will of John Soper of Huntington dated 3 September 1812 remembers (with others) his two
daughters Esther Scidmore and Peggy Scidmore, and a granddaughter Sally Skidmore.
Timothy Scidmore deeded land in Huntington to three of his sons in the 1820s. He was living at
Brooklyn on 23 May 1826 when he conveyed a tract to Howell Scidmore of Huntington. On 11
November 1830 Timothy Scidmore ``of Huntington´´ deeded two tracts at Freshpond to John Scidmore
for $150.00. In 1840 Timothy Scidmore was the head of a household at Flatlands, Kings
County, New York. His wife Peggy seems to have been dead by this date. He is living (presumably)
with his son Timothy, Junior. One of the two males in the household was engaged in manufacturing,
and the other was in the navigation of canals, etc.
Children:
i. Sarah Scudder, baptized 4 February 1794 at St. George´s, Hempstead, as a daughter
of Margaret Scidmore. She married (1) Albert P. Smith (1796-1830) of Smithtown
on 2 February 1819, and (2) Captain Hezekiah S. Sanford (1779-1857) of Northport.
She died there 29 June 1876 and was buried in the East Northport Cemetery.
ii. Edna, born 27 June 1795. She married John Akerly (1791-1871) on 15 February
1814. They were living in New York City in 1824 and 1832. She died 5 November
1861 aged 76, at Huntington.
199. iii. Isaac, born about 1796.
200. iv. John, born 16 March 1798 at Dix Hills.
201. v. David Howell, born 30 January 1801.
202. vi. Timothy, born 1805.
vii. Emeline, born 1809. She married James S. Griffith (1810-____), a stonemason, on
10 July 1833 at Brooklyn. They were living in 1835 at 28 Nassau Street, Brooklyn,
and in 1848 he was living on Hudson Street (near Lafayette). In the 1850 census he
is enumerated, aged 40, a mason, in the 11th Ward of Brooklyn, with Elizabeth
Griffith, aged 41, living a few doors from her niece Mary Skidmore, wife of Robert
W. Drake. [Her daughter Sarah Jane Griffith, born 10 August 1840, married her
cousin William Henry Skidmore (no. 376).]

Source reference N174 :

Individuals : SKIDMORE Isaac Samuel (4)
199. ISAAC7 SKIDMORE was born about 1796 at Northport, Suffolk County, Long Island, the
son of Timothy (no. 79) and Margaret (Soper) Skidmore. He died in February 1865 ``aged 67´´ of
the black vomit, and is said to be buried in the Canarsie Cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County, New
York. He married (1) Mary Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Weiser) Robertson of
Smithtown on 24 February 1814; she was born 23 December 1794 and died 9 August 1849 aged 54
years, 7 months, 17 days. She is buried in the Canarsie Cemetery. He had married (2) Susan, the
daughter of Joseph and Jane (________) White, by 1850 who was previously the widow of Jacob
Mathews. This marriage was not a happy one, and on 26 November 1851 Isaac Skidmore ran the
following advertisement in the Eagle:
``CAUTION - Whereas, my wife Susan, having left my bed and board, I hereby
caution the public not to trust her on my account, as I will not pay any debts of her
contracting. ISAAC SKIDMORE, Canarsie.´´
She was living in 1880, aged 75, with her son-in-law William H. Rogers, a Federal Justice, and died
on 26 December 1887 aged 82 at Flatlands.
Isaac Skidmore had moved by 1820 to Main Street, Brooklyn. He is first noticed in the city
directories in 1822 as a grocer at 8 Main Street. In 1829 he was operating a tavern at 25 James
Street, and was there in the Third Ward in the 1830 census. On 21 April 1826 Isaac and Mary
Skidmore of Brooklyn sold to Isaac Weeks of New York City 70 acres in Huntington north of the
highway to Smithtown bounded by Samuel Scidmore, John Scidmore, and Augustine Fleet, for
$600.00. This tract had been deeded some six years earlier to Isaac by his parents Timothy and
Margaret Skidmore for a named consideration of $1,000.00.
Isaac Skidmore was still running the tavern on James Street in 1831. He is gone in the next year, and
had moved to Canarsie in Kings County where he was a farmer in the 1840 and 1850 census. In the
1850 census his father Timothy Skidmore is living in his household, as was Phebe Mathews, aged
7, a stepdaughter.
In 1860 he was back in Brooklyn, the owner of a restaurant at the Brooklyn Market and residing at
29 James Street. In 1862 he was living on Fulton Street, near Hamilton, but is not found after that
date in the directories. He was a storekeeper at Canarsie at the time of his death in 1865.
There was no probate on his estate in Kings County.
Children:
i. Mahala Ann, born 1815. She married Jacques Van Dyke (1794-____) on 29 May
1831 at the Bushwick Reformed Church; she is called of Huntington in a newspaper
report of her marriage. She died of a heart attack on 10 June 1876 during the
excitement of watching her brother Isaac´s barn burn according to a story in the
Kings County Rural Gazette.
396. ii. Joel, born 12 July 1819.
397. iii. Isaac Samuel, born April 1821.
iv. Mary Elizabeth, born 7 January 1826. She married (1) Henry Denton on 25 March
1840 at the Flatbush Reformed Church; both are called of Flatlands at the time of
their marriage. She married (2) William White, probably before 1850, and died 29
December 1886 aged 60 years, 11 months, and 22 days at Flatlands. She is buried
in Evergreen Cemetery.
v. Catherine L., born 1830. She was living unmarried with her brother Joel in 1860,
and appears to have died before her father.

Source reference N175 :

Individuals : SKIDMORE Isaac Samuel (2)
397. ISAAC SAMUEL SKIDMORE was born on 12 April 1821 at Brooklyn, Kings County,
New York, the son of Isaac (no. 199) and Mary (Robertson) Skidmore. He was living in 1900 in
Capeville District, Northampton County, Virginia, where he died on 31 May 1904. He married
(1) Phebe Jane, a daughter of William and Phebe Jane (Reckhow) Matthews on 27 November
1838 at the Flatbush Reformed Church; they are both called ``of Flatlands.´´ She was born 15
March 1820 and died 26 November 1873. He married (2) Ann Amelia, a daughter of Carman and
Elizabeth (Ryder) Baldwin on 18 November 1877 at Grace Church, Canarsie. She was previously
the widow of Isaac H. Matthews, and had been born in April 1851 and died on 15 April 1924. Her
parents are said to have owned all or part of what became Coney Island. She and Isaac Samuel
Skidmore are buried in the Cape Charles Cemetery but most of their children are buried in the
Capeville Masonic Cemetery.
Isaac Skidmore, Junior, is first noticed at Flatlands in the 1840 census. In 1850 he is called a
grocer, but in 1860 and 1870 he was the proprietor of a hotel at Canarsie. He opened the first
post office there on 18 March 1863 and had the responsibility for a number of years.
His barn burned down on 10 June 1876 from a fire started in the hayloft by his grandsons playing
with matches. His sister Mahala Ann Van Dyke died during the excitement of a heart attack.
In the 1880 census he is listed again as a grocer and farmer. This family gave their name to
Skidmore Avenue, to Skidmore Lane in Canarsie, as well as the Skidmore exchange used by the
telephone company. He moved to the York River in Virginia where he bought land which was
taken over soon after by the Naval Academy.
He next went to Cape Charles in Northampton County, Virginia, where he purchased what is now
known as Skidmore Island in 1842 for his annual hunting trips from New York. He sailed by
schooner down to the Eastern Shore, and fell in love with the area. On one trip a large merchant
vessal with a cargo of Irish linen was driven ashore. Mr. Skidmore and his crew assisted in
salvaging the ship and were paid in gold. With this they bought what was then known as ``Long
Point Island.´´ With the assistance of his family lumber was brought up from the Carolinas for the
house and outbuildings, and his five children were brought up here. Hunting parties from
Philadelphia and New York were an annual clientele, and they kept the island supplied with
books and news of the world. The name Skidmore´s Island was proposed to the U.S. Board on
Geographic Names by Mrs. F. Sherwood Boyd, Jr., of Branford, Connecticut, in honor of her
father Edward Skidmore White. She pointed out that this was the name used by local residents,
and her recommendation was accepted by the Board. .
His widow Anna and her sons Jake and Clay were living in 1910 at Townsend in Northampton
County, Virginia.
Children: (First wife, all born in New York)
534 i. Isaac Henry, born 5 May 1839.
ii. William, born 18 June 1841. He died on 9 September 1845.
iii. Phebe Jane, born 20 June 1844. She married (2) Janeway Vanzant Bogart (1843-
1912). He served in Company I, 127th New York Infantry for three years in the
Civil War; she was living with her parents in 1865 while her husband was away
with the Union Army. She died on the 26 September 1880.
iv. Abraham William, born 16 May 1846. He married Amelia E. Bogart (1849-1928)
on 4 March 1866 at Grace Church on East 92nd Street in Canarsie. She was a
sister of Janeway V. Bogart who married his sister Phebe Jane. He served in
Company W, 56th New York Infantry in the Civil War and was a policeman at
Flatlands in 1880. He died at Farmingdale, Nassau County, New York, on 4
March 1932 aged 86.
v. Margaret Amanda, born 15 November 1848. She married Livingston Vreeland
Davis (1848-1935). She died 9 February 1946 aged 97 and is buried in the
Canarsie Cemetery close to her grandfather.
vi. Mahala Emma, born 25 February 1851. She married Jacob Cosine Rumph
(1847-1912) on 5 September 1869, a blacksmith at Canarsie. She died 16 May
1947 aged 96 and had lived earlier at 9317 Flatlands Avenue, Canarsie. They are
buried in the Canarsie Cemetery.
vii. George, born 18 June 1853. He died 30 June 1855.
viii. John R., born 24 May 1854. He married Elizabeth Ryder (1865-____) of Valley
Stream, Queens County, on 29 July 1877 at Grace Church in Canarsie. He was a
fireman in Hose Company No. 1. In 1920 they lived at 9319 Avenue L, were later
at 1262 East 94th Street, Canarsie. He died 23 February 1955.
ix. Martha Maude, born 23 February 1857. She married Joseph Ennis (1855-____), a
farm laborer at Canarsie in 1880. She died at Greenville, New York, on 10 March
1942.
x. Mary Ann, born 5 November 1859. She married George W. Serene (1857-1894)
on 15 November 1876 at Grace Church. They lived at Canarsie where she died
on 10 March 1942.
xi. Caroline Alinda (Caddie), born 25 February 1863. She married (1) John Henry
Warner (1817-____) on 8 June 1880 at Grace Church. He was a conductor on the
Long Island Railroad. She married (2) Joshua Frost on 3 May 1885 at Canarsie.
She lived later in California where she died in July or August 1950.
(Second wife, all born in Virginia)
xii. [Charles Henry Matthews, born 7 October 1872. He was a son of Ann Amelia
Baldwin by her first husband, and was raised by Isaac Samuel Skidmore. He was
an oysterman at Cape Charles in 1900 and married Irene Woodbridge Ketcham
(1879-1969) on 13 December 1905 in Northampton County. Later he managed the
hunt club organized earlier by Isaac S. Skidmore for wealthy New York
sportsmen. He died in 1956 and is buried in the Cape Charles Cemetery close to
his mother and stepfather.]
xiii. Elizabeth Baldwin (Lizzie), born 17 March 1879. She married Joseph AllenWhite
(1881-1963) of Capeville on 6 June 1904 and lived at Townsend, Northampton
County, Virginia. She died on 18 June 1971. They are buried in the Capeville
Masonic Cemetery.
xiv. Carman Baldwin, born 24 September 1880. He was an oysterman at Cape Charles
in 1900. He married Lillie Estelle Hudson (1884-1917) and they were living in
Northampton County in 1920. He died in March 1957 and is buried in the
Capeville Cemetery. His wife is buried at All Hallows Episcopal Church, Snow
Hill, Worcester County, Maryland. (Her tombstone reportedly says that she died in
1917, but she was enumerated in the 1920 census.)
xv. Alice A., born February 1883. She was living at home in 1900. She married
Samuel Milner.
xvi. Jacob Edward (Jake), born 28 November 1886. He was an oysterman at Cape
Charles in 1900. He and his brother Clay Skidmore in their 80s told of the
running gun battles they had with ``pirates´´ from Chincoteague who periodically
raided the shores of their island . The four young sons of the family were totally
responsible for its protection. He married Emma Mabel Mister (1892-1967) on 20
September 1911. He died on 9 September 1974 and is buried in the Capeville
Cemetery.
xvii. George Willis, born 8 March 1889. He married Wilhelmina (Minnie) Davis
(1891-1968) about 1907, a sister of Livingston Vreeland Davis. They were living
in Northampton County in 1920. He died on 26 March 1966 and they are buried in
the Capeville Cemetery.
xviii. Henry Clay, born 24 June 1892 on Skidmore Island. He and his elder brother Jake
gave up their charter fishing business during World War II to patrol the area with
the U.S. Coast Guard. They also corrected the maps of the area, which were until
that time full of errors. Later they made duck decoys which are now eagerly
sought after by collectors. He married (1) Eva Fitchett (1882-1952) who is buried
in the Poplar Grove Cemetery, and (2) Elizabeth (Betsy) Collins (1894-1982). He
died 3 November 1868 and he and his second wife are buried in the Capeville
Cemetery.

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