Skillman Family History

Contents

General Family History

The earliest Skillmans in England, on record, spelt the name Skylman, which is Old Norse for a trustworthy man, like Truman I suppose. These early people lived in East Anglia. The ones on record were, of course, the more important ones. In the 13th century, Skylmans were Lords of Wymondham near Norwich and one was the rector of the church at Great Melton nearby. In th 15th century, some appear further south in Kent and I was surprised to find a family living at this period in Somerset. However, most of the recorded events show a movement from East Anglia into the Midlands over the following centuries. During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries the vast majority of mentions are centred on the area north and north-west of Oxford. I will call this "The Midlands Group".They were farm labourers and smallholders in the main, though one single gentleman had an office in London. London itself has had many Skillmans living, dying and getting married within its boundaries, although I soon found that people living in the home counties in the 19th century often travelled to London just to get married.

In the 17th century, The Midlands Group split into two distinct branches, The Deddington Group and The Aylesbury Group. It was decided to name them thus because the majority of each branch lived in Deddington in Oxfordshire or Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. By the turn of the 19th century, however, there were none left in either town. Today, remnants of The Deddington Branch live in and around Kettering in Northamptonshire whilst those of The Aylesbury Branch are scattered all over the outskirts of West London and recently a group of them has started to form in the Bristol and Bath area in the West.

Our Family Group

Our family is part of the Aylesbury Group. For a number of generations Skillmans were fellmongers in Aylesbury, preparing animal skins. This was roughly between 1700 and 1800. However, my great-great-grandfather, John, was born at King's Langley in Hertfordshire, his father having married a girl from there. John moved to nearby Redbourn and brought up a large family there. Up to that time the branch had survived by the skin of its teeth, most families having had just one boy and there were hardly any girls. John had five boys and three girls. They in turn had their families. My great-grandfather Daniel had a large family and lived at and ran the post office in Redbourn. This was where my grandfather, Arthur was born. He married a Redbourn girl and eventually finished up in Southall in Middlesex. Both my father, Martin, and I were born in Southall. I married a Southall girl, Kate, and we live in Warminster as does our daughter and her family. Our son lives in Shaftesbury.

Emigration

U.S.A

The Skillmans in the U.S.A. believe that one Thomas Skillman arrived with the British Expedition to take New Amsterdam (now New York) in 1664 and that a great many of them are descended from this one man. Thomas is a common Skillman name but I have only found one likely Thomas, on record, of the right age at that time. He was son of Richard and Rose of Littlemore near Oxford who was baptized 3 Aug 1639. There is another possible choice and that is Thomas son of Thomas and Alice of Oving in Buckinghamshire who was baptized 22 Oct 1626 and would have been at least 37 at the time. The pioneering Thomas apparently married in the Long Island area and thereafter led a very full life which is documented. I see there are hundreds of Skillmans in the U.S.A. now, some of which I have contacted.

Australia

I know of two who emigrated permanently to Australia and have Skillman descendants there. Firstly, there was Henry and his wife Hannah (nee Brooks) who arrived in 1850. He was from London but his branch originated in Deddington, Oxfordshire. He died in Booral, N.S.W. Secondly, there was Henry born in Harpenden, Hertfordshire in 1862. He arrived as a single man in about 1880 and had two marriages, the second being with Elizabeth Clarke. He died in Cairns, Queensland.

Research

Initially, I was greatly helped by work done by my aunt Ann Skillman. My own research has been at County Records Offices, using Mormon records, talking to elderly relatives and often receiving documents from them, and writing to all and sundry. Recently I have also used the Internet with great success. I have over 2800 names of family, cousins and in-laws on record now, and a study full of papers and pictures.

Family Tree

I can, with reasonable certainty, trace my line back to Roger of Hynton-by-Brackley, Oxfordshire who died in 1560. I supply members of the family with their section of the tree, if asked, but the tree as a whole is enormous and does not exist as a single entity. The blame for this falls mainly on the large Victorian families. Earlier families were much smaller. Regrettably, my "twig" is probably going to die out. Our only son has two daughters.

Your Skillman DNA

There is an ongoing Skillman DNA comparison project that you can study at

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/skillmandnaproject/

(this page updated on 7Dec2010)

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