acres, and founded on Wood creek the town of Skenesborough (now Whitehall. X. Y.I. He va< named governor of Crown Point and Tioonderoga. with the rank of colonel in the army, became colonel of the local militia, judge, and postmaster, estab- lished flourishing foundries and saw-mills, con- structed and sailed vessels on the lake, and opened roads to Albany. In the Revolution, after being exchanged as a prisoner, he served a short time under Sir William Howe at New York, and then volunteered under Gen. Burgoyne. during whose campaign his horse was twice shot under him. He and his son had acted as guides to the army from Canada; the British troops having for some time occupied Skenesborough, on their moving, Gen. Ealdimand ordered the whole place to be burned. let it should become a danger in the hands of their opponents. Col. Skene thus saw the fruits of an invested fortune and many years' labors perish before his eyes at his countrymen's hands. The night before the capitulation of Saratoga, Col. Skene. as appears from one of his letters, went to Gen'. Burgoyne and urged on him that there was no need for capitulating at all; that, on 'con- dition that arms and baggage were abandoned, he would undertake to guide the army safe to Canada. After the recognition of independence, Col. Skene was in London, and intended to return and begin again as an American citizen ; but the state of New York attainted him and his son of high treason, and confiscated their estates. After the war he re- turned to New York to recover his property, but wa- unsuccessful, and went back to England. The British government in 1785 granted him a pen- sion of 240 per annum for life, and a sum of 20.000, with which he purchased the estate of Addersey Lodge, Northamptonshire. He has been sometimes confounded with a namesake. Gen. Philip Skene, colonel of the 69th foot, who died in 1788, and also with Lieut. Philip Skene. of the 7'.M foot, who died in 1774. His only son, Andrew Philip, soldier, b. 25 March, 1753: d. in Durham, England, in January, 1826, entered the 5th regi- ment of dragoons in 1763. He was graduated at King's (now Columbia) college. New York, in 1772. and transferred afterward to the 6th dragoons, and named major of brigade, being the first subaltern that ever had held that post. He lost a separate e-iati- near Skenesborough, was afterward captain in the 9th dragoons, and became military payina-- ter at divers places in the three kingdoms. The last twenty-two years of his life were passed at Durham. Andrew's eldest son. Philip Orkney. soldier, b. about 1790; d. in 1837, became a lieu- tenant of engineers in the British army, and was for a long time stationed in Canada, where In- de- signed the works of Quebec. He had previously been chosen to attend at Paris thr princes of Prus- sia, afterward King Frederick William IV., and the Emperor William. He wrote many works and labored zealously to propagate the Hamiltonian system of teaching languages, the schemes of Rob- ert Owen, and the co-operative system, which he was one of the first to introduce in London. An- other son, Andrew Motz, d. in Durham. Enj.laii'1. 10 July, 1849. entered the royal navy in 1808, va- present at Flushing and at actions in the V-t Indies, and was shipmate of the Emperor Napoleon in the voyage to St. Helena. He afterward went with Sir John Ross on the arctic expedition of 1818, his name being given to the Skene island- in Baffin bay. Most of the published drawings of the expedition are from his pencil. He also ac- companied Sir William E. Parry in islit. the name of Skene bay, the rank of lieutenant, and a share of the reward of 5.000 being the recompense of that arduous service. Retiring on half-pay, and presently refusing the command of a new arctic expedition, he devoted most of his leisure to divers inventions connected with his profession, the most remarkable of which he patented, a system of feath- ering paddles, which was not then' approved, hut after the expiration of the patent was generally adopted, until it was superseded by the screw. His only -mi, ANDREW PHILIP, b. 6 Sept., 1832, suc- ceeded to the Irish and Canadian estates.
SKILTON. Julius Aitynsuis. physician, b. in
j Troy, 29 June, 1833 : d. in Brooklyn, 20 Nov.. 1897.
lie was graduated at Rensselaer polytechnic in-
stitute and at Albany medical college, and began
to practise in Troy. He was a member of the
board of education in 1856, and city physician in
1857-'S. In 1861 he was made assistant surgeon
of the 30th Xew York regiment, and surgeon of
the 87th New York in 1862. He was taken prisoner
in the summer of that year, and was released in
feeble health, but recovered sufficiently to become
surgeon of the 14th New York cavalry in 1863,
served in New York city during the draft riots,
and was medical director of cavalry department of
the southwest in 1864-'o. In 1869 he was appointed
U. S. consul at the city of Mexico, and in 1872 he
was promoted to be consul-general, holding the
office until 1878. He received the degree of "A. B.
from Wesleyan university in 1853. Besides his an-
nual reports he had published Mining Districts of
Parhuca. Real del Monte, El Chico. and Star Rosa,
State of Hidalgo. Republic of Mexico."
SKINNER, Charles Rufus, member of con-
gress, b. in Union Square, Oswego co., N. Y., 4 Aug.,
1844. He was educated at Clinton liberal in-ti-
tute and at the Mexico, N. Y., academy, was school
commissioner of Watertown, N. Y., "in 1875-'84,
member of the assembly in 1877-'81, and a repre-
sentative in congress in 1881-'o. as a Republican.
In congress he was the author of the bill providing
for the special delivery stamp, and he introduced a
bill reducing the postage on letters from three to
two cents. He was appointed deputy superintend-
ent of public instruction of the state of New York,
7 April, 1886, and is now (1898) superintendent.
SKINNER, Cortlandt. soldier, b. in New Jer-
sey in 1728 : d. in Bristol, England, in 1799. He re-
ceived a good education, became a successful lawyer,
an. I as attorney-general of New Jersey in 1775,
in which capacity he evinced great ability and in-
tegrity. At the opening of the Revolution he ac-
cepted service under the crown and was authorized
to raise a corps of loyalists, of which he was
allowed to nominate the officers. Three battalions
were organized, and called the New Jersey volun-
teers. Skinner continued in command of the
corps, with the rank of brigadier-general, and at
the peace went to England, where he received com-
pensation for his losses as a loyalist, and also the
half-pay of a liri'_ r .'idier-i. r eneral during his life. One
of his daughters married Sir William Robinson,
commissary-general in the British army, and an-
other Sir George Nugent, a field- marshal. His
son. Philip Kearny, soldier, b. in Aml>y. X. J. ;
d. in London, 9 April, IS 1 ,'!!, entered the service as
an ensign in the Xew Jersey loyalist volunteers.
was made a pri-oner in the expedition to i Mend,
served in Ireland, the East and Y-i Indies, and
Spain, and became a lieutenant-general in IX'.'-'i.
SKINNER. Ezekiel. clergyman, b. in Gln-tonbury. Conn., 27 June, 1777: d. in Gtwnport. !,. I., 25 Dec.. 1855. He was apprenticed to a lilnek.-mith, but. abandoning his trade in 1 7H7. he st udie.l medicine, was licensed to practise in 1801, and settled at
