Skinner Family Papers

“General Harrison is certainly dead,” April 5, 1841

Posted on September 24, 2014 by skinnerf

Eliza Fisk Harwood to Tristrim Lowther Skinner

Eliza Fisk Harwood (1827-1888) of Tazewell Hall. Portrait painted by unknown artist c. 1844, photograph early 20th century. Private collection.

Williamsburg April 5th 1841 [Tazewell Hall]

Conscience, my dear friend has severely reproved for thus neglecting to answer your truly welcome letter, and I sincerely hope that you will not think the phrase “out of sight, out of mind” applicable to your humble servant; for I can assure you it is not, but quite the contrary, if you knew how much pleasure your letter gives, you would certainly write oftener.

We heard of your beloved sisters death through Mr Badham soon after it happened and you can readily imagine the surprise and sorrow felt on hearing such unexpected and melancholy intelligence. We can indeed sympathize deeply with you and our only consolation is, that she has left this world for a better home. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1840s coming of age, 1840s courtship correspondence, 1840s Williamsburg elite, 1841, 19th century letters, antebellum, April 4 1841, Bruton Parish Church, College of William and Mary, coming of age, courtship, courtship letters, Death of President Harrison, documentary editing, early Victorian American primary sources, early Victorian American youth culture, ebook documentary edition, ebook Old South, ebook primary source, February 25 1841, ghost of Tazewell Hall, Governor John Tyler, John Beverly Christian, Mary Maillard, Norfolk, President John Tyler, President William Henry Harrison, primary source, Skinner family Edenton, southern belle, Tazewell Hall, The Belles of Williamsburg: The Courtship Correspondence of Eliza Fisk Harwood and Tristrim Lowther Skinner 1839-1849, Twelfth Night, Victorian American coming of age, Victorian American teenage girl, Virgina, Whig, White House, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Court House | Comments Off

Baltimore: 1844 Whig Rally

Posted on August 12, 2014 by skinnerf

Tristrim Lowther Skinner to Joseph Blount Skinner

Tristrim Lowther Skinner’s letter features the same letterhead as this example from the Madison County Chancery Cause Administrators of Thomas Shirley vs. Heirs of Thomas Shirley and Zachariah Shirley vs. Administrators of Thomas Shirley, 1919-001. Archives, Library of Virginia.

Get Out Of The Way For Old Kentucky Get out of the way, you’re all unlucky; Clear the track for Old Kentucky![1]

Sold by J. Murphy, 146 Market st. Balt.

Baltimore May 3 1844

Dear Father –

I take advantage of this, almost the first, leisure hour since my arrival here, to write to you as I promised – The city, since last Monday has been crowded – on my arrival, not a comer was to be found in any of the Hotels where a new comer could find even a pallet. Many boarding houses (not known to travellers) sent in their names to the Committee of reception, stating how many they could accommodate, or rather store away – In company with 20 other North Carolina delegates I was sent by the committee to one of those where we slept 8 in a room – This morning very many have left the city, and John & I have found a room at the Exchange hotel.[2] I suppose that you will see Mr Jones’ Patriot on Sunday, which will give some account of yesterday’s proceedings[3] – But any attempt to give an adequate description of them would be vain. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1844 presidential election, 1844 Whig Rally, 19th century American politics, Albemarle Son, antebellum south, Anthony Kennedy, Baltimore, Baltimore patriot, Canton racetrack, Daniel Barringer, Daniel Webster, documentary editing, early Victorian American youth culture, ebook documentary edition, ebook nonfiction history, ebook primary source, Edenton North Carolina, Exchange Hotel, Grand National Whig Prize Banner, Henry Clay, Henry Kollock Nash, John Middleton Clayton, Mary Maillard, May 2 1844, North Carolina delegates, North Carolina Whig, Old Dan Tucker, primary source, Reverdy Johnson, Skinner family Edenton, Theodore Frelinghuysen, Victorian American political youth group, Whig, Young Men's Whig National Convention | Comments Off

Camp at Fair Oaks, June 5, 1862

Posted on July 14, 2014 by skinnerf

Tristrim Lowther Skinner to Eliza Fisk Skinner

Camp on last Saturday’s battlefield – June 5th 1862

The saddle bag that Captain Tristrim Lowther Skinner of the Albemarle Guards took into war. Courtesy Frances Drane Inglis, photo Mark Banka.

My dearest Wife

I know that you have felt very anxious about me on account of not hearing from me since mine of Sunday morning[1], but I recollect having written you therein, that I might very possibly become so situated as not to be able to write you for some days.

Sunday proved to be the most fatiguing day of this regiment’s military experience. We reached Richmond at 10 o’clock A.M., stopped in the street at the market till 12 & then marched through a most sultry heat, & over a crowded dusty road for 3 & a quarter hours. At the end of half hour just out of the city all knapsacks & blankets were piled up & left under guard, & at the 3 & ¼ hours end the whole crowd was so heated & exhausted that a halt became actually necessary. For the last hour the dusty road had given way to one of deep mud & slush lined with broken wagons – buggies – [unreadable] and carriages & foot passengers had to go around by detours to keep from marching in mud a knee deep. After ½ hour rest we marched on again and were halted near this place where we lay down at 5 o’clock for a rest and nap. It was on the scene of the yesterday’s battle[2]. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1860 slave list, 1st Regiment North Carolina Troops, Albemarle Guards, Battle of Fair Oaks, Battle of Seven Pines, Benjamin S. Skinner, Colonel Gaston Meares, documentary editing, Drury's Bluff, Edenton, Eliza Fisk Skinner, Francis Wayland Bond, General Blanchard, General Holmes, General Joseph E. Johnston, General Longstreet, General McClellan, General McGruder, John Avery Benbury, June 3 1862, Lemuel Benbury, Longstreet, Mary Maillard, North Carolina, Peninsula Campaign, Petersburg, picket duty, primary source, Ripley's Brigade, Robert E. Lee, Seven Days Battles, Skinner family Edenton, slave lists, The Civil War Letters of Tristrim Lowther Skinner 1861-1862, Tristrim Lowther Skinner | Comments Off

Letter from Cuba 1851

Posted on July 9, 2014 by skinnerf

Dickie Galt to Eliza Fisk Skinner

Cardenas Island of Cuba Jany 6th 1851

My Dear Child

The Lopez filibusters seized Cardenas, Cuba, on May 19, 1850. The rebel flag is burning at the Capitular House. latinamericanstudies.org

Well here am I in the place attacked some time since by the famous Lopez[1] I left Norfolk on the 20th Decbr & arrived here on Saturday after a boistrous passage of 15 days in which I encountered two most terrific Gales The third day out to the southard of the Gulph Stream began the first gale in which the Eliza Fisk was thrown on her beam end & the Sea makeing a complete breach over her & all hands. We had to throw over the greater part of the Deck load & cut away the hoist board to right her. We had the axes all ready to cut away the masts had she not come up by throwing over the deck load. After we had made all snug I went up in the rigging to view the mighty ocean lashed by the tempest to its utmost fury & it was indeed a grand sight. I thought I had seen the mountain wave before but found all I had ever beheld was a calm to this We lay too in this gale 36 hours, & lost the boat which had all my best provisions & vegitables in her including half a fine Venison I caught in the Jas River coming down (loaded in Richmond). This was indeed a loss as I had only two stews before the gale. The foresail was blown to ribbands & all the Small things about the deck are now floating in the mighty deep after the gale Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Ambrosio Jose Gonzales, Berry Island, Cardenas, Cuba 1851, Cuban sugar plantation, Dia de Los Reyes, Dickie Galt, Edmund Doyle, Eliza Fisk Skinner, Federico Mialhe, filibuster 1851, Grand Tacon Theater, Havana 1851, Jenny Lind, Jenny Lind Havana, Kings day, Manifest Destiny, Martin R. Delany, Matanzas, Narciso Lopez, primary source, quitrin, Skinner family Edenton, steamship Isabel, Teatro Tacon, Twelfth Day Festival, volante | Comments Off

A Map of Time and Blood: An Introduction to the Skinner Family Papers 1826-1850

Posted on June 30, 2014 by skinnerf

Sample Chapter

~Beginnings: the Lowthers~

26 Joseph Blount Skinner owned this house from 1804-1846 during which time some of his brothers lived there, notably Thomas H. and Dr. Josiah Collins Skinner. (photo Mary Maillard)

Joseph Blount Skinner’s house on the Court House Green, Edenton, North Carolina. Photo by Mary Maillard.

Thomas Harvey Skinner insists in his memoir of his brother – quite disingenuously – that Joseph Blount Skinner’s marriage to Maria Louisa Lowther had nothing to do with his success. Tom claims that the union did not advance his brother’s career or add to his wealth, and that “Joe B” attained his substantial holdings purely by his own hard work and intelligence.[1] In fact, Maria Lowther provided Joe B with not only valuable access to her social network but also a tidy package of property.[2]

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th century American women poets, 18th century British literature, 18th century coming out, 18th century conduct and manners, 18th century Upper South, 18th century Williamsburg Virginia, A Father's Legacy to His Daughters, A Map of Time and Blood: An Introduction to the Skinner Family Papers 1826-1850, Albemarle Sound, American Revolutionary War, Barbara Gregory, Barbara Lowther, Barbara McClain, Barbara McLaine, Bertie county, British occupation of New York, Charles Eden, Chowan County, College of William and Mary, colonial Edenton, colonial North Carolina, colonial Williamsburg, Dawson family of Williamsburg, documentary editing, Dolley Madison, Dr. John Gregory, early republic, eastern North Carolina plantations, ebook, ebook nonfiction history, ebook Old South, ebook primary source, Eden House, Edenton North Carolina, Edinburgh, Fanny Burney, Founding Fathers Era, General LaFayette, Gilbert Colden Willett, Governor Charles Eden, Governor Gabriel Johnston, Governor John Page, James Iredell, Joseph Blount Skinner, Judith Lomax, Lindley Murray, Lowther family, Lowther family Edenton, Loyalist confiscated lands, Loyalists in New York, Loyalists in North Carolina, Lucy Burwell Page Saunders, Margaret Lowther, Margaret Lowther Page, Mary Maillard, Old South, Page family Rosewell estate, President of College of William and Mary, Reverend William Dawson, Robert Saunders, Samuel Johnston, Skinner family Edenton, St. George Tucker, Thomas Harvey Skinner, Thomas Jefferson, Tristrim Lowther, Wallace McLean, Western Islands of Scotland, William Hooper, William J. Dawson congress, William Lowther, Williamsburg | Comments Off

“General Harrison is certainly dead,” April 5, 1841

Baltimore: 1844 Whig Rally

Camp at Fair Oaks, June 5, 1862

Letter from Cuba 1851

A Map of Time and Blood: An Introduction to the Skinner Family Papers 1826-1850

Available on ebook: