SKINNER, John

SKINNER, BACKUS

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 4/25/2009 at 12:52:44

John Skinner became a pioneer in Lincoln township, Mitchell Co., Iowa, in 1854. He bought land on section 5, erected good buildings, and has now one of the finest residences in the county. He is a practical farmer, has 480 acres of land, and is extensively engaged in stock raising. He was married June 29, 1864, to Ellen Backus, of Washington Co., N. Y. They have four children—May E., Florence L., Elbert and John. Mr. Skinner is a native of Scotland, born in Fifeshire, March 12, 1822. When he was nine years of age his parents emigrated to America, and settled in Canada, where his father bought a farm. John assisted his father to clear off the farm and remained there until 1846, when he went to New Hampshire and worked three and a half years with Jacob Hoyt, an extensive farmer at Concord, east side. He then went back to Canada, and was overseer in the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway. In 1851 he stopped a short time at Fond du Lac, Wis., then went to Arkansas and Mississippi, and spent the winter cutting wood for steamboats. In 1852 he went to St. Paul, Minn., and worked on a territorial road running from Point Douglas to Lake Superior; in the fall he went to Illinois, and in the spring went back and labored on the territorial road. He then went to Wisconsin, thence to Lansing, Iowa, where he spent the winter, coming to Mitchell county in the spring of l854.

Source: History of Mitchell and Worth Counties, Iowa, 1883, page 346.