Fourth Generation

46. John Skillman was born in 1742 in Somerset Co., NJ. He immigrated in 1769 to Loudoun Co., VA. He died in 1777 at the age of 35 in Loudoun Co., VA. Will proved Feb. 10, 1777. The property was left to his wife "for the benefit of our Child'n."

His name was signed "John Skilman" as it is in the body of the will. A marginal note: "John Skillman's Will" His SOA Number is 14. From SOA:
...b. 1742, and, grown up, purchased or inherited the home-farm (253 acres or 1/2 the tract bought by his grandfather Thomas2 for his father Jan3 and his uncle Isaac3. This he sold April 30, 1768 (deed witnessed by Thomas4 Skillman, cousin, and Edw'd Van Harlingen), to Roelif Van Dyck for "£300 current money of the Province," and then with family removed to Loudoun Co., Va., (near present Leesburg). In 1763, John Skillman m. Catharine, dau. of Christopher Beekman and Sarah Cox, his wife. This Christopher Beekman was 3d son of Christoffel Beekman (son of Gerardus of Flatbush) and Maria de la Noy (b. Jan. 4, 1681; m. Jan. 28, 1704). Catharine's father d. at his home, near Griggstown, of smallpox, and Sarah, her mother, being made a widow, in 1766 became the 3d wife of William Allen, with her five Beekman children besides Catharine. All these Beekmans and Allens with other families, under the lead of John Skillman, after the sale of his farm, removed to Virginia, as said, the next year, 1769. William Allen d. and John Skillman was the executor of his estate, and a few years later, near the outbreak of the Rev. War, he himself died, his will being proved Feb. 10, 1777. The property was left to his wife "for the benefit of our Child'n." In the course of time the widow m. Jesse Edwards and by him had five other boys and girls. The children of John Skillman and Catharine Beekman his wife, in addition to a dau. who m. a Hegeman and removed to Evansville, Ind., were these five sons:

John Skillman and Catharine Beekman were married in 1763. Catharine Beekman, daughter of Christopher Beekman and Sarah Cox, was born in 1742 in Middlesex Co., NJ. She died in 1840 at the age of 98 in Adams Co., OH. Phyllis Smith-Noah's web site places her death at Scioto Twp., Pike Co., Ohio.

John Skillman-916 and Catharine Beekman-1053 had the following children: