Skinner, Eugene F
From Lane Co Oregon
"Illustrated History of Lane County, Oregon." Portland, Oregon: A. G. Walling, publisher, 1884. pg. 487.
EUGENE F. SKINNER
(Deceased) -- This gentleman whose name is a household word throughout the entire length and breadth of Lane county, was the son of John Joseph Skinner, and brother to St. John Skinner, Assistant Postmaster General during the administration of President Johnson. He was born in the town of Essex, Essex county, New York, September 13, 1809, and there resided until he attained the age of fourteen years, when he was taken by his father to Green county, Wisconsin. While yet in early life, however, he went back to his native State, to Plattsburg, but again turned his face westward and settled at Hennepin, Putnam county, Illinois. In youth our subject was of a most industrious disposition, and by diligent application obtained a good education which fitted him in after life for many positions of trust and honor. Living on a farm he naturally learned the intricacies of agriculture, and drank in of the spirit of adventure that subsequently developed in him the arduous undertakings of a life on the frontier. He married in Illinois, November 28, 1839, Mary Cook, who was born in Augusta, Oneida county, New York, February 7, 1816, and while a resident of that State was elected to several official positions, among them being Sheriff of Putnam county. In May 1845, owing to certain inducements held out to him, and hoping to regain lost health, Mr. Skinner and his family joined a company going to California, among the number being Elijah Bristow and Wesley Shannon, and arrived at the hospitable portals of Sutter's Fort in September 1845. Here they wintered, and in the spring of 1846, journeyed to Oregon, and located for a time at Dallas, Polk county. In June 1846 Mr. Skinner located the donation claim on which Eugene City, named for him, now stands. In May 1847, he left Dallas, and took up his residence on the claim, erecting a log cabin at the west side of Skinner's Butte, and where Mrs. Skinner reigned as the first and only lady in Lane County. Theirs was not a bed of roses. The Indians in the vicinity took umbrage at the white man thus locating in their midst, and sought to destroy them, but Mr. Skinner kept watch and ward with an old musket while his wife made bullets, but no dire deed of vengeance was perpetrated. His family at this time consisted of a little girl, Mary, born in Polk county, Oregon, December 2, 1846, who in time was presented with the following sisters and one brother: Leonora, the first white child to see the light of day in Lane county, was born September 2, 1848; Phoebe, born March 29, 1850; St. John B. L. born November 7, 1851; Amelia R., born April 16, 1855. Of these, the first named, Mary, died October 4, 1860; Leonora died August 29, 1862; Phoebe married August 30, 1868, John D. Kinsey, a native of New York, who was born October 12, 1835, and died March 13, 1881, leaving a family of three daughters, viz: Maggie, Clara and Mary Louis; St. John married November 23, 1871, Amanda J. Walton; Amelia R. married, August 24, 1871, Byron Van Houten, and is now Mrs. Combs, of Eugene City. Eugene F. Skinner died December 15, 1864; his relict, Mr. Mary (Skinner) Packard, died June 4, 1881.
