Albert Skinkle, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Albert Skinkle
ALBERT SKINKLE. In agriculture and the other basic industries and activities which have contributed most to the great material civilization of America during the past century, no element of population has contributed more generously than the German stock. In Porter county are found not a few families of this class, and they have well sustained the character for industry and honesty which is properly associated with the people of the Fatherland.
Mr. Skinkle, of Porter township, is of direct German lineage, although he himself was born in Steuben county, New York, March 7, 1851. He was the third in a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters, born to Peter and Sarah (Peters) Skinkle, and is the oldest of the four still living, the other three being: Elizabeth, wife of James Hildreth, of Hebron; Ellery, a farmer of Boone township; and Calvin, who is married and is a farmer in Porter township.
Father Skinkle was born in Herkimer county, New York, in 1823, and died in 1884. Educated in the common and high schools, he was a man of fine intellectual attainments. Farming was his lifelong occupation. After his marriage, in 1858, he came overland by wagon to Lake county, Indiana, and settled near Crown Point, where he began as a renter. Later he moved to Porter county, where he bought one hundred and twenty acres in Union township, going in debt for part of it. Five years afterward he sold this place and bought another of similar acreage in Boone township, where he resided until the end of his prosperous career. Politically he began his career as a supporter of Whig principles, and voted for the first Republican candidate, General Fremont, casting his ballot for the successive nominees until his death. Both he and his wife were devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and aided in the erection of the church in their home township. Mrs. Skinkle, the mother was born in Steuben county, New York, in 1822, and at this writing is almost ninety years of age, one of the venerable women Porter county, with mind still clear and body strong for an these years. Her home is at Hebron.
Albert Skinkle was about seven years old when the family home was transferred from New York to Indiana, and Porter county has been his home for the last half century. In Union township about half a mile from the present village of Wheeler, he attended one of the old log schools which were once the temples of learning in this vicinity. The dimensions of this building were sixteen by twenty-four feet, the seats were of slabs with wooden legs, a broad-board desk extended part way around the wall, and the parents subscribed to the fund according to the number of their children, some of the big boys cutting wood as part pay for tuition. He is one of the men who best appreciate the changes from that time to the modern days, with their modern schoolhouses and varnished desks and maintenance entirely by general taxation. However, many will claim and not without good reasons that the fundamentals of the language and number arts were better taught then than now.
Mr. Skinkle remained with his parents until his marriage, which occurred January 1, 1877, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of which was recently celebrated. Before her marriage Mrs. Skinkle was Miss Nancy A. Miller, of one of the well known families of this county. Seven children have been born to their happy union, six of whom are living, namely: Archie, who received his education in the district school and two years at Hebron, resides with his parents and is a prosperous agriculturist of Porter township, having a place of one hundred and sixty-five acres. He is a Republican, a member of Hebron Lodge, No. 502, of the Masonic order, and a member of the Methodist church. Ida S., who was educated in the common schools and also studied music, is the wife of Roy Rigg, of Porter township, and they have two children, Annetta and Newell. She is a member of the Christian church at Hebron. James A., a resident of Porter township, married Miss Frances Luddington, and they are members of the Salem M. E. church. Howard C., who lives at home, obtained his education in the local schools, and is a member of the Salem M. E. church. Ross A. received his diploma from the schools in 1910 and is at home, being also a member of the Methodist church. Ella M. is in the seventh grade of school and has also taken musical instruction, she being a member of the family church.
Mrs. Skinkle, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, July 31, 1857, was the oldest of eight children born to James and Elizabeth (Hague) Miller. Five of the children, two sons and three daughters, are still living, the others being: Elmer H., a resident of Columbus, Chadbourne county, North Carolina, where he is a successful horticulturist, and is married; Isaiah, who is married and is a prosperous farmer of Porter township; Rachel Estella, a resident of Greenfield, New Mexico; and Jennie, wife of George Douglas, a farmer and a resident of New Mexico.
James Miller, the father of Mrs. Skinkle, was born in Allegany county, Maryland, in 1831, and died May 23, 1911. Reared in his native state and educated in the common schools, he began life as a farmer and in young manhood started west, walking over the mountains because of lack of money, and finally locating in Wayne county, Ohio. He worked for wages for about five years, and by economy got his start in life. In 1862, coming to Porter township, in this county, he bought a little farm of eighty-one acres, with a log cabin home, and by good management and industry became one of the most prosperous citizens of the township, accumulating an estate of three hundred and eighty acres. He was a Democrat of the Jackson school, and he and his wife were members of the Christian church at Boone Grove and aided in the building of the present church. He was known for his integrity and upright principles, and brought his children up by the same principles. Mrs. Skinkle, who was a little girl five years old when she came to Porter county, has spent the rest of her life here, obtaining her education in the common schools and the Valparaiso Normal. She has been an able counselor and coadjutor to her husband and children, and their home and success in material things is due to their mutual achievement.
When Mr. and Mrs. Skinkle began home making as a young married couple they lived on a rented farm for about nine years. The first land purchase was one hundred and sixty acres of their present homestead, for which they went in debt five thousand dollars. To this they added one hundred and twenty-five acres, and at the date of this writing not a dollar of indebtedness stands registered against this beautiful property.
Mr. Skinkle is a Republican and cast his first presidential vote for General Grant, having been a regular supporter of the "G. O. P." ever since. Fraternally he is a member of Hebron Lodge, No. 502, A. F. & A. M. His wife is a member of the Salem M. E. church, and he aided in the construction of the present church home. In Porter township Mr. and Mrs. Skinkle have won their prosperity, they are extremely loyal to this beautiful region of their home, and are solid factors in the welfare of this community.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 449-451
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook