| Notes |
- From The Avondale Sun, Friday, November 7, 1924
Personals:
Mr. Hopson Smith and mother, Mrs. Cumbie, are visiting relatives in Dallas, Texas.
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Christine Laura Elizabeth (Lizzie) Skinner was born 21 May 1865 in Chilton County, Alabama, according to her death certificate, which also says her parents were Laurie Myers and Dick Skinner. Lizzie married Robert David Thomas Smith at the home of G.D. Myers in Chilton County, Alabama, and she died 15 August 1954 in Sylacauga, Tallaega County, Alabama. But her story is much more interesting than that.
Family legend has it that Lizzie's mother, Laurie Myers Skinner, died while her husband, Dick Skinner, was away fighting in the Civil War. When he came back from the war and found his young wife dead, he left Lizzie in the charge of her grandparents. However, if her birth date was May of 1865 then she was conceived after the war ended. We don't know where her father went as Lizzie never talked about him. Perhaps she never knew him. It's very possible, if not probable he married again and had a whole new family.
We don't know if Lizzie was raised by the Skinners or the Myers, but there was an Elizabeth Myers in the household of George Myers in 1870, Elmore County, Alabama. This Elizabeth is the correct age for our Lizzie Skinner and other family members fit the G.D. Myers family in later censuses. (This is the only census year I've found that has a match for our Lizzie as a child.) The Richard Skinner family lived just a few houses away. This Richard Skinner was 50 years old, married to Mary, age 31, and had four children, the oldest of which was 12 years old, most likely ruling out this Richard as our Dick since the daughter he abandoned was only 5. However it is possible he was the father or uncle of our Dick Skinner. In the 1860 census, there is a son, Silas, listed, 16 years old. Just barely old enough to fight in the Civil War and old enough to have married on return and fathered Lizzie. We have to look at that possibility, remote as it is. We know he married in 1868-1869.
But let's look at that Richard Skinner family again. (1870 Elmore County, Alabama census)
Skinner, Richard 50
Mary 31
Willie 12
Ella 5
Sidna 3
Catherine 12
This only raises more questions. Richard was most likely married before. Was Willie his and not Mary's? Could this Richard be our Dick and Willie was his and Laurie Myers' son and he just chose not to take on a baby as a single parent? Was Ella Mary's child then Sidna was Richard and Mary's? Who was Catherine?
In the 1860 census, there is a son, Silas, listed, 16 years old. Just barely old enough to fight in the Civil War and old enough to have married on return and fathered Lizzie. We have to look at that possibility, remote as it is. We know he maried in 1868-1869.
I found two or three Richard Skinners from that area who enlisted for the Civil War, one of which fought for the Union. This brings the theory that perhaps our Dick was a Union sympathizer and wasn't welcome when he returned from The War. There's another family rumour about a trunk full of Confederate money, so staunch Confederates probably would not welcome a Union soldier for a son-in-law.
I've never found a marriage for Dick Skinner and Laurie Myers or any names that are remotely similar in Alabama or Georgia. Nor have I found a death for Laurie Myers.
Another note I have from family legend is that one of Lizzie Skinner's grandfathers was a doctor in Georgia. Something else I haven't been able to prove and it's been of no use helping me to track this family.
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Alabama Bound
1865 - 1954 (89 years)
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