THOMAS SKILLMAN was born 1635-40, came to this country as a soldier and musician under Gov. Richard Nicolls in 1664. He made his will 20 Mar 1695/6, died before 1 Apr 1699.

For a well documented genealogy of the Skillman family, see Francis Skillman, Skillmans of New York (New York: Press of Jones & Co., 1892), pp. 5-13. Skillman quotes from Thomas Skillman, grandson of Thomas the immigrant. Thomas stated that his grandmother, the wife of Thomas, was named Pettit, and his various statements are shown to correspond to actual recorded documents. Compare also William Jones Skillman, "The Skillmans of America and Their Kin," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 37 (1906), pp. 22-26.

See also John S. Wurts, Magna Charta, Part VII (Philadelphia: Brookfield Pub. Co., 1954), Chapter 261, "The Pettit Family". The Werts account on page 2300 is a Pettit account, no doubt obtained in part from written accounts of old time Pettits who remembered only that Thomas and Christian Pettit had a daughter Sarah, who married an English soldier with a name something like Skidmore. This English soldier could only be Thomas Skillman, especially since his children indeed removed to Somerset County, N.J. Wurts cites "the manuscript data of Rev. Nathaniel Pettit 1854" and other Pettit manuscripts. [p. 2291].

Wurts' sources of information are obviously independent of the William Jones Skillman reference, or the Skidmore error would not have occurred. Thus we have a Skillman genealogy and a Pettit genealogy, each indicating independently that Thomas Skillman married Sarah Pettit.

"Thomas Skillman, b. 1635-40. Soldier under Col. Richard Nicolls in Expedition of Duke of York, ordered by the King, Feb 25, 1664, sailed from Portsmouth, May 15, and dropped anchor in the harbor of Nieuw Amsterdam (near present Fort Hamilton), Aug. 18, same year. After the surrender he stayed in this country and became 'inhabitant and freeholder' at Newtown (L.I.), under Nicolls' Patent of Jan 23, 1666. Served in Esopus War; honorably discharged April 6, 1668. . ." [William Jones Skillman, p. 24].

"The head of the family came probably from London or from near there. . .With his commander he sailed in the Guiney, the chief of the three (possibly four) very small vessels that brought the adventurers to these shores. Down to this day he is known among his descendants always as Captain Thomas Skillman, a courtesy title, or one gained in later service in this country, or possibly it came from some militia connection merely. After that August morning when Nieuw Amsterdam became New York, we next hear of our ancestor the following year, when, Feb. 19, 1665, at Elizabeth Town. . .he took oath of allegiance to King Charles II. . ." [William Jones Skillman, pp. 22-23].