Figure of the Week

Samuel Hampson Skinker (1785-1856) was the son of William Skinker (1738-1812) and Mary (Sells) Powlett (c.1745-1798) and the nephew of Thomas Skinker (1722-1802).  Around 1776 Thomas Skinker purchased 1,021 acres in Stafford from Charles Carter (1738-1796).  Part of this tract became known as Oakley and passed to Samuel H. Skinker.  The fine old frame house, located on the west side of Poplar Road (Route 616) and in the corner formed by the intersection of this road and Shackelford’s Well Road (Route 754), collapsed in 2003.  Part of the farm is now occupied by a housing subdivision called Oakley Reserve.  Samuel Skinker married Margaret Wilson Julian (died 1863), the only daughter of Dr. John Julian of Fredericksburg.  Samuel devised Oakley to his unmarried daughters, Louisa Virginia Knox Skinker (1828-1886) and Lucy E. Scott Skinker (1807-1896), and to his son, John Howard Skinker (1814-1867).  Samuel was a veteran of the War of 1812.