Descendants of Richard SkeesThe information on these pages was located from a number of sources. Some of it came from my stepfather Lawrence Anthony Skees, some came from the internet and some came from other sources and records. The addition of this well knows Kentucky family has added a couple of more thousand people to the database. Please enjoy and like always your welcome to email me with changes or additions. The author. The following is an abstract of article published on the internet from a Gentleman in England who did some research on the ancestry of the Skees family. Particularly Richard Skees. It looks as though the Skees Family is from the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland and originally were Vikings. The Case of the South Shields Skees Family One of my most interesting projects was undertaken on behalf of Tony Skees of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA, who commissioned me to trace the family of his great-great-grandfather, Richard Skees, believed to have been in Co. Durham, who had emigrated. Tony Skees had little reliable evidence, and what data he was able to give me was vague and patchy. Richard Skees was born between 1780 and 1790 and was believed to have been related in some way to a William Skees who had married Isabella Shepherd in 1802 somewhere in Co. Durham. The Skees were all reputed to have been mariners before settling in the States. From the outset I knew that this name was not indigenous to Co. Durham, or anywhere in the Northeast - possibly Scottish, or even Scandinavian, and, if Scottish, they would be Presbyterian. Firstly I scrutinized the IGI for Northumberland and Durham. In the Durham Index there were twenty or so Skees, either baptized or married in South Shields for a period starting at 1795 to 1830, and all baptisms were at the Scottish Presbyterian church, marriages at the Parish Church. There were a few listed in Northumberland (Newcastle), but from the dates it seemed apparent that they were branches of the earlier Skees at S.Shields. As South Shields in those days was a thriving seaport, it looked as though Scottish Skees, probably mariners, had married local girls and settled there. I searched St.Hilda's parish register for the marriages shown in the IGI and the Presbyterian register for the baptisms. St.Hilda's register showed the following marriages:- William Skees, master mariner, native of Kirkwall, Orkney, to Isabella Burns of South Shields, 8th May 1799. George Skees, master mariner of Kirkwall, to Margaret Ferguson 25th August 1825. Isabella Shepherd to John Burn, 10th Feb.1795. Baptismal entries were of issue of both William & George Skees; but no Richard was found. My client had stated that a William Skees had married an Isabella Shepherd; but the register shows that William married an Isabella Burns. Searching further I found that the issue of William & Isabella, nee Burns, included a Shepherd (male Christian name) born 1811, whose own issue included another Shepherd, born in Newcastle 1844. The baptisms also included an Isabella, illegitimate daughter of Isabella Skees native of Orkney and John Walker 1809. As everything tallied except for the name Burns instead of Shepherd I was of the opinion that the vicar at the marriage had erroneously entered the name Burn instead of Shepherd. [Alternatively, the Isabella listed as marrying John Burn in 1795 could have been quickly widowed, and then married William Skees under her 'Burn' surname in 1799 - Ed.?]. In any case, I was confident that I had found the ancestors of my client, or at least the family of Skees of which he was a member. The census of 1841 and those of later dates were searched, and in these at various addresses I found a number of Skees. Occupation of the head of each family was either mariner, master mariner, or ship's store keeper - all being issue of the first Skees settlers William & George Skees, natives of Orkney. In Trades Directory for South Shields 1827-1858 I came across an Isabella Skees, widow, ship owner of King Street. Her maiden name would have been either Burns or Shepherd. In the later generations of Skees at various addresses in South Shields the Christian name of Shepherd was fairly common. Another indication that they were related to the Richard Skees who had emigrated. Lloyds Register of Shipping 1850 lists six brigs owned by Shepherd Skees & Co., one of which was named the William Skees. I then contacted the Archivist of Orkney, whose office was at Kirkwall, the birthplace of the Skees, and asked for any data regarding the Skees - particularly of William, George and Isabella Skees, natives of Kirkwall and who later settled in South Shields, as well as Richard Skees who probably was of the same family who may have emigrated direct to the USA or lived in South Shields and then emigrated from there. I received from the Archivist a very informative letter, which I forwarded onto my client. It turns out that the Skees of Orkney are known to have been on the islands for many centuries, and the first record of them is in the fourteenth century - they being descendants of Vikings who settled there centuries beforehand. Although no record of a Richard Skees could be found at South Shields or at Orkney I'm confident that from the vague data which my client Tony Skees gave me in the first place that I had found the right family. I'm of the opinion that Richard could have emigrated direct from Orkney, or perhaps arrived in South Shields and quickly moved on. He was a single man when he arrived in the States. Tony Skees was highly delighted to know that his ancestors were originally of Viking stock! In the current 'phone directory for Tyneside only two Skees are listed - one in Gateshead and the other in Whitley Bay. I phoned the latter who, apart from his father and grandfather, knew little about his ancestors. I gave him brief details, and told him that he was probably a Presbyterian. This he confirmed, which certainly suggests that he is descended from the South Shields and Orkney Skees. Table of Contents
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