Previously I wrote about my direct matrilineal line for Surname Saturday. But I didn't want to wait until Saturday for my first post of 2011! So I have switched to Mondays for this particular subject and will continue with it on Mondays until I have exhausted my info on my direct maternal line.
DELIVERANCE SKILLINGS was my great X 6 grandmother. She was born Oct 14, 1741 in Gorham, Cumberland Co Maine, the daughter of Benjamin Skillings II and Mary Pride of Gorham.
On July 22, 1756 Deliverance Skillings married Thomas Irish in Falmouth, York/Cumberland Co Maine. Thomas was from Falmouth, but after marriage they chose to settle in Gorham, and had ten children, all born in Gorham:
Susanna Irish Oct 22, 1760 married Ebenezer Morton
Isaac Irish March 7, 1763
Benjamin Irish June 20, 1766
Jacob Irish Sept 14, 1768
Emma "Amy" Irish April 3, 1770
Abigail Irish May 6, 1773
Gamaliel Irish Oct 15, 1776
Deliverance Irish May 20, 1779
Mary Irish Dec 1, 1780
Elizabeth "Betty" Irish May 1, 1784
I have not yet found any historical references to Deliverance Skillings Irish, so I don't have much insight into her character or the particulars of her life. However, she did live during the time of the American Revolution, and according to DAR records, her husband Thomas Irish enlisted in 1775. In 1779 Thomas Irish was a sergeant in Capt. McLellan's Company, Col. Mitchell's Regiment and took part in the Penobscot Expedition.
So it appears that Thomas Irish may have been away from his home & family off and on between 1775 and 1779. Deliverance would have had to run the household while he was away.
The surname SKILLINGS is of particular interest to me in that it apparently is a very ancient surname. According to the Internet Surname Database website:
This unusual and interesting name is of Norse-Viking pre 7th century origins. Although first recorded in England the surname is now most numerous in County Down, Ireland, where it was amongst the early 'Planters' sent from England to occupy Ulster. In ancient times the name was baptismal and a developed form of 'scela' meaning summer. It was probably given to somebody born on Mid Summers Day or a feast day which commemorated summer. There are several spelling forms including Skilling and the patronymic Skillings.
Another page on the same website says:
Recorded as Skilling, Skillin, Skillen, Skeland, Skelland, Skellen, Skellin and the very rare Skillanders, this unusual surname much associated with the English county of Lancashire is of pre 7th century Norse-Viking. It is also popular in most spellings in Northern Ireland and specifically County Down. Its origins are confused but it may be locational from a place such as Skillion in the Isle of Man, or Skillington in Yorkshire, the place of the Scela people. Scela has the literal meaning of summer, and may have been given as a baptismal name somebody born on Mid Summers Day. It is unclear as to when the surname was first recorded, but it is certainly medieva.
My maternal haplogroup H1a1 bears witness to the Norse roots of this surname, as the haplogroup seems to have originated in far Northern European areas of Scandinavia and the British Isles.
Have a great day!
Betty
© Betty Tartas 2011
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