Samuel "Kiser Sam" K Skidmore

Samuel Skidmore BIRTH 1792 Pendleton County, West Virginia, USA DEATH 11 Jan 1876 (aged 83–84) Newville, Braxton County, West Virginia, USA BURIAL Braxton Memorial Gardens Sutton, Braxton County, West Virginia,

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117791589/samuel-skidmore

Samuel was called "Kiser" Sam, he owned large and valuable lands on the Holly River. He sold his land and moved west; his wife's name being "kiser", hence his nick name.

Samuel Skidmore enrolled on 13 September 1813 in Captain Jehu Johnson’s company of the Sixth Regiment of Virginia Militia. The company marched to Norfolk where they were encamped at the rear of the fort at Lambert’s Point. The campsite there was low and swampy and many of the men fell victim to malaria and typhoid. They built fortifications there and later tore them down for exercise. The port was blockaded and no British ever landed, although one man-of-war had been seen far out to sea. John Skidmore, his brother, who was in the same company died here on 31 October 1813. Samuel Skidmore was on picket duty the night his brother died and said later that "“the night was to him the most distressed and horrible that he ever experienced." Samuel Skidmore served for 140 days from 13 September 1813 to 30 January 1814.

 Samuel Skidmore was safely home again in Pendleton County on 1 October 1814 when he was a bondsman for John Bible to be married to his sister Mary Skidmore.

 Samuel Skidmore bought land in what is now Braxton County in 1826 adjoining his uncle Levi Skidmore. In 1829 he sold most of his land in Pendleton County, including the Stratton mill place where the first court of Pendleton County had met. It had been inherited from his father two years earlier. In 1830 and thereafter he had several land grants on the waters of the Elk River. In the same year he and several others built the Union Mills on the Elk some distance below the mouth of Laurel Creek. This was at the head of flatboat navigation on the Elk and the partners did a considerable business in cutting timber for the flatboat traffic. Union Mills was so named because of the number of different investors concerned.

 He was named a captain of militia in 1835 in Nicholas County. Samuel Skidmore had learned the surveyor’s art from his father and was considered for that office when Braxton County was formed in 1836. He was recommended to the Governor to serve as one of the original Justices for the new county. He was not a member of the original commission, but was appointed to the Braxton County bench in 1839. He did serve on the first Grand Jury in the county on 12 September 1836.

  The first personal property tax list for Braxton County shows that Samuel Skidmore was one of the more affluent residents of the new county. His tax amounted to $0.62. In contrast, his aunt Nancy Skidmore (widow of Reverend John Skidmore) paid only six cents in taxes for the year for a single horse. This Samuel Skidmore is identified as "up Elk" to distinguish him from his nephew Samuel "down Elk" who paid nothing to support the county government.

 Captain Samuel Skidmore was a large slave owner in Braxton County before the emancipation. He was living in 1870 with his son Isaac. He had two tracts of 80 acres each granted to him as bounty lands, one in Scotland County, Missouri, and another in Cass County, Missouri. 

  He was later pensioned for his service in the War of 1812 after he applied on 4 April 1871 at the age of 79.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117791589/samuel-skidmore