Skiffe Family - Ourfolk

On 22 August 1636 Peter Talbot, having land due him because of his service as a former servant to Edward Doty, assigned his right to the land to James Skiffe for six bushels of corn, and on 31 August 1636 William Phips, the late servant to the Undertakers, sold his land due him for his service to Josiah Winslow for fifty shillings.

There was a James Skiffe, resident of Chelsea, near London, who was buried there 12 June 1609, evidently a Puritan from the language of his will. He left a widow Margery (who afterwards married William Sheppie) and seven children: Rebecca, who afterwards married Thomas Lovell; Susanna, William, Elizabeth, Obadiah, Anne and Joshua. Two others, John and Mary, had died young at Chelsea. The registers of old Chelsea church show that John was baptized there, but there is no baptismal entry for Rebecca the eldest child. John was baptized 1 May 1592 and William in 1599, but neither could have been father of the emigrant. It is possible that he was a nephew of the testator or a near relative. The name Obadiah is worthy of note as it appears in a descendant of the emigrant.

JAMES SKIFFE, b. abt. 1610, the ancestor of this family in America, of whom a biographical sketch may be read in Vol. II, Annals of W. T., pp. 71-2, has thus far escaped identification in his English home despite continued efforts in tracing every available clue. While the name is very rare in England, it is found quite numerous in a group of parishes near London, as Eltham 1559, Newenden 1578, Lewisham 1589, Mottingham 1603, Greenwich 1620, Charlton 1645, besides scattering occurrences of the name in various London parishes of that period. The name is found in variations of Skeffe, Skyffe, Skaffe and other intermediate spellings but the name of James is absent in all these quoted instances.

SKIFF James Skiff, ancestor of all the colonial families of this surname, is said to have come from London, England, and settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts, before 1636. He received there five acres of land for services done to Isaac Allerton, and bought five more acres of Peter Talbot, August 22, 1636. He sold his house and land at Plymouth, January 1, 1637, and moved to Lynn, where he was a proprietor in 1637. In that same year he moved to Sandwich, Massachusetts, where he lived the rest of his life. He had lands granted there in 1641, and was admitted a freeman, June 5, 1644. He was a town officer and deputy to the general court from Sandwich, and died some time after 1688. His wife, Mary (Reeves?), died September 21, 1673, at Sandwich. Children, born at Sandwich; James, born September 12, 1638; Stephen, April 14, 1641; Nathaniel, March 20, 1645; Sarah, October 12, 1646; Bathsheba, April 26, 1648; Mary, March 25, 1650; Miriam, or Marienne, March 25, 1652; Patience, March 25, 1653; Benjamin, November 14, 1655; Nathan, mentioned below; Elizabeth.

Bathsheba Skiffe b: 20 APR 1648 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
James Skiffe , Jr b: 12 SEP 1638 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Stephen Skiffe b: 14 APR 1641 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Nathaniel Skiffe b: 20 MAR 1644/45 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Samuel Skiffe b: 12 OCT 1646 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Sarah Skiffe b: 12 OCT 1646 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Mary Skiffe b: 24 MAR 1649/50 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Marianne Skiffe b: 26 MAR 1652 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Miriam Skiffe b: 26 MAR 1652 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts

Benjamin Skiffe b: 5 NOV 1655 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Nathan Skiffe b: 16 MAY 1658 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Patience Skiffe b: 26 MAR 1652 in Tisbury, Dukes County, Massachusetts
Elizabeth Skiffe b: ABT. 1660 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts