Skinner, James

Skinner, James, a missionary of the Presbyterian Church, was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1801. His parents were members of the Secession Church of Scotland. He was educated at St. Andrew's College and at Marischal College; studied divinity under John Mitchell, D.D., and John Dick, at Glasgow; was licensed in the summer of 1832; was accepted by the Mission Committee of the United Associate Synod, and designated to go to Canada; and was ordained for that work by the Presbytery of Forfar March 31, 1834. He landed at Montreal in May, 1834, and immediately directed his steps westward to the township of Southwold, on Lake Erie, where he began a series of itinerancies and explorations, setting up regular stations and starting new congregations in every direction. He died Oct. 17, 1865. Mr. Skinner was emphatically a missionary. See Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1867, p. 481. (J.L.S.)