Individual Details

The record does say that Joseph Skinner married as "His second wife", Elizabeth Olmsted. The births of his children, with a gap between 1699 and 1711 would indicate he remarried during this time. He also had no daughter named Mary - that would seem to eliminate this man as the father of Mary Skinner who married Daniel Benton.

Many databases have this Joseph, son of John Skinner & Mary Easton, confused with his first cousin, Joseph who was a son of Joseph Skinner and Mary Filley. The cousins were very close to the same age and both were married twice - some databases place all four marriages with the same man. The birth dates have been reversed as well. My placement seems to fit with dates of children's births coinciding with the dates of marriages, and with abstracts of wills available online.

I have in fact found early books that simply had the two Josephs reversed. Their residences tell the story and I'm not sure how the error ever happened. This Joseph, married to Dorothy and Elizabeth, always lived in Hartford, which is where his father John also lived. Joseph who married Mary Grant and Esther Drake lived in Windsor, where his father Joseph had relocated and where he married, his children were baptized, etc. Perhaps the confusion originated because both Windsor and the town of Hartford were in Hartford County, CT.

Henry R. Stiles, Families of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. II, Genealogies & Biographies, published Hartford 1892, p. 805. Mary Grant, b. at Windsor 23 Jan 1675/6, m. 13 Mch, 1694 with Joseph Skinner JR of Windsor.
My Note: Not only did this marriage take place in Windsor, but it also implies that Joseph might have been the son of a Joseph, which I believe he indeed was.


Comparison of the two families of these men show that Joseph and Mary Grant of Windsor were still having children together after Joseph of Hartford had already married his second wife:

Joseph, son of Joseph & Mary Filley married twice - both times in Windsor.
To Mary Grant, 13 Mar 1693/4
Children born in Windsor between April 1698 and April 1709
and to Esther Bisell Drake, 21 Aug 1718.
Children born in Windsor, 1719-1725.

Joseph, son of John and Mary Eaton also married twice - both times in Hartford
To Dorothy Hosmer, 1 Jan 1696 [death recorded Mar 1702]
Children born in Hartford Oct 1697 - 1701
and to Elizabeth Olmsted, 28 Jan 1707/8
Children born in Hartford

Joseph is buried Ancient Burying Ground, Hartford - died in the 79th year of his age.

Birth	26 Aug 1669	Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut
Marriage	1 Jan 1696	Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut - Dorothy Hosmer
Marriage	28 Jan 1707/08	Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut - Elizabeth Olmsted
Death	7 Feb 1747

Spouse	Dorothy Hosmer ( - 1702)
Child	Joseph Skinner (1697 - )
Child	Stephen Skinner (1699 - )
Child	Jonathan Skinner (1701 - )

Spouse	Elizabeth Olmsted ( - )
Child	Elizabeth Skinner ( - )
Child	Stephen Skinner ( - 1758)
Child	Dorothy Skinner ( - )
Child	Hannah Skinner ( - )
Child	Rebecca Skinner ( - )

Father	John Skinner (1641 - 1690)
Mother	Mary Easton (1641 - 1695)
Sibling	Mary Skinner (1664 - 1752)
Sibling	Sgt. John Skinner (1666 - 1743)
Sibling	Nathaniel Skinner (1672 - 1755)
Sibling	Richard Skinner (1674 - )
Sibling	Sarah Skinner (1677 - )
Sibling	Thomas Skinner (1680 - 1761)