History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

pier and better, he did his part. He hath done
what he could."
This history of the town woukl be incomplete
without a brief record of one of its most honored
and prominent citizens, who passed away from
earth while these pages were being revised for
publication.
David Nelson Skillings died March 10, 1880,
at the age of sixty-two years. Mr. Skillings was
born in Portland, Maine, March 7, 1818, coming
to Boston at the age of twenty, with only his hands
and personal skill to depend upon. He worked as
a journeyman carpenter for four or five years, after
which he set up for himself, having attracted the
attention of the late Eben Francis, who employed
him to build some houses on Beacon Street. A
few years afterward he formed a partnership with
the late Albert Vinal, and the firm carried on the
wood and coal business in Cambridgeport and
Boston, having a wharf at the foot of Poplar Street,
since filled up. He subsecpieutly formed a business
connection with Mr. C. F. Jones in the same busi-
ness, at Bartlett's wharf, at the North End. After
some time Mr. Skillings withdrew from this firm,
and devoted his attention to the lumber business,
associating himself with Messrs. Lawrence Barnes
of Burlington, Vermont, Charles Whitney of Bos-
ton, and David Whitney, Jr., of Detroit, Michigan,
under the firm name of Skillings and Whitney
Brothers. Two years ago a corporation was
formed, under the name of the Skillings, Whitney,
and Barnes Lumber Company, which is probably
the largest lumber concern in New England.
Mr. Skillings was a very prominent man among
the mercantile community of Boston, where his
business capacity was thoroughly appreciated. He
had twice been chosen by the legislature as a state
director in the Boston and Albany Railroad, and
his last term of service would have expired in
1881 ; and he had also ably represented the town
of Winchester in the lower branch of the legisla-
ture. He was a director in the Eliot Bank and in
WIXCHESTER. 525
the Eliot Lisurance Company of Boston, as also a
director of the Lowell and Nashua Eailroad.
Mr. Skillings was always an active temperance
worker, having been for several years a member of
the executive committee of the Massachusetts Tem-
perance Alliance, to which organization he was a
liberal giver, and was the Prohibition candidate for
state treasurer for four years consecutively, begin-
ning with 1876. He was a resident of Winchester
for almost the entire period of its history, and
always took a leading part in all public matters,
having been largely instrumental in the introduc-
tion of water into the town. He has been upon the
board of selectmen, chairman of the water board
for several years, and at the time of his death was
president of the savings-bank. He was a promi-
nent member of the First Congregational Church,
in which he held the office of deacon. He was a
liberal but unostentatious giver to all worthy
objects, and many a poor person has been cheered
and comforted through his private benefactions.
No one has done as much as Mr. Skillings to
beautify and adorn the town with elegant resi-
dences and grounds to correspond, and make it
a desirable home for persons of culture. He was
one whose words and works proclaimed him a val-
uable citizen and an honest man. His death, after
a brief illness, called forth a universal feeling of
sorrow and regret, and on the day of his funeral
the business of the town was entirely suspended,
and the community gathered in the church to pay
their last tribute of respect to one who had so
honored them, and to look for the last time upon
his familiar face.
At the annual town-meeting, March '22, 1880,
resolutions were presented, from a committee pre-
viously appointed for that purpose, setting forth
in fitting terms the estimation in which the de-
ceased was held by his townsmen, which were
unanimously adopted, and ordered to be placed
upon the records.