Clement Skolfield (1740 - 1796)

Born 1 Jun 1740 in Brunswick, York, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Adams) Skofield — married 25 Jun 1767 in Harpswell, Cumberland, Maine, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 22 May 1796 at age 55 in Harpswell, Cumberland, Massachusetts, United States

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Biography

Clement Skolfield was born on June 1, 1740^[1] in Brunswick, York, Massachusetts Bay Colony, son of Thomas Skolfield (1707–1796) and Mary Orr (1714–1771).

In 1757 Clement and his brother Richard settled on land in Brunswick and Harpswell, and also in that year he served in Capt. John Getchell's Company in faithful service against the Indians.He was a well-to-do farmer in Harpswell for a large portion of his life, and was highly respected for his executive ability and sterling character, and was called a noble patriot and citizen.

Extracted from The Skolfields and Their Ships:^[2]

The brief nautical careers of Richard, John and William are overshadowed by that of Clement, for it was he who consolidated the family property around Skolfield Cove and established a shipyard there.

Born in 1740, Clement at age seventeen joined the local militia for action against the French and Indians. (During the previous year, his future second wife, Alice Means, then just a tot, was almost carried off in an Indian attack upon her Freeport home. She evaded capture by hiding in the household ash pit.) In 1774, Clement purchased §5 acres spanning Harswell Neck and, in 1785, bought 99 adjacent acres from Richard’s remarried widow. The two parcels surrounded Skolfield Cove and collectively spanned the Brunswick-Harpswell boundary.

In the early nineteenth century, two of Clement's sons purchased the Brunswick land lying between Clement’s acquisitions and what had been Thomas’s original holding, thereby consolidating a large chunk of farmland and water frontage.

Clement set the family pattern of farming and shipbuilding. How many vessels he built is not known, but at the time of his death in 1796, he was part-owner of one, possibly the schooner Fortune, which his son Thomas seems to have inherited.

Clement (27) married first Mary Adams (25) (born on June 1, 1742 in York County Maine; daughter of Nathan Adams and Hannah (Parsons) Adams) on June 25, 1767 in Harpswell, Cumberland, Maine.^[3][4] Their daughter was Rebeckah Scofield (1768–1832) she married Mathew Martin.

Clement married second Alice Means (born on November 29, 1752 in Freeport, Cumberland, Massachusetts Bay; daughter of Mr. Thomas Means and Alice (Phinney) Means) on 6 November 1773 in North Yarmouth, Maine.. Their daughter was Anna Scofield (1774–1832). The only knowledge of her is a document dated 8 November 1774 wherein the Judge of the Cumberland County Probate Court appointed Clement Skolfield to be guardian "unto your Daughter Mary Skolfield a Minor under fourteen years of age"

Clement died on May 22, 1796 in Harpswell, Cumberland, Massachusetts, United States, aged 55. He was buried in Old Harpswell Common Burying Ground, Harpswell Center, Cumberland County, Maine.^[5][6]

Sources

1. ↑ "Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q28Q-2BG3 : Mon Jan 15 03:08:47 UTC 2024), Entry for Clement Skolfield and Thomas Skolfield, 1 June 1740.
2. ↑ Reynolds, Erminie S., and Martin, Kenneth R.. The Skolfields and Their Ships: "a Singleness of Purpose". United States, Maine Maritime Museum, 1987.
3. ↑ Marriage Record, "Maine Marriages, 1771-1907", , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HSYM-W1T2 : 14 January 2020), Clement Skolfield, 1767.
4. ↑ The Records of the Congregational Church of Christ in Harpswell, Samuel Eaton, Bowdoin College Collection, pt.2, p. 2 https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/109681569
5. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38967250/clement-skolfield: accessed), memorial page for Clement Skolfield (1 Jun 1740–22 May 1796), Find A Grave: Memorial #38967250, citing Old Harpswell Common Burying Ground, Harpswell Center, Cumberland County, Maine, USA; Maintained by Stuart Strout Woodside Skolfield (contributor 46954007).
6. ↑ Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, "Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BJ-J91M-S?cc=1803978 : 28 November 2018), > image 1 of 1; multiple sources, Maine.

• DeVries, Esther S. Descendants of Thomas Skolfield (1707-1796) of Brunswick, Maine. (Baltimore, MD: Otter Bay Books, LLC for the author, 2010).