Skinner, Abraham

Abraham Skinner (1755-1826) was born in Glastonbury (formerly Glastenbury), Connecticut. He served in the Revolutionary War and was from that time addressed as Captain. After the war he kept a stable and traded and bred horses in Glastonbury. In 1803 he went to the Western Reserve with Edward Paine and had a home built there, although he did not bring his family from Connecticut until 1805. He settled in Painesville township at the village of New Market which he helped make county seat for Geauga (including what are now Cuyahoga, Lake, and Geauga Counties). He was a co-founder of Grandon (now Fairport, Ohio) in 1812. He served as land agent and counsel to Henry Champion, an original shareholder in the Connecticut Land Company and owner of the land on which was founded the village of Champion (now Painesville, Ohio) in 1807.

In the Western Reserve he continued his horse trade and served as a land agent between the people of old and New Connecticut. He operated a public house which was used for the first sitting of the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas, served as supervisor of highways, practiced law, held a ferry license, owned half interest in the schooner Dewitt Clinton, and was a prominent local merchant.