Santa
Clara County
Biographies
GEORGE EDWARD SKILLICORN
The standing of George Edward Skillicorn in the community of Gilroy is well expressed in
an article which appeared in a local paper shortly after his retirement from
the city council. “Among the most active members of the retiring council of
this city is George Skillicorn. He did a large share
of the work of the administration, especially that part requiring the judgment
and oversight of the mechanic. With Councilman Wood he gave valuable aid to the
gas works, and he served efficiently on all committees, and on the council
board he had no equal in suggestion or in intelligent and forceful presentation
of any requirement for the city’s interest. Mr. Skillicorn
retires from office with the good will and esteem of this community.” Mr. Skillicorn is a mechanic who raises his trade to a science
and art combined, and who has the faculty of easily impressing both his
sincerity and ability upon his fellow men. He has the assurance, steadfastness and
confidence born of long experience, and of having from childhood accustomed
himself to do with accuracy and thoroughness whatever he set out to do.
Behind his trained and skillful eye
and hand Mr. Skillicorn has the inherited tendencies
of generations of mechanics. In the history of his family no other occupation
has crept in to break the continuation of this worthy calling. Born in the Isle
of Man, off the coast of England, April 14,1864, he is a son of William, a
grandson of John, a great-grandson of Edward, all of whom were born in the same
English dependency and followed the mechanic’s trade. In the Isle of Man there
still lives his father, William Leece Skillicorn who, true to the family tradition, learned to be
a stone-mason, builder and contractor, and is still plying his trade among the
surroundings of his youth. In youth he married Sarah Killip,
daughter of John Killip, a ship chandler of the Isle
of Man, and of the union there were born seven children, five of whom are
living. Mr. Skillicorn has forty-seven grandchildren,
ten of whom belong to his son, George Edward, the only one of the family to
come to America. For as many generations as the mechanic’s trade has prevailed
in the family, the Episcopal faith has been believed in, and the bearers of the
name have been noted for their generosity to those in need, for their
practicability, economy, simplicity of life and reliability.
The early assumption of
responsibility interfered sadly with the educational training of George Edward Skillicorn. That is to-day a remarkably well-informed man,
interested in a diversity of subjects and conversant with the general trend of
affairs, is entirely owing to his later recognition of the limitations of his
youth. Naturally a student, he was forced to expend his powers in the workshop
when most boys are dividing their time between games and the school room, for at
the age of twelve he went up to Liverpool, and from 1876 until 1879 served an
apprenticeship to John H. Wilson, operator of a large machine shop. The following
year he made fair wages as a hand in the foundry of James Jacks, and with his
trade well in hand immigrated to the United States in 1879, bringing with him
unbounded faith in his own powers, as well as in the friendliness and
opportunity of the country of his adoption. In Philadelphia, Pa., he was
employed in the shops of the American line of steamships, and finally advanced
to steamship engineer and storekeeper, in which capacity he made thirty-two
trips across the Atlantic, all in the space of two and a half years. His
experience proved invaluable, and after leaving the sea he worked in Roache’s shipyard at Chester, riveting, among others, the
steamer San Jose. Removing to Chicago, Ill., he engaged in manufacturing
harvesters and binders, reapers and mowers for the Walter A. Wood Company, and
then went to Little Rock, Ark., and was employed there in the machine shops of
the Iron Mountain Railroad. Owing to the disastrous effects of such close
confinement on his health, he worked as fireman on the road for a time, and
later still became night foreman for the same road in Arkansas City.
Impressed with the favorable reports
of the west, Mr. Skillicorn came to California in
1886, and after traveling along the coast as far as British Columbia for five
months, returned to San Francisco and entered the employ of the Southern
Pacific Railroad Company, in the car department, remaining there until
transferred to the foremanship of the freight car department at San Jose in
1890. In 1892 he became foreman of the car and locomotive department of the
same road at Gilroy, and later was assigned also to the store department,
filling the three positions up to the present time.
Since the beginning of his voting
days Mr. Skillicorn has allied his sympathies and activities
with the Republican party, and at the time of the
first Republican victory of Gilroy in 1896, he served as chairman of the
Republican city central committee. Since then he has been before the public in
various political capacities, but his vital participation in municipal
government was inaugurated with his election to the city council in May, 1900.
His re-election followed in 1902, the two terms comprising as important and
lastingly beneficial issues as have been recorded in the history of the town.
The committees on streets, public buildings and grounds, police, water,
ordinance, finance and lighting have profited by his chairmanship. He has been
instrumental in securing the new lighting facilities of the town, the lighting
of the depot, and of extending the city water mains six thousand feet. His
experiments along the line of grading and tiling the streets have proved a
pronounced success, and he has been especially fortunate in devising means
whereby the town’s finances were increased, by judicious curtailing of
expenditures. Without any extra expense to tax-payers he has increased the
revenue $4,000, and, whereas, in 1900 but $1,300 remained in the treasury, he
left it with over $7,000, not including sinking fund or the sum to pay off the
bonded indebtedness of the town, the latter amounting to over $1,000. As hinted
in the beginning of the sketch, Mr. Skillicorn’s
suggestions carried the weight of authority, and were invariably found to be
sound and practical, contributing always to the community’s substantial
upbuilding.
During the course of his strenuous
and practically useful life Mr. Skillicorn has
derived considerable satisfaction from his fraternal associations. His genial
and affable manner has made him a social favorite in the foremost lodges of the
state, and his assumption of fraternal honors serves to indicate the high
esteem in which he is held. Formerly a member of the San Jose Lodge No. 10, F.
& A. M., he is now identified with Keith Lodge No. 187, of which he has
served as junior warden one term, as senior warden the same length of time, as
master three terms, from 1897 until 1900, and as secretary for two terms. He is
a member of Hollister Chapter No. 68, R. A. M., the Eastern Star, of which he
is past patron, and he was chairman of the committee on charities of the grand
lodge. His influence in Masonic circles has been pronounced, and as chairman of
the building committee he was foremost in securing the erection of the present
imposing Masonic hall. He is a member of the Masonic Past Master’s Association.
Mr. Skillicorn is also connected with Gilroy Grove
No. 130, of Druids, of which he has been secretary since its organization, and
he is a member of the Druid Circle and the Ancient Order of Foresters. He is
also a member of the Gilroy fire department.
In the Episcopal Church, of which Mr. Skillicorn has been a member for many years, he is
deservedly popular, contributing to its financial support and serving its
interests as treasurer and vestryman. A well trained bass voice contributes to
the ensemble of a highly appreciated choir of the church, in which four of his
children also officiate, and his musical ability finds vent also in social
gatherings and in the home rendered hospitable and popular by its prevailing
good cheer and kindliness. In San Francisco Mr. Skillicorn
was untied in marriage with Mary Flynn, who was born in Boston, Mass., and of
which union ten children have been born. In the order of their birth the
members of this interesting family are: Emma Elizabeth, William Leece, George Edward, Jr., Clarence Douglas, Thomas Henry,
John Archibald, Catherine Louise, Mary Mona, Arthur Edwin and Kenneth Albert.
Mr. Skillicorn’s success has been the result of his
own exertions, guided, no doubt, by a natural endowment as admirable as it is
rare. He has attained his business expectations beyond the average, possesses a
high social position, and, what is the highest tribute to his many estimable
qualities, the love of his friends and the esteem of the best members of
society.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1229-1230. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.